God will PROVIDE for us when we ‘FEAR’ HIM!
January
18 Bible Reading: Exodus Chapters 1-3
God will PROVIDE for us when we ‘FEAR’ HIM!
But the
midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them,
but saved the male children alive. So the king of Egypt called for the midwives
and said to them, "Why have you done this thing, and saved the male
children alive?" And the midwives said to Pharaoh, "Because the
Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are lively and give
birth before the midwives come to them." Therefore God dealt well with the midwives and the people
multiplied and grew very mighty. And so it was, because the midwives feared God that He provided households for them.
(Exodus 1:17-21)
The new
Pharaoh, who became the king of Egypt about 430 years after the children of
Israel had settled in Goshen, did not know Joseph and what He had done to save
the people of Egypt in the past (1:8). He tortured the Israelites with hard
labor and commanded the two Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah (“Beautiful One”) and Puah (“Splendid One”), to kill all the male
Hebrew children as soon as they were born!
We can
understand that Satan was actually using Pharaoh as an instrument to kill the “seed of the woman” (Gen 3:15) just as
he used King Herod to kill all the male children in Bethlehem when Jesus was a
baby (Matt. 2:16-18). Satan was working behind the scene to destroy the ‘Redeemer’ before His birth (see Revelation
12:4). However, the two midwives knew and feared
the living God (vv. 17, 21) since they
were godly women with a courageous faith.
The Hebrew
term for fear is the word regularly
used for piety, obedience, and the true worship
of God (see Gen. 22:12; Ex. 20:20). These midwives would not obey the evil
commands of a human ruler, even when their own lives were at risk, because they
feared God more than Pharaoh (Acts
5:29). They triumph as God’s instruments to preserve His plan for Israel.
In turn, God
established the families of these two midwives because they were faithful to
Him. This is a good illustration of the principle
of “sowing and reaping”. These Hebrew
midwives, who through fear of God had
overcome the fear of Pharaoh, dealt
kindly with the male children of the Israelites, and they were rewarded
accordingly - “God dealt well” with
them. God is not unrighteous to
forget any work and labor of love which is showed toward His name or ministered
to His people (Heb. 6:10). His promise is “For
them that honor Me, I will honor” (1 Sam. 2:30). They “saved the men children alive” and God “made them houses”, which may mean that God gave them husbands and
blessed them with children as His provision.
As
Christians, we have a model to follow in the example of the Hebrew midwives.
When asked to do something that goes against God’s ways, we can resist and even
disobey. We may not be as fortunate as the midwives to escape retribution. But
we can rest in our conscience, knowing that we have feared God who is our ultimate authority. Ultimately, God will
reward us with His blessings and provide for our needs when we fear Him!
"And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will show you whom you should fear: fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!" (Luke 12:4-5)
