Midwives

      This week's Sabbath reading portion is titled Sh'mot, which means "Names." The title, Sh'mot, is also the Hebrew name for the Book of Exodus. The title comes from Exodus 1:1: "Now these are the names (sem [shem]- name, memorial, monument, conspicuous position, a mark of individuality, by implication honor, authority, character; to mark with a sign, to designate) of the children of Israel who came to Egypt; each man and his household came with Jacob:" 

     Some who will be named in this reading portion are Moses, who was named by Pharaoh's daughter (Ex. 2:10), the Hebrew midwives, who intervened to spare the lives of Hebrew male babies (Ex. 1:15-20), and the LORD Himself, who revealed His name to Moses as I AM WHO I AM (Ex. 3:13-15), written in Hebrew as YHWH (each Hebrew letter may be interpreted as "Behold the hand, behold the nail").

     The two Hebrew midwives named in Exodus chapter 1 are Shiphrah (sipra/sapar - fair, brightness, beauty, most splendid, related to God's Spirit/pleasing, beautiful, bright, glistening, shine, brilliancy of sound as with a sopar/shofar trumpet) and Puah (splendid, to glitter, brilliancy, mouth). They had been brought before Pharaoh and directly commanded by him that when the (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) Hebrew women came to them to give birth, the midwives were to kill the (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) male Hebrew babies as they were born, but to spare the female babies. How unusual it was for the Pharaoh himself, the most powerful ruler in the world at the time, to have Hebrew midwives come into his royal presence and issue to them his direct command. The two Hebrew midwives ignored Pharaoh's command: "But the midwives (yalad - beget, born, bring forth, midwife, delivered, act as a midwife, help to bring forth, declare one's birth) feared (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) God, and did not do as the king had commanded them, but saved the (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) male children (yeled/yalad - child, son, young man/beget, born, bring forth, midwife, delivered, act as a midwife, help to bring forth, declare one's birth) alive (haya, haya - live, alive, save, quicken, revive, life, live forever, restored to life, preserve alive, keep alive)." (v. 17). The Hebrew word for "alive" includes the idea of restored to life and eternal life. As we can see from the Hebrew for "male child", the root word is the word for "midwife". The two are directly connected. There is no live delivery/deliverance without the midwife.

     Because of their actions: "...God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and grew very mighty. And so it was, because the midwives feared (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) God, that he provided households (bayit/bana - house, dwelling habitation, family, descendants as an organized body, temple, door/obtain children, build up, establish, made permanent, cause to continue) for them." (v. 20-21). 

     The Jewish Talmud (Sotah 11b), or Rabbinical Judaism, states that Shiphrah and Puah were close ancestors of Moses. It is a fact that directly after the account of the midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, in Exodus 1, comes the account of Moses' birth in Exodus 2. From the midwives who delivered children alive, God would bring forth the Deliverer of Israel, Moses.

     One of the interesting thoughts that I came across regarding this Sabbath reading portion and the Book of Exodus in general was that the LORD was birthing something. Because part of the meaning of "Egypt" in Hebrew is "double straits: narrow passage of water, narrow passageway, affording little space, confined in area, shut in, cramped, enclose, shut up, compress, limit, hemming in, fenced," the multiplying of the family of Jacob into the nation of Israel, coming forth from Egypt, is likened to being birthed through a narrow, confined birth passage.  The LORD told Moses regarding His people: "I have come down to deliver (nasal - draw out, pull out) them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land..." (Ex. 3:8).

     We see a similarity as Jesus teaches about the narrowness of the new birth into the kingdom of God and His righteousness: "Enter by the narrow/strait gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow/strait is the gate and difficult/narrow (thlibo - compressed, strait, contracted, narrow, to press hard upon) is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it." (Mt. 7:13-14).

      In this understanding, Moses, the Deliverer, leading the Israelites out of Egypt, can be perceived in the role of a spiritual midwife. Later, as the Israelites constantly complained and cried to Moses with their dissatisfaction and distress, Moses would cry out to God saying: "Why have you afflicted your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight, that You have laid (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) the burden of all these people on me? Did I conceive (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) all these people? Did I beget them, that You should say to me, 'Carry them in your bosom, as a guardian carries a (*aleph-tav/Alpha and Omega) nursing child', to the land which You swore to their fathers?...For they weep all over me...the burden is too heavy for me." (Num. 11:10-14). Moses was not always happy being a spiritual midwife to the birthing process of a nation.

