Like most people, I love a good story. The drama, the conflict, the resolution, the self-questioning of “what would I do in that situation?” And there’s no better place to look for good stories than in the Bible. It’s got everything—romance and betrayal, good guys and bad guys, peaceful leaders and blood-stained battlefields and mind-blowing miracles. Another thing the Bible has a lot of is people. There are more than 3,000 unique names in the Bible, with just somewhere around 200 of those names belonging to women.

That’s one of the reasons why the names mentioned in Exodus 1 are so very interesting. Allow me to set the scene: The Israelite people have been in Egypt for 430 years, originally as Pharaoh’s invited guests, but eventually as cruelly treated slaves. Those in power saw that the Israelite population was growing so they made their lives even harder, forcing them to join massive labor forces to construct building projects which benefitted only Egyptian society’s most elite as they honored gods and pharaohs. Verse 12 says, “But the more the Israelites were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites and worked them ruthlessly.” 

So Pharaoh sent for the Hebrew midwives, two women named Shiphrah and Puah, and gave them a specific directive. He told them, “When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.” 

Undoubtedly, Shiphrah and Puah were afraid when they went before the king of Egypt, the highest representative of the land. They could’ve obeyed this evil command and killed the babies they were charged to protect and nurture, but then their names would’ve been lost to us forever. There would have been no reason to record their story. Instead, they feared God more than anything Pharaoh could do to them.

When Pharaoh called the women back and asked them why they had let the baby boys live, Shiphrah and Puah did something that is normally frowned upon in Scripture. They lied. They said, “Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive.” These midwives applied what they knew of God, their compassionate Creator who values life, and used that lens to interpret how to proceed, even if that meant going against what Pharoah had demanded them to do. Their decision to disobey Pharaoh came from a desire to obey God. And we know that God agreed with their choice because verses 20-21 say, “So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.”

There’s been extra focus lately on how strictly believers should follow the commands set out by our earthly leaders, how much we’re allowed to question our government. Regardless of which side we might choose to vote in an election, if we claim to daily take up our cross and follow Jesus, we have to choose compassion. The world is watching.

So let’s remember Shiphrah and Puah as we meditate on the psalmist’s words: “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”