How can a single act of courageous obedience to God by two Hebrew women result in the saving and deliverance of thousands of people? We can read of such courage in Exodus 1.

The book of Exodus opens with the Hebrew people being slaves in Egypt. Pharaoh worried that because the number of Israelites was multiplying, they might eventually join with his enemies to fight against him (Exodus 1:7-14). Therefore, he became harsher and more demanding, but the harder he tried to make life for the Hebrews, the more they multiplied and grew!

Pharaoh devised a wicked plan to solve this problem. He spoke to two Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, and instructed them that when the Hebrew women gave birth, they were to kill all the male babies!

How must it have felt for these two lowly women to be called into this conversation with the powerful and ruthless king? Refusal to comply could mean their deaths. Compliance with his command would be disobedience to God.

Ultimately, they refused to obey the king. So when Pharaoh saw the babies were living, he called the midwives in again to ask why this was happening. They told him that the Hebrew women gave birth easily and the babies arrived before they got there. Their obedience to God and procrastination at the births, saved countless babies from death. And though we are not specifically told, they probably saved baby Moses from death, too!

What lessons can we learn from the lives of Shiphrah and Puah?

• We must obey God rather than man. I have heard people defend their disobedience to God by saying that they didn’t have a choice, but that is just wrong. We always have a choice. There may be extreme consequences for our actions, but we do have a choice. Pharaoh was an evil and powerful man, but Shiphrah & Puah risked their lives to do the right thing (Acts 5:29).
• Godly women will always choose to protect life. These women were not protecting their own children, yet they realized the importance and value of all life. Whether it is abortion, infanticide, child abuse, or the way we treat the disabled or the elderly, we need to stand up and protect those who cannot defend themselves (Proverbs 31:8-9).
• When we put God and His righteousness first, He will bless us. Some scholars say that midwives in Israel were always barren. If that’s the case, it makes Shiphrah & Puah especially blessed by God for their actions because He gave them families (Exodus 1:21). God will take care of us when we obey Him (Matthew 6:33).
• The influence of a righteous person can impact generations.  We know Moses as the great “deliverer” of God’s people, but Shiphrah and Puah may have been the ones who “delivered the deliverer!” With Moses’ life spared, how many other lives were saved from Egyptian bondage? Our obedience to God can change the lives of those around us for years to come (Romans 14:7-8).

The courageous actions of these two obscure women, who put their life on the line to “obey God rather than man,” teach me that a single act of faith and obedience can change the lives of countless others for generations to come.