     In Judaism, God is credited with having the heart and purpose of a midwife, as they cite Psalm 22: "But You are He who took Me (Messiah/Christ) out of the womb; You made Me trust while on My mother's breasts. I was cast upon You from birth. From My mother's womb You have been My God." (v. 9-10).

     In speaking about Jerusalem, the LORD speaks of finding Jerusalem as a cast off birth and who had not been tended by a midwife: "...your navel cord was not cut, nor were you washed in water to cleanse you; you were not rubbed with salt nor wrapped in swaddling cloths. No eye pitied you to do any of these things for you...but you were thrown out into an open field...loathed on the day you were born." (Ezek. 16:4-5). The LORD then said, "And when I passed by you and saw you struggling in your own blood, I said to you in your blood, 'Live!'. Yes, I said to you in your blood, 'Live!" (v. 6). The LORD midwifed the newborn Jerusalem, having pity on her. The spirit of the world on the other hand, like Pharaoh, will not assist in spiritual birth but will cast it off as unwanted.

     In Judaism the midwife is called meyalledet, or one who causes or helps with birth.  A Jewish midwife during a birth might traditionally recite prayers known as Tkhines which focus on asking God for a safe and easy delivery, for the well-being of both mother and child, and often include pleas for the baby to be born whole and healthy, with blessings for a good life; key themes of prayer also include invoking the compassion of God, referencing the stories of the midwives Shiphrah and Puah from the Exodus, as we read above, and expressing gratitude for the miracle of new life.           

     What does this have to do with us?

      The entrance into the Kingdom of God requires a new birth: "Jesus answered and said to him (Nicodemus, a rabbi), 'Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again (anothen - from above, from the beginning, anew), he cannot see the kingdom of God...unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God." (Jn. 3:3, 5).

     Peter refers to believers as those who have been "begotten again" by God, and "having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God..." (1 Pet. 1:3, 23), and writes about us being "newborn babes" (1 Pet. 2:2).

     As we look at the Hebrew word and meaning for midwife again: yalad - "beget, born, bring forth, midwife, delivered, act as a midwife, help to bring forth, declare one's birth", we can see the importance that the role of the spiritual midwife, both male and female, plays in the kingdom of God. Whether we are able to directly aid in the spiritual rebirth of someone, or whether we serve as spiritual midwives through prayer, the godly and faithful midwife is honored and valued by the Lord, as He honored Shiphrah and Puah in Exodus.

     In these times before the return of Jesus, spiritual midwives, whether male or female, play a special and beautiful role according to the prophet Daniel. Let's remind ourselves of the meaning of the names of the midwives in Exodus, Shiphrah and Puah: "fair, brightness, beauty, most splendid, related to God's Spirit, pleasing, beautiful, bright, glistening, shine, brilliancy of sound as with a sopar (shofar) trumpet, splendid, to glitter, brilliancy, mouth."

     Daniel describes special people of God, particularly associated with the latter days, in the following manner: "Those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the firmament, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever." (Dan. 12:3). There is a special brightness that accompanies those who lead others into the (narrow) way of righteousness. The way is made narrow by the fact that there is only one name under heaven by which we may be saved - Jesus. (Acts 4:10-12).

     Jesus said that He is the light of the world and called us to be the light of the world also, telling us to "let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven." (see Mt. 5:14-16). Part of being a shining light is to understand what it means to be a spiritual midwife. In Genesis, a picture is given of a seemingly reborn earth. Before this rebirth of earth, God called forth light. The Holy Spirit lovingly and tenderly moved over the dark and void earth to be in the position to usher the earth and all that would inhabit it into that glorious light. (Gen. 1:1-5). As it was for the rebirth of the earth, it is the same for the rebirth of each soul that comes to the Kingdom of God. There is a guided movement or transition from darkness into light: "...you are...His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called (kaleo - utter in a loud voice, invite, call by name, to bear a name or title, to proclaim 'today') you out of darkness into His marvelous light; who once were not a people but are now the people of God, who had not obtained mercy but now have obtained mercy." (1 Peter 2:9-10, excerpt).

     To learn more about being a spiritual midwife in the Kingdom of God, you can join me in my prayer: "Father in heaven, You called me to be reborn in Your Son, Jesus, and I ask that I may also pray, teach, and lead others into this spiritual rebirth by Your Holy Spirit. Let me serve as a godly midwife, cleansing, applying salt, and wrapping in the white linen of Your righteousness those who are being reborn into Your Kingdom of light and life. As a shofar trumpet, let me sound or proclaim the day of rebirth in each new spiritual life, and let me speak and pray the blessing of God to keep and nurture that new life. I bless and glorify Your name for the mercy You showed to me and countless others in calling us to Yourself through Your Son, Jesus. AMEN."

     *NOTE: aleph-tav written in Hebrew as אֶת, are the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. The meaning of the two pictographic Hebrew letters can also be interpreted "Adonai (Lord) of the Cross/Covenant". In the New Testament, these letters are translated as Alpha and Omega written as ΑΩ , the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. These letters are those by which Jesus Christ identifies Himself in the Book of Revelation: see Rev. 1:8, Rev. 21:6, Rev. 22:13. 

     

Exodus

The sabbath reading for this week begins the Book of Exodus for us. We have finished the Book of Genesis, which is B'reshiet in Hebrew, and "The Beginning" in English, and we discovered several important "beginnings" in it. The word Exodus traces its roots back to Greek and Latin, and means "the road or way out of". As we go through the readings in this second book of the Torah, we will be looking for how the LORD is revealing to us "the road or way out of". This sabbath reading is titled Sh'mot, or "names", and is what the Jewish people call this second Book of the Bible in Hebrew. This week's reading is from Exodus Chapters 1-4, as well as portions from the prophets. As the Book of Exodus opens, the Hebrew people's presence in Egypt had numbered under one hundred, including Jacob/Israel, his sons, and their children. "But the children of Israel were fruitful and increased abundantly, multiplied and grew exceedingly mighty (like a firebrand that stirs the burning coals to increase a fire); and the land was filled with them." (Ex. 1:7). The new king, or Pharaoh, and his court were "in dread" of the children of Israel, even after imposing hard bondage and bitterness upon them to try and stop their increasing numbers, which did not succeed (v. 8-14). The king feared that if an enemy tried to come against Egypt, the Hebrews would join with the enemy from their location inside Egypt. Pharaoh, the most powerful king on earth at this time, feared man, and the plans of men, and especially feared these foreigners who had never done Egypt harm, but good. Then Pharaoh had another idea since the hard labor imposed upon the Israelites had not reduced their numbers as hoped. He brought the Hebrew midwives before him and commanded them to kill all the male children that were born in their service to the Hebrew women (v. 15). In the Hebrew writing, the boy children of these verses is related to an untranslated "aleph-tav", or "Alpha and Omega" in the Greek, the name of Christ, the Messiah, in Rev. 1:8, 11, 21:6, and 22:13. The Lord had/has placed His Messianic name upon these children of Israel. This is another key to exodus, "the way or rod out of": "...for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:11-12). It is no coincidence that we now see a determined effort to kill children in our era as well. "But the midwives (yalad - beget, born, delivered, to cause or help to bring forth, declare pedigrees, to be created, to declare one's self to be born/pedigree) feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the male children alive...Therefore God dealt well with the midwives (that He provided households for them, or gave them families), and the people multiplied and grew very mighty..." (v. 17-21, excerpt). Pharaoh feared what man might do, but these women, who had been called into the presence of the most powerful king in the world, and had been given a direct command from him, feared God rather than man. The names of the midwives were Shiph'rah (supra/sipra/sapar - fair, brightness, beauty, adorn, most splendid, like the heavens that are made to be brightness by the Spirit of God, cleanness, to glisten) and Pu'ah (pua - splendid, to glitter, brilliancy). The names of the midwives are associated with the beauty, brightness and brilliance of the heavens as made by the Spirit of God (see Dan. 