[EGW editor’s preface:  This article was prompted by questions I heard asked – one asked about the Hebrew midwives during a Bible-study class and another about Rahab in a discussion.
     (For more tips on good Bible-reading skills, click the subjects Hermeneutics and Bible study)]

[go to: “Why did God prosper people in the Old Testament for lying?” Part 1; Part 2]
     Sometimes we read things in the Bible that strike us as confusing and questionable.  And so we ask questions hoping to gain some clarity, but then the answers seem even more confusing to us.
     For example, we might be reading the story about Moses’ birth, and we think to ask “Why did God prosper the Hebrew midwives for lying to Pharaoh?”  Or, we read the story about how the walls of Jericho fell down, and we ponder “Why did God reward Rahab with a home among the Israelites for lying about the two spies?”  Similar questions could be raised about Abraham lying about Sarah, Tamar’s deception of Judah, Samson lying to Delilah about his strength, David’s attempt to cover-up his affair with Bathsheba, and so on.
     In part one of this article, we will look quickly at how God views lying and then at the example of the Hebrew midwives.
     Lord willing, we will consider Rahab in part two.

     Whatever your understanding of God’s nature, it should come as no surprise to learn that God dislikes lying.  In fact, God’s dislike of lying is so strong and passionate, Solomon describes it as hatred.  “These six things the Lord hates, yes, seven are an abomination to Him:” we read in Proverbs 6:16-19, “a proud look, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked plans, feet that run rapidly to evil, a false witness who utters lies, and one who sows discord among brethren.”  
     (Notice how everything in this list either describes lying or else involves lying to present an false appearance of integrity.  And before you say “What does pride have to do with lying?” first remind yourself of all the times you ever heard proud or haughty people lie about their mistakes and weaknesses.)

     As we consider the Hebrew midwives, perhaps “Why did God prosper the Hebrew midwives for lying?” is the wrong question to ask.  Given God’s passionate feeling about lying, obviously He rewarded them for some other reason.  A better question might be “Why did God prosper the Hebrew midwives in spite of lying?”
     In Exodus chapter 1, verses 7-10, we see the Pharaohs’s concern about the many Hebrews living in his country — compared to the Egyptians, “the children of Israel are more and mightier,” and he is worried that “in the event of war, that they also join our enemies and fight against us, and so go up out of the land.”  Subjecting the Israelites to hard slavery is this king’s first solution, but they thrive all the more anyway.
     In verse 15 & 16, Pharaoh quietly advances to harsher measures.  He instructs the two Hebrew midwives to kill during delivery all the male children they help to deliver – “when you … see them on the birthstools, if it is a son, then you shall kill him.”  His apparent hope is to disguise these anticipated murders as still-born babies or natural deaths in childbirth.  However, these ladies fail to obey the king, but instead save the male children alive.  In verse 18, when he questions the midwives, they reply, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are lively and give birth before the midwives come to them.”

     Before we assume too much and quickly jump to the conclusion the Hebrew midwives lied to Pharaoh, we should be open-minded and consider they may have actually told the truth.  Why?

      The king did accept their explanation without punishing them … probably because he knew the Hebrew women really were generally more physically fit and active than the Egyptian women.
      It does seem very likely that two women serving the midwife duties for such a large population (tens, if not hundreds, of thousands) could easily get behind on the workload.  (Remember, they had neither telephones, paging services, nor cars to speed up communication and travel.)
      In addition to these expectable delays, they may have intentionally delayed when called to assist with a labor.  To ensure safe births, regardless whether their delays were intentional or not, they could have prepared members of expectant families about the basics of what to do.
      The Pharaoh’s instruction were specifically given to the two Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah.  They may have gotten around this technicality by discretely training apprentices and sending them to handle delivering babies.
      Even if the midwives were on time, they may have deliberately applied the king’s word a bit literally by letting their apprentices or members of the family handle the key moment of birth. Once the birthing was safely underway, the midwives may have purposely excused themselves from the room or house so as to safely miss the final moment of delivery themselves, thereby missing the prescribed opportunity to kill the sons while the mothers were still in the birthing stools.

More than likely, the two midwives told Pharaoh the truth and they also made some preparation and effort to able to do so, hence the credit in verse 17 that they “saved the male children alive.”  (Remember, the king tried to QUIETLY implement this massacre of Hebrew male infants and would not have conducted public-opinion polls among the Hebrews about this.  And how many Hebrew mothers do you think complained to Pharaoh that the midwives saved their sons?)
     On the other hand, it is possible they had lied to Pharaoh.  If so, then they sinned and God chose to prosper them in spite of that sin.  How can you or I really complain that God was inconsistent to reward them in spite of their sin when we ourselves have the same hope and desire of God concerning us?  “For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men,” Paul wrote of this expectation in Titus 2:11-14, “teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.”

     However, whether they told the truth or lied is not the deciding factor for God in this case.  Verses 20 & 21 tell us the real reason God dealt well with them … “because the midwives feared God.”
     “Because the midwives feared God” … doesn’t that remind you of something encouraging in Paul’s letter to the church in Rome?  Romans 8:27 & 28 – “Now He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession for the saints according to the will of God.  And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.”
     Something to think about.

[go to: “Why did God prosper people in the Old Testament for lying?” Part 1; Part 2]