Obey or Not

DEVOTION

EXODUS

OBEY OR NOT

Ex 1:15-22

15 The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, 16 "When you help the Hebrew women in childbirth and observe them on the delivery stool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live." 17 The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live. 18 Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, "Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?" 19 The midwives answered Pharaoh, "Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive." 20 So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. 21 And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own. 22 Then Pharaoh gave this order to all his people: "Every boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live."

NIV

We are at the setup for the birth of Moses, but first we should deal with the situation at hand. The Pharaoh is trying his hardest to eliminate the birth rate of the Israelites by having all the male children killed at birth by the midwives. This may be the first attempt at social engineering. Males, of course not only would product more Israelites but they would grow into possible warriors that could overthrow the Egyptians. Our lesson is in the attitude and actions of the Hebrew midwives. Although we have been told within the New Testament to obey the laws of the land, which is those who have been placed in authority over us,

1 Peter 2:13-17

13 Submit yourselves for the Lord's sake to every authority instituted among men: whether to the king, as the supreme authority, 14 or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right. 15 For it is God's will that by doing good you should silence the ignorant talk of foolish men. 16 Live as free men, but do not use your freedom as a cover-up for evil; live as servants of God. 17 Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king.

NIV

Still it appears the midwives did not know about this statement recorded in 1 Peter. Instead we have an example of exactly the opposite, not obeying the every authority instituted among men such as the king, the Pharaoh who was the supreme authority. Was it no God’s will for them to obey the command of Pharaoh? What we are told is their disobedience to Pharaoh was a result of their faith, their fearing God. It is one thing to live life under the authority of the land in which we live. We know the laws and pretty much confine ourselves to live within the constraints of them, except for those occasions we think we can get away with it.  That is to say we should abide by the rules of the road, which means, no speeding ever. When we speed we are disobedient to God, it is sin. We know we should not steal, such as cheating on our taxes. There may be other laws we think are not proper or are an evasion of our privacy and thus we tend to ignore them. Whatever the case, we should be living as believers in a land obeying all the laws showing our good behavior, which would silence any foolish talk about Christians. But when it comes to the will of God, this has a different story. When God’s will supersedes the law of the land, we need to obey God first.

Acts 4:18-20

18 Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John replied, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. 20 For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard."

NIV

Without recounting the whole of chapter four, this passage has the main point. Peter and John refused the law of those in authority over them, their religious leaders so to speak, because they were imposing a rule against the will of God. We need to be careful here, not to interpret this to mean we can refuse to obey the speed limit because God wants to get someplace right now. We cannot excuse the disobedience of the law except when it comes as a result of being restricted sharing the gospel, healing the sick in the name of Jesus, giving more than the law allows, or whatever else God desires us to do in his name. When the government declares pastors or churches must marry same sex people, then no matter the cost, we need to refuse that law for it clearly violates the law of God. It does not mean we should no love them, but we cannot follow that law. Because the midwives obeyed God rather than Pharaoh, God blessed them and gave them families of their own. Yes, we should live among the world being fine examples of law abiding citizens, but not at the expense of the gospel. When we stand up for God, he stands up for us. Live good lives among the people, but never relinquish our command to share the gospel.