Moreover, the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was called Shifrah and the other Pu‘ah.
‘When you attend the Hebrew women and see them giving birth,’ he said, ‘if it’s a boy, kill him; but if it’s a girl, let her live.’ However, the midwives were God-fearing women, so they didn’t do as the king of Egypt ordered but let the boys live. The king of Egypt summoned the midwives and demanded of them, ‘Why have you done this and let the boys live?’ The midwives answered Pharaoh, ‘It’s because the Hebrew women aren’t like the Egyptian women — they go into labor and give birth before the midwife arrives.’ Therefore God prospered the midwives, and the people continued to multiply and grow very powerful. Indeed, because the midwives feared God, he made them founders of families. Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: ‘Every boy that is born, throw in the river; but let all the girls live.’” Exodus 1:15-23
The king of Egypt was worried about the amount of Hebrews in his land and he felt particularly threatened by the men so he thought up a very sick plan to control the population. He decided the male babies should be killed but decided to keep the girls alive as if they were no threat at all and had no role in defending their people. However it is very ironic that while he thought the females were not a threat God made the righteous women “founders of families.” “Every wise woman builds up her home, but a foolish one tears it down with her own hands.” Proverbs 14:1 “Her husband depends on her, and she never lets him down.” Proverbs 31:11.
“Adonai, God, said, ‘It isn’t good that the person should be alone. I will make for him a companion suitable for helping him.’” “The man-person said, ‘At last! This is bone from my bones and flesh from my flesh. She is to be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.’” Genesis 2: 18 & 23-20 “The man called his wife Havah [life], because she was the mother of all living” Genesis 3:20. Sexism has no place in the life of a believer. Woman came from man and men come from women. We are part of each other and should lift each other up not tear each other down.
Although men often fought in wars to defend their nation and families, which is something Pharaoh seemed to be afraid of, he didn’t seem to consider the fact that it was the women who defended their families so that their sons could live long enough to become men. This is not to say that women cannot fight in a time of war. In fact the Bible actually mentions a woman who killed the commander of an army in the book of Judges Chapter 4, but it does show that it is very important for women and men to help each other even if the role in which they do so might be overlooked by others. We should not discredit each other and deem people of either gender to be insignificant.
Although both genders have equal value some roles are more appropriate for women than for men and vice versa. The midwives God blessed for helping women were midwives, not midhusbands or midmen. When it comes to areas regarding sexuality it is appropriate for women to be treated by women and men to be treated by men to respect each other’s privacy. On an emotional and spiritual level as well depending on the subject it can be best for a woman to seek spiritual counsel from a godly woman regarding the situation and for a man to speak to a godly man. We can believe in equal value and maintain appropriate boundaries at the same time.
Picture originally found here
