EX. 1:1-6:1; ISA. 27:6-28:13, 29:22-23; JER. 1:1 – 2:3; LUKE 16-20
We see time and again in Scripture how momentous historical events are frequently preceded by great unrest, turmoil and evil often undisguised and sometimes dressed up in religious piety. In addition to effecting whole communities and even nations, it inevitably touches the lives of innocent people that raises questions why bad things happen to good people? And here in the opening passage in the Book of Exodus the Israelites had several centuries to mull this over, but we never read on any occasion during this period where they queried the faithfulness of God even in the worst times. Rather, they held firmly to what they knew about the character and nature of God – that the omnipotent, omniscient, all loving, gracious, merciful, faithful and holy God is perfect in all His ways and timings, who desires to richly bless us even though at times they may appear to be disguised rather than apparent. If the Israelites, whose knowledge and experience of God’s dealings with them up until this time was limited could grasp such a thing, how much more so should we as believers who God has revealed His love to in unlimited measure?
How does this connect to the mystery of suffering? It is epitomised by the sacrifice of Yeshua for our redemption. “Though He was in the form of God, He did not count equality with God something to be grasped but emptied Himself and took on the form of a servant and in like manner humbled hImself even unto death on the Cross.” (Phil. 2:5-11)
This is a mystery we cannot full grasp but it no less changes the reality and implications for our lives. Running parallel to this, the Bible informs us how the untold and unfathomable suffering of the Jewish people will finally end in blessings following Israel’s recognition of Yeshua before His glorious appearing at the end of this age. God is faithful to His covenant people who turns catastrophes into victories. We saw this with the life story of Joseph, and now with the emergence of the new Pharaoh that created an unprecedented existential crisis for the Jewish people. Rabbi Jonathan Sacks commented about this when he said:
“…It goes back to the moment in which the (Jewish) people received its name, Yisrael – Israel. Yaacov wrestled alone at night with an angel, until dawn broke, when his adversary begged to be let go. “I will not let you go until you bless me,” said Yaacov (Bereishit 32:26). That is the source of what he termed the Jewish people’s “distinctive obstinacy that became the basis of his new name and identity. Yisrael, the people who “wrestled with God and man and prevailed” (Bereishit 32:28) is the nation that grows stronger with each conflict and catastrophe.” And this is no less true than for every true believer whether Jew or Gentile – the same principle applies. In this week’s Torah portion, God revealed His intention to redeem the Israelites from Egyptian bondage in the fullness of time – from slavery to redemption, and again the same pattern applies in the manner that God sent Yeshua to deliver us from the slavery of sin. So, with these things in mind, let’s turn to the passage in the Torah for this week.
During the reign of this new Pharaoh, a decree was sent out to massacre all the new-born Israelites, that’s reminiscent of the decree of King Herod who ordered the destruction of all children in Bethlehem under the age of 2 – and for similar reasons; also the Holocaust where Hitler destroyed over 1 million of Europe’s Jewish children (close to three-quarters of World Jewry’s population of children) – and then in more recent times, the spectre of murdering countless millions of unborn babies.
Pharoah employed certain midwives to fulfil his decree but these same people were used by God to protect the one who would become Israel’s redeemer, the baby Moses, who they shielded by violating Pharaoh’s order. Their names were Shiphrah and Puah, Israelites who refused to bow down to the edicts of man that were contrary to God’s Laws. They unknowingly cooperated in the redemption of the Jewish people, something way beyond their imaginations! They were simply walking in righteousness and obedience to God’s laws something we as believers do when we refuse to bow down to the dictates of men. There are innumerable examples of this but I will never forget the example of our pastor in Taiwan, Andrew Houghton, a wonderful man of God whose mother was a rape victim survivor, unmarried, who refused to have an abortion despite incredible pressure placed upon her by her family.
The consequence of godly obedience is always disproportionate and so much greater than the sacrifices we are willing to make for righteousness. We read in the text from Ex.1:15-21 that “…Moreover the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, and said, “When you help the Hebrew women during childbirth, look at the sex. If it’s a son, then kill him, but if it’s a daughter, she may live.” Yet the midwives feared God, so they did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the boys live. So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this—let the boys live?”
The midwives told Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women. They are like animals,[a] and give birth before the midwife comes to them.” So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied, growing very numerous. Because the midwives feared God, He gave them families of their own.”
Here in the opening chapters of Exodus we see one small episode easily overlooked that became the catalyst and turning-point in the history of humanity. Its key players were these two remarkable women, Shifra and Puah. Our sages note that this is the first recorded instance in history of civil disobedience where some basically nameless and faceless people refused to obey an order given by the most powerful man in the ancient world simply because it was immoral. They chose to obey God rather than the dictates of man.
Rabbi Sacks, added this astute observation. He said that, “It took more than three thousand years for what the midwives did to become enshrined in international law. In 1946, the Nazi war criminals on trial at Nuremberg all offered the defence that they were merely obeying orders, given by a democratically elected government. Under the doctrine of national sovereignty every government has the right to issue its own laws and order its own affairs. It took a new legal concept, namely a ‘crime against humanity’, to establish the guilt of the architects and administrators of genocide.
The Nuremberg principle gave legal substance to what the midwives instinctively understood: that there are some orders that should not be obeyed, because they are immoral.”
We know how in these end days, many believers are coming under attack and consider themselves in a state of ‘crisis’ both physically, emotionally, spiritually or maybe a combination of all three! When we see it as a “Mashber” a ‘child-birth chair’ it will help bring things in perspective. We resist the gobbledegook, meaningless statements of the world powers such as, “…we will have nothing and be happy,” or “build back better!” Instead, we stand for truth and righteousness for His name’s sake even as the two Israelite midwives did whatever the consequences may be. Far better to share in the fellowship of His sufferings than to bow down to the appeasement and dictates of ungodliness.
God’s faithfulness is no better demonstrated than here in this parasha as He moved the chess pieces behind the scenes when everything looked so bleak for the Israelites – so characteristic of what we saw recently when we celebrated Hanukah and what we will also see demonstrated as in the Feast of Purim coming up in March.
These things are a hallmark in the Book of Exodus speaking of God’s dealings and redemptive acts for the Jewish people who in the beginning had no outlook or any kind of future to look forward to – until a time planned by God before the foundations of the earth were created, where He sent Israel a deliverer at just the right time. Out of slavery came redemption. The story of the Exodus reminds us that God not only delivered the Israelites from Egyptian slavery but continues to do so for every true believer – out from the slavery of sin into His glorious light through the Lamb of God – a shadow of God’s redemptive purposes in the fullness of time.
He is a God in whom “there is no change nor shadow of turning.” He is a God whose name is “Ehyeh Asher Ehyeh” – “I Am that I Am,” though with the Hebrew grammatical form in the future tense it could be more accurately translated, “I will be what I will be.” In other words, we have confidence to trust Him in every circumstance at every moment in time from the beginning to the end because He is the Aleph and the Taph and everything in-between who has delivered us from the slavery of sin and given us eternal life through our precious Saviour, Yeshua Ha’Mashiach!
And with respect to the Jewish people, we read in Amos 9:13-15 as we fast forward from the Exodus to something vital concerning the future restoration of Israel: “Yes indeed, it won’t be long now.” God’s Decree. “Things are going to happen so fast your head will swim, one thing fast on the heels of the other. You won’t be able to keep up. Everything will be happening at once—and everywhere you look, blessings! Blessings like wine pouring off the mountains and hills. I’ll make everything right again for my people Israel:
“They’ll rebuild their ruined cities. They’ll plant vineyards and drink good wine.
They’ll work their gardens and eat fresh vegetables. And I’ll plant them, plant them on their own land. They’ll never again be uprooted from the land I’ve given them. God, your God, says so.”
Right up to this point, Amos was prophesying doom and gloom, but now we see a massive paradigm shift. Divine judgment is replaced by a future unprecedented blessing that humanly speaking was an impossibility. But God proved true to His word. And in the fullness of time it came to fruition, fulfilled instantaneously in “a day” (Isai 66:8) a ‘suddenly’ event when Israel was restored as a Sovereign state in 1948 something so momentous that it shook the very foundations of Hell no less than at Calvary. Why? Because Satan’s plan failed to eradicate the Jewish people in the Holocaust. Instead, even as out of slavery was birthed redemption and the birth of Israel as a nation, so too from out of the ashes of the Holocaust was reborn the state of Israel. What Satan intended fr evil, God turned into one of the greatest triumphs in the history of the Jewish people!
This miraculous event marked the beginning of the prophecy spoken of by Yeshua concerning the last generation before His return in Matt.21 when HE cursed the fig tree (v’s 18-21) and shortly afterwards which reinforced His prophetic action with the Parable of the Fig Tree (Matt. 24:32-35). As prophesied in Amos 9, Israel has forged peace with many of her neighbours, again something stated in Scripture that was unthinkable less than 5 years ago! Where will all this ultimately lead to?
Ultimately, Israel will recognise their true Messiah in the midst of unparalleled suffering and persecution under the reign of the Anti-Christ when annihilation again stares them in the face Zech.12:10. And we are the generation blessed to be seeing the reality of these things unfolding before our very eyes!
The prophet Jeremiah foretold these events in ch.33:14-16 when he prophesied, “Behold, the days are coming”—it is a declaration of Adonai— when I will fulfil the good word I spoke concerning the house of Israel and concerning the house of Judah. In those days and at that time, I will cause a Branch of Righteousness to spring up for David, and He will execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days will Judah be saved, and Jerusalem will dwell safely. And this is the Name by which He will be called: Adonai our Righteousness.”
The present times we are living in may appear bleak to those who are perishing but for the redeemed of the Lord everything is exactly on course when soon “…the earth shall be filled with the glory of God as the waters cover the sea!”
Raphael ben Levi
