Femme Friday A Double Blessing!

Have you ever had a spiritual sister? Someone you worked closely with on a certain ministry? A co-laborer with you in day in, day out slog of life? Your stories are so interconnected, it would be impossible to separate the two of you? That is the story of our Femme Friday superstars today. 

Remember when I wrote about Miriam? She is the big sister of Moses, little sister of Aaron. Miriam was essential to the story of Moses. That he even lived to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt is a credit to Miriam. But, there are two other women who also had a big hand in the saving not just of Moses, but of many other Jewish boys during the time of Israel's Egyptian captivity. Their names are Shiprah and Puah. Very little is known about these two women. What IS known is that they may be the first examples of civil disobedience. 

Shiprah and Puah were Hebraic women. They were midwives. Meaning they helped the other Jewish women deliver their babies. Their job was common during the time. In fact, midwives still practice today. What makes Shiprah and Puah remarkable, is that they were midwives during the time of Israel's captivity in Egypt. Pharoah was getting hot under the collar because the number of Hebrews was getting out of hand. Pharoah ordered Shiprah and Puah to kill every Jewish boy born. As Pharoah, he expected to be obeyed completely. Pharoah didn't count on Shiprah and Puah being more afraid of their God then of him. 

Shiprah and Puah continued to do their job of bringing life into the world, but they refused to end those lives. They told Pharoah the Hebrew women were to quick to give birth. The babies were already born before the midwives could get there. Many equate Shiprah and Puah's reactions to those of people who helped along the Underground Railroad or during the oppression of Jews under Hitler and Stalin. 

What we can see, is that when confronted with the chance to do right in the eyes of God, or to do right by the law of the land, our default will be the law of God. Because He is who we will ultimately answer to. This is not license to do whatever we want under the flag of religious freedom. We still answer to Caesar. However, when the law of the land would cause us to contradict the mandates of Christ, may we chose to follow our Lord. Trusting in His provision alone.