mothers, sisters, daughters and God

Scripture: Exodus 2
Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman. ²The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a fine baby, she hid him for three months. ³When she could hide him no longer she got a papyrus basket for him, and plastered it with bitumen and pitch; she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river. ⁴His sister stood at a distance, to see what would happen to him. 5 The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her attendants walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to bring it. ⁶When she opened it, she saw the child. He was crying, and she took pity on him. ‘This must be one of the Hebrews’ children,’ she said. ⁷Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, ‘Shall I go and get you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?’ ⁸Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Yes.’ So the girl went and called the child’s mother. ⁹Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages.’ So the woman took the child and nursed it. ¹⁰When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and she took him as her son. She named him Moses,^* ‘because’, she said, ‘I drew him out^* of the water.’

Observation:

Fearing a growing population of Hebrews, Pharaoh ordered that all firstborn male infants be destroyed at birth.  The midwives of the Hebrews, Shiphrah and Puah by name, refused to obey the order.  When questioned by authorities they said that the Hebrew women gave birth before they arrived on the scene.
In another family, a priestly family, a baby boy was born. After three months of hiding, the mother sealed the baby in a basket and placed him along the Nile river bank.  Pharaoh's daughter found the basket and the crying baby and felt pity.  Knowing he was a Hebrew child, she asked her servant to find a nurse mother.  Moses' own mother was summoned to nurse the child and was then paid by Pharaoh's daughter to do so. Eventually she adopted Moses and brought him into Pharaoh's own household.  A Hebrew enters Pharaoh's own household, not as a servant, but as an adopted son. 

Application:
 
The bible is not the story of a male deity.  God's will is revealed through women as often as through men.  Exodus is the story of the liberation and empowerment of an oppressed people.  Moses was never supposed to take a breath.  He was supposed to be killed at birth, by order of the Pharaoh.  Ironically, Pharaoh's own daughter rescues Moses and raises him as her own son.  Moses' mother and sister were even allowed to care for the baby until he grew.  Patriarchy and the power of a male ruler is undermined by these women---Hebrew midwives, mothers, sisters, and daughters.  Their collaboration with the creator and each other seems to transcend their obedience to male authorities.  This story shows how resilient and resourceful oppressed women are by showing them exercise the power to give life and nurture children. The God of the bible understands the role and importance of women in the ordering and nurturing and multiplying of life.  Sometimes their resistance to patriarchy reveals the very will of God.  Moses is drawn out of the water, a kind of second birth, from Hebrew slavery to Egyptian royalty.   The implications of this plot twist will be significant. God's rescue plan needs these disobedient women, whose innate desire to save a baby will save Israel.  I read this with thanksgiving for all the faithful women and mothers, doing God's will every day. 

Prayer:

Thank you God for faithful women, who give and protect life.  We pray for women in childbirth, for adopted children and their mothers, and for women who live in abusive households.  Show mercy and bless them with your creative and nurturing powers. Amen.    

Prayer