Shiphrah, Puah, Jocheved, Miriam, Pharoah's Daughter, and
the infant Moses.
Painting in Dura-Europas synagogue, in present-day Syria,
discovered in 1932, the last phase of construction dated by an Aramaic
inscription to 244 CE. Photo courtesy of Art in the Christian Tradition,
Vanderbilt Divinity Library.
Matthew 16:13-20
"Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell
anyone that he was the Messiah."
Perhaps he thought a movement, underground,
Would be more fitting for his church
Than something popular, and much renowned;
Who knows? The Lord, I guess. But search
The Scriptures and you'll see it's hard to find
Cathedrals, or a meetinghouse,
Or power, or wealth; for what this Peter binds,
Is us to Christ, despite our doubts
Faced every day that he alone can save;
We're free to follow him - or loosed! -
In church or out; but in, are people brave,
Because from love they're ne'er seduced.
Scott L. Barton
(It may well be that the terms "bind" and
"loose" are rabbinic for forbidding and permitting. But here I see
the former as forbidding our separation from God, and the latter as permitting
us to follow in the footsteps of the Lord of all.)
Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi,
he asked his disciples, "Who do people say that the Son of Man is? And
they said, "Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others
Jeremiah or one of the prophets." He said to them, "But who do you
say that I am?" Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son
of the living God." And Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon son
of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in
heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church,
and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of
the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven,
and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven." Then he sternly
ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.
+ + +
Exodus 1:8 - 2:10
Five Women's Disobedience
The civil disobedience
Of women isn't new,
Nor did it stop with just one case
Where midwives helped push through
The life that Yahweh had in mind;
Oh, no! This kind of birth,
Meant not for just a few back then
Is all about the worth
Of all - despite some despot's claim
That he could cleanse a race
Right off the map! His daughter even
Risks her own disgrace,
While Shiphrah and Puah, and Moses'
Mother and sister, too,
By their outwitting, show this LORD
Will never be subdued.
Scott L. Barton
(somewhat modified from its original publication for 8/24/14)
Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. He
said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and more
powerful than we. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase
and, in the event of war, join our enemies and fight against us and escape from
the land.” Therefore they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced
labor. They built supply cities, Pithom and Rameses, for Pharaoh. But the more
they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread, so that the Egyptians
came to dread the Israelites. The Egyptians became ruthless in imposing tasks
on the Israelites, and made their lives bitter with hard service in mortar and
brick and in every kind of field labor. They were ruthless in all the tasks
that they imposed on them.
The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom
was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, “When you act as midwives to the Hebrew
women, and see them on the birthstool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a
girl, she shall live.” But the midwives feared God; they did not do as the king
of Egypt commanded them, but they let the boys live. So the king of Egypt
summoned the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this, and allowed
the boys to live?” The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are
not like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the
midwife comes to them.” So God dealt well with the midwives; and the people
multiplied and became very strong. And because the midwives feared God, he gave
them families. Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every boy that is born
to the Hebrews you shall throw into the Nile, but you shall let every girl
live.”
Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a Levite
woman. The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a fine
baby, she hid him three months. When she could hide him no longer she got a
papyrus basket for him, and plastered it with bitumen and pitch; she put the
child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river. His sister
stood at a distance, to see what would happen to him.
The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river,
while her attendants walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the
reeds and sent her maid to bring it. When she opened it, she saw the child. He
was crying, and she took pity on him, “This must be one of the Hebrews’
children,” she said. Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go
and get you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?”
Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Yes.” So the girl went and called the child’s
mother. Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse it for me,
and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed it.
When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and she took him
as her son. She named him Moses, “because,” she said, “I drew him out of the
water.”
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