Focal Passage: Exodus 1:16-17; 22-2:10
Shiphrah, Puah, and Jochebed. Not everyone will recognize those first two names; many will know the third. They are three brave women depicted in today’s study passage, Exodus 1:16-17; 1:22-2:10. It isn’t an exaggeration to say this “ladies’ trio” helped change the history of the world. Our lesson is called “Treasuring What God Treasures,” and it’s a beautiful story about the sanctity of life.
Treasuring Life Without Any Exception (1:16-17; 22)
The backdrop for today’s Scripture is the Israelites’ period of slavery in Egypt. The whole family of Jacob (who became ‘Israel’) had lived in Egypt since their homeland was devastated by famine. As years went by, Egypt’s Pharaoh became extremely uneasy about the Israelites multiplying; Jacob’s descendants now numbered in the hundreds of thousands. Pharaoh decreed that every Israelite male be murdered at birth. He obviously reasoned that females would not be as likely to form an armed rebellion in the future.
Dawson
But the nurses (midwives), who helped the Israeli wives deliver their babies, were Godly women themselves; they saw all babies as valuable, and that none should be considered undeserving of life. Shiprah and Puah were two of the midwives named earlier (verse 15). GOD saw the courageous acts of the midwives, who valued every life, and He blessed their life-saving efforts with families of their own. Surely the Source of every human life, God Himself, looks favorably on those who also treasure every human life.
Treasuring Life During Righteous Conception (2:1-2a)
Moses’ mother Jochebed and father Amram had a Godly upbringing; as Levites they had both been taught the ways of God. Notice they married first, then she became pregnant. (We know they had Aaron and Miriam earlier; this passage focuses only on Moses, but it was simply describing the Biblical pattern — marriage before sex.) Opposition to unrighteous abortion-on-demand is Godly; so is opposition to unrighteous sexual relations—sex with any person not one’s married spouse.
Treasuring Life At its Outward Inception (2:2b-2c)
At Moses’ birth, Jochebed saw that he was beautiful. Every newborn (like every pre-born) baby is beautiful — regardless of physical condition, mental status, gender, or skin color. God treasures all babies being born; “Red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in His sight.”
Treasuring Life With God’s Perception (verses 3-10)
Jochebed had God’s insight, wisdom, and discernment. She hid Moses as long as possible then devised a plan to save his life. (By the way, don’t think you’re a failure just because you sometimes do dopey things; remember, Moses himself was a “basket case.”) Seriously, God was watching over Moses — guiding his steps, and preserving him for the calling He had for him. Notice the things God used to preserve Moses’ life: his parents hiding him, that little floating basket, his sister, the Egyptian servant girls, Pharaoh’s daughter — even giving him a name — and arranging Moses’ own mother to be his ‘nanny!’ Read aloud Hebrews 11:22-29.
God perceived YOUR life, too, before the moment you were conceived. To this very hour He has loved you. He sent His only begotten Son to die for you. He knows the plans He has for you — and for every human LIFE on earth. May each of us treasure what He treasures. B&R — Dawson is pastor emeritus at First Baptist Church, Columbia, and has served as transitional interim pastor at numerous churches since his retirement from full-time ministry.