12:3). There is an interesting reference in Job: "By His Spirit He adorned the heavens; His hand pierced the fleeing serpent." (Job 26:13). The meanings of the names of these midwives are very significant, and have particularly special meaning to believers in Christ. Back to our story in Exodus: Pharaoh, not being satisfied with the non-efforts of the midwives on his behalf "...commanded all his people, saying, 'Every son who is born (yillod/yalad-see above) you shall cast into the river (ye'or - almost exclusively used to mean The Nile River in Egypt), and every daughter you shall save alive." (v. 22). The Nile River, referred to only as the River in the Old Testament, is the longest river in the world at over 4,000 miles long. It also played a major role in the ancient Egyptian pagan religion. It was considered to be the river way to be taken from life to death and to the afterlife beyond. God has a different and true "way out of", however. The Nile was also called "the Father of Life" and the "Mother of all men" by the Egyptians. The ancient Egyptian "Book of the Dead" was used to supposedly guide a soul through death. This is not the exodus or "way or road out of" bondage and death provided by our God, however. Our LORD God is the author of The Book of Life, or Sefer HaChaim, for He is the God of the living, and not the dead (Rev. 3:5, 20:12, Phil. 4:3, Lk. 20:37-38). Our God IS life, and He is living (Deut. 5:26) according to His Name, as we will read later. It is His desire to show us exodus- the true way out of bondage and death, and into life in Him. Roads not only lead out of somewhere, but into somewhere as well. The LORD would later prophesy against the nation of Egypt using their all-important river, the Nile (see Isa. 19:3, 5-15). It is amazing to know that the same river that Pharaoh meant for mass genocide, became, instead, the source from which a "deliverer" of God's people would be drawn, Moses. So far we have learned that "the way or road out of" (exodus) slavery in Egypt begins with the fear of the LORD, rather than the plans of men, even the most powerful of men, even of Godly men (see also Job 40:6-14). In order to save her son, when the mother of baby Moses could no longer hide him, she placed him in an ark of bullrushes sealed with asphalt and pitch and laid the child in the reeds of the Nile River (Ex. 2:1-3). Eventually, the ark was seen in the reeds by the Pharaoh's daughter, who had gone to the river to bathe. When she opened the ark, the baby cried, and she had compassion upon him, and claimed him as her own, and raised him: "So she called his name Moses (mose/masa - draw, to pull out, to save, to preserve) saying, 'Because I drew him out of the water'." (v. 10). Because of Pharaoh's daughter, we can also say that Moses was pulled out of death and into life. This is also a prophetic picture of what God would do for the Israelites, and what He still does for us. It is interesting to learn more about Pharaoh's daughter at this point. Although she is unnamed in this section of Exodus, the historian Josephus recorded that her Egyptian name was Thermouthis, meaning "first mother". She would probably have been named after the half-snake, half-woman goddess, Isis-Thermouthis. The Hebrews credit her with inadvertently being responsible for the redemption of Israel because she saved the baby Moses from the river. She was embraced and "adopted" by the Hebrews and given a new name, Bithia or Bityah, which means "daughter of God (YAH)". She is recorded again as Bithiah, the daughter of Pharaoh, in 1 Chron. 4:17-18, listed as part of the tribe of Judah. Outside of scripture, rabbis in the Midrash include Bithia, the daughter of Pharaoh, in the list of special converts to faith in God who entered Paradise while still alive. Along "the way or road out of", as we saw with the Hebrew midwives who shine like the heavens, God places those who divinely facilitate the way out for others by their obedience to Him. This is the meaning at the root of "Zion" (siyun - waymark, sign, monument, signpost, conspicuous guiding pillar), to be a waymarker or guiding pillar along the route of exodus, and to the City of David. This also should ring awareness "bells" for those who follow Christ. As a man, Moses was forced out of Egypt by death-threats from Pharoah, because Moses had delivered a Hebrew out of the hands of an Egyptian oppressor. While Moses was in exile, he met a man named Jethro, or Reu'el ("friend of God", pasture, shepherd, friend, brother, companion, special friend of God), a priest of the Midians, after having delivered Jethro's seven daughters out of the hands of abusive shepherds (Ex. 2:15-19). Moses was content to dwell with Jethro, and married one of Jethro's daughters, Zipporah (v. 20-21). While Moses was tending to Jethro's (aleph-tav) flocks, he led the (aleph-tav) flocks to the back of the desert, to Mount Horeb, the mountain of God (Ex. 3:1). Again, a name will have special meaning regarding exodus, "the way or road out of". Jethro (yeter/yatar) means "a cord, rope, string, remnant, other part, reserved, preserved, save over, preserve alive, excellence". As we saw previously, Reu'el/Jethro is a special friend or companion of God according to his name. We know that Abraham previously had this same kind of relationship with God (2 Chron. 20:7, Isa. 41:8, James 2:23). There is another group in scripture who were/are called the friends of the Lord. These are the followers of Jesus: "You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you." (Jn. 15:14-15, see also Gen. 18:17-19). Moses took the (aleph-tav) flocks of Jethro to the backside of the desert. "Backside" is the word ahar, meaning "afterwards, besides, following after, defer, delay". The believers in Christ came after the Israelites in natural time, but Paul taught us that we were foreknown by God and completed (Rom. 8:28-30). As it is written in scripture about David and the prophet Jeremiah, God knows us before we are physically formed and born (Ps. 139:15-16, Jer. 1:5). It is amazing to know this about our "beginnings". We are here now, but we were also there, in spirit, then! Let's finish our story of Moses for this week. Moses took the (aleph-tav) flock of Jethro to Mt. Horeb (a lower summit of Mt. Sinai, meaning desolate, destroyed, destroyer, decayed, slay, smite down, kill). According to the meaning of the word, this place is associated with death, destruction, decay, and hopeless desolation. However, it is about to become a place of a miraculous sign of deliverance and life, and where God will reveal His saving name: "And the Angel of the LORD appeared to (Moses) in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush. So (Moses) looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed." (Ex. 3:2). When Moses turned to see this great sight, the LORD called to him, "Moses, Moses!" The LORD said: "I am the God of your father - the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Moses hid his face because he was afraid to look upon God (v. 4-6). God said that He had seen the oppression of His people in Egypt, and heard their cries because of their taskmasters (nagas - oppressor, ruler, king, tyrant, exert pressure, harass, driver, tyrannize). The flames and fire that appeared from the middle of the bush were likened in Hebrew to the gleam on the tip of a spear, or a sharply polished blade of a sword. The Hebrew also includes the idea of the fiery wrath of God in this burning flame. This burning was a sign of war from God against the oppressive tyranny over His people. The bush that appeared to be burning was sene in Hebrew - a thorn bush. For Abraham in Genesis, the thorn bush held a ram for sacrifice. Here in Exodus, regarding the oppression of His people, the thorn bush contained the fire of the wrath and sword of God (see also Isa. 27:1). Then God said to Moses: "I have come down (yarad - descended, sink down, to be prostrated, brought down) to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey..." (v. 7-8, see also Eph. 4:8-10)). Not only would the exodus way bring God's people out of Egypt, but it would also bring His people into a good and large land flowing with milk and honey. The fire that burned (ba'ar) was kindled by the "dull-hearted, stupid, brutish, and barbarous", according to the Hebrew meaning of the word. At this time, Moses was commanded by God to return to Egypt to confront Pharaoh, and bring about the delivery of God's people, with the help of, and by the judgments of God. Moses was very reluctant, but God said to him: "I will certainly be with you..". (Ex. 3:12). A sign to Moses that God would do this was the promise from God that after the people have been brought out of Egypt, they will serve God on the very mountain where Moses was now standing, Horeb/Sinai. The message Moses was to give to Pharaoh from God was: "...'Thus says the LORD: Israel is My son, My firstborn...Let My son go..." (Ex. 4:22-23). Moses asked what God's name was in order to tell the Israelites if they asked. "And God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM' (haya/hava - was, has been, become, to be, exist, abide, continue, to be finished/to be, to breathe, breath). And God said, 'Thