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Last updated on
Oct. 26, 2005
Fear, Pharaoh and the Midwives
Delivered September 4, 2005
by Pastor Werner De Jong
Text: Exodus 1:6-2:10
Main Idea: When we allow our fears to control us, we hurt others. When we fear God, we become a source of life to others.
Purpose: To challenge the listeners to stop acting in fear, and rather to fear God. To encourage the listeners that God is great and good and can be trusted. Those who fear God will not be disappointed.
Introduction: Over the summer we've looked at some of the stories in the book of Genesis. In particular we focussed on the life stories of Abraham, Jacob and Joseph. Today I want to carry on with our Old Testament series, but with a new book, the book of Exodus.
The book of Exodus begins where Genesis left off–by reminding its readers of Joseph and his brothers, who had moved their families to Egypt to find food during a devastating famine. Eventually all the family members of that generation died, but their descendants had many children and grandchildren. Over time the Israelites grew into a strong and a numerous people.
Then a new king arose over Egypt. He had no knowledge of Joseph, or of the promised protection which a king long before him had made to this family. The new Pharaoh looked at the growth of the Hebrew people in the midst of his land and he grew very afraid. Therefore he adopted a progressive series of harsh measures to deal with the perceived threat, beginning with slavery and oppression and moving on to attempted genocide.
This establishes the central plot of the book. The absolute ruler of the mighty Egyptian empire is bent on destroying the people of the promise. For God had promised Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that they would have descendants beyond counting, in a land of their own, and God had promised to bless all of the families of the earth through this family. But now a strong enemy is bent on destroying them.
Fear: In this way the book of Exodus begins–with Pharaoh determined to eliminate the threat he perceived in his midst. The author of Exodus makes it very clear that Pharaoh is a ruthless man who is driven by his fears. This morning I want to talk about the theme of fear. Not so much about the short term fear we may experience, for example, if someone were to point a gun at us, but the fear that lingers in our lives, and surfaces on various occasions: the fear of loss, the fear of insecurity, financial fears, the fear of what others think of us, the fear of abandonment, the fear of inadequacy, the fear of failure, the fear of change. It is important to understand and overcome these fears and others, because fear is one of the most powerful of human emotions. If we listen to the voice of fear, we will find that fear is powerful enough to drive our actions, and it will often lead us to act irrationally. Therefore it is vital that we consider this topic, for as Christians we don't want to be controlled by fear. We want to be controlled by the Spirit of God. Those who don't overcome their fears become slaves to them. But God calls us to be servants of Christ.
Pharaoh's Fear: In Pharaoh's case, it is clear that he was afraid of losing power. And this fear drove him to act as he did. But the irony of the situation is that Pharaoh's fear was without foundation. It was irrational. There is no indication that the Hebrew people posed any threat to the Egyptians. There is no indication that they were rebellious toward the Egyptian government. In fact, there is no indication that they had done anything to wrong their host country. But as is often the case with fear, Pharaoh's concern was not based on reality. Rather, it was based on a series of hypothetical situations: "If the Hebrews continue to multiply, and if an enemy comes from another direction, and if the Hebrews join the enemy and fight against us, then we could be in trouble, and they may escape from the land." This line of reasoning helped Pharaoh to justify the oppressive actions he took. In the twenty-first century world leaders continue to echo Pharaoh's reasoning: "If Iraq has weapons of mass destruction, and if it sells them to terrorists, and if those terrorists should use them against our people, we would be in trouble." This line of reasoning is today used to justify the doctrine of pre-emptive war, of striking the potential enemy before they have a chance to strike us. On another line of thinking, we may think of the fear of immigrants which has given rise to extreme right-wing political ideologies around the world, where parties often gain in popularity by speaking out against immigrants and immigration. They gain in popularity because they prey on people's fears.
The Result of Fear: The end result of such fear is that people end up getting hurt. Countless Hebrew people suffered or died under Pharaoh, and tens of thousands of Iraqis, as well as a few thousand coalition troops, have died during the Iraq War. When we allow our fears to control us, whether as nations or as individuals, we inevitably inflict harm on others. That is the terrible result of fear: when we act on our fears, we hurt other people, and even ourselves. The hurt may not necessarily come in the form of violence: it may be the hurt of rejection or neglect, it may be the hurt of misperceptions and falsely attributed motives. But in every case the hurt is real, and it harms relationships and people.
If left unchecked the harm which our fears inflict on others will escalate. Pharaoh is a perfect model of this. His first response to the perceived threat of the Hebrew people was to subject them to slavery. He set brutal taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labour. They were impelled to build the cities of Pithom and Rameses as supply centres for the king. Throughout history it has been a tactic of tyrants to seek to control potential opposition in this way. The goal is to break the spirit of one's opponents. But it Pharaoh's case the plan backfired. The more he oppressed the Israelite people, the more they multiplied and spread, so that the Egyptians people as well came to dread them. Little did Pharaoh know that his real battle was not against the Hebrew people, but against their God.
When this first tactic failed, Pharaoh upped the ante: he turned to the strategy of population control. He initially did so in a furtive, secretive manner. He ordered two Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, to kill all the baby boys whom they helped birth. But the midwives refused to obey the king's orders, because they feared God. And when Pharaoh challenged their disobedience, they told him that they didn't have a chance to kill the baby boys, because Hebrew women were strong, and gave birth quicker than Egyptian women, so quick, in fact, that the boys were born before the midwives arrived.
Pharaoh's fear was now running wild, so he risked the good image of himself and his government by bringing his plan of population control out into the open. He gave a new order, this time to all of his people, saying: "Every Hebrew boy that is born you are to throw into the Nile River." It was the same level of fear which thousands of years later led another King, Herod, to order the death of all the baby boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old or younger. In the name of self-protection the fear of both of these dictators led them into great sin.
Our Fears: On one level, it is difficult for us to relate to rulers like Pharaoh or Herod. None of us yield anywhere near the authority which they did. Their fears hurt large groups of people. But we need to remember, first of all, that we belong to a democracy, and our government by the people is certainly capable of hurting larger numbers of people. A number of years ago we had a referendum here in New Brunswick on whether or not to outlaw video lottery terminals. Corporately, as a people, we voted to retain VLT's. The number one reason we did so was undoubtedly the strong advertising campaign which warned us that if we voted against VLT's our taxes would increase. We were told there was no point voting against the measure, for the gambling would all go underground anyway. Why risk increased taxes, when there was nothing to gain? It was a fear tactic, and it worked. Some of the gambling would undoubtedly have gone underground, but overall gambling would certainly have decreased. And now as a result of this corporate decision, families across New Brunswick continue to be torn apart by fathers or mothers who are addicted to the legally-sanctioned gaming machines. That is but one example of how in a democracy we can be guilty of corporately acting on our fears, and of how our fears can have a very wide-ranging influence.
But most often we come face to face with our fears on an individual level. We may not have the influence of Pharaoh, but our personal fear can definitely hurt those in our circles or spheres of influence. In fact, if we act on our fears, we will hurt other people. For example, if we are afraid of change we will resist it, even if the change will benefit others. It is not that we don't care about others, but fear blinds us to anything but our own needs. If our fear centres on financial security, we will not be generous with our money, even though our generosity would be a source of life to others. If we are afraid of conflict we won't obey Jesus and go to other people to work out our differences, even though such an action could result in a wonderful reconciliation. If we are afraid of what other people think of us, we will find it very difficult to take a stand which goes against popular opinion, even though such a stand might bring blessing to others. In this regard the gospel of John speaks of people who had come to believe in Jesus but who did not confess their faith in him because they were afraid that the Pharisees would put them out of the synagogue. Their fear prevented them from sharing the good news of Christ's love with others (John 12:42-43). The pattern takes on many different forms, but the result is always the same: if we act on our fears, others will be hurt.
The primary reason why this is so is because our fears are rooted in selfishness. They arise out of a strong desire to protect ourselves. When we are consumed by fear, we don't think of situations or circumstances from anyone's point of view but our own. Self-protection becomes the consuming motive behind our action. Ultimately such fear dehumanizes other people, for when we are fearful, other people become objects, sources of threats, things to be controlled, rather than people to be loved. When we cross our arms in front of ourselves, we cannot extend them to others. This is why God calls us away from fear and to a life of trust.
Overcoming Fear: This raises the very important question: how can we overcome our fears? In our story from Exodus the midwives point us in the right direction. The text tells us that they did not give in to fear and obey Pharaoh's command to kill the Hebrew baby boys. How did they conquer their fears? How did they dare stand up against the full might of the Egyptian empire? The answer is simply this: they did not obey Pharaoh's terrible command because they "feared God" (1:17, 21). In fact the text twice tells us this. In doing this they have given us a wonderful example to follow. When we are afraid, the challenge is to look to God. Once that is done, there is nothing else that needs to be feared. For God is on the side of those who fear him. And if God is on our side, what do we ultimately have to fear? People can do their worst to us, but even if they take our lives the journey of those who fear God will end in his loving presence. In fact, the only ultimate danger anyone faces in this world is not fearing God. As Jesus said, "Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather, fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell" (Mt. 10:28). Here Jesus speaks a strong, sobering word on fear. He challenges us to look at fear from an eternal perspective. If we fear God on earth, which amounts to trusting and obeying God, no eternal harm can come to us. But if we don't fear God, which amounts to allowing our fears to prevent us from obeying God, then we risk spending eternity apart from God's presence. As the proverb says, "Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil" (Prov. 3:7).
That is exactly what the two midwives did. Human wisdom would have said, "We better obey Pharaoh, because our necks are on the line." But the midwives were truly wise, and modelled another proverb, the very first one in the book of Proverbs, which says: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge" (Prov. 1:7). It is no accident that this proverb is placed at the beginning of the book: the fear of God is foundational to ethical living. There is no other way to acquire the wisdom needed for life than to fear the Lord.
The midwives provide a remarkable contrast to Pharaoh. Pharaoh allowed his fears to control him, and consequently harmed many others. But the midwives feared God, and consequently became a source of life to others. There is great irony here: Pharaoh, who enslaved the Hebrews, was himself a slave to fear. But the midwives, who were slaves, were free to do what was right because they feared God. The fear of God leads to freedom; the fear of others leads to slavery. All of this gives rise to a great principle we can count on: when we allow our fears to control us, we hurt others, for we become slaves to our fears. But when we fear God, we become a source of life to others, for then we become truly free to love and to serve.
In the end God blessed the midwives and gave them families. They honoured God by fearing God, and God rewarded them. One of the amazing aspects of our text is this: mighty Pharaoh, ruler of all Egypt, is not personally named in this story. All we know is his title. But the midwives, who would have been considered insignificant in a world dominated by men, are named. They are Shiphrah and Puah. The fact that their names are recorded in God's Word is a wonderful sign to us that God doesn't forget those who fear him, no matter how insignificant they may be in the eyes of the world. In God's kingdom true victory doesn't depend on numbers and strength-it depends on aligning ourselves with God's will.
Trust in God's Goodness and Greatness: If we want to overcome our fears, and become free people in God's world, we need to dare to trust in God. In the final analysis the antidote to fear is this: to trust in the greatness and goodness of God. This is what it means to fear God, to trust God to the point of obedience. Both God's goodness and God's greatness become very apparent in our text. We see God's goodness in his concern for the people of Israel. This concern is evident when we read of the birth of Moses, whom God raised up to deliver the people. God's gracious hand is seen in the way in which Moses was safely plucked from the waters of the Nile River by the princess, and eventually brought into the royal court of Pharaoh himself, where he received the education and training he needed for his life's mission. All of it is a sign that God's will for his people is salvation and deliverance.
When we consider the plans of God, we need to remember that God's ways are not our ways. There will be times in our lives when it appears that God's plan to work through us to save and deliver people is tenuous at best. His plan calls for us to be vulnerable and even willing to suffer in order to bring life to others. That is so different than the way of the world, which is so impressed with power and invulnerability. At times we will be afraid to part company with the way of the world and to obey the God whose plan for Israel depended on two powerless midwives and on a helpless child floating down a river. But we need to remember how the story ends: with God's great rescue of Israel and his guidance to a land of their own, a land flowing with milk and honey. In the same way God will use us when we fear him to be a source of life to others. We never need to be afraid to obey the true voice of God, no matter how strange his ways may appear to us. For God is great and God is good, and God will ultimately protect and reward those who fear him.
If God's plan of salvation for his people began in a manner quite opposite to what we would expect, his plan culminated in the very same way, with his Son apparently hanging helplessly on a cross. We may wonder about God to come up with a plan like that, until we remember that Jesus rose from the dead, and that his death and resurrection are the very source of our life and salvation. Therefore let us dare to trust in the God of the cross and the empty tomb, for the cross demonstrates God's goodness, God's great love for us, and the empty tomb demonstrates God's greatness, God's great power which is available to us.
Conclusion: The conclusion of the matter is this: if we fear God, there is truly no need to fear anything else. As we rest secure in God's love and power, our insecurities, our financial worries, our fears of loss or abandonment or inadequacy or failure or change will melt away. In our reading this morning from Psalm 124 the psalmist said: "If it had not been the Lord who was on our side–let Israel now say–if it had not been the Lord who was on our side when our enemies attacked us, then they would have swallowed us up alive...then the flood would have swept us away...(but) blessed be the Lord, for we have escaped like a bird." If God were not on our side, we would have a reason to be afraid. But just as God was concerned for Israel, so too God is concerned for us. As Paul wrote to the church in Rome: "If God is for us, who can ever be against us?" (Romans 8: 31). God is for us. God is for you. Therefore let us dare to stop acting out of a fearful desire for self-protection, and let us rather fear our great and loving God. Let us conclude with the words of our morning Psalm: "Our help is in the name of the Lord, who made heaven and earth" (Ps. 124:8). Amen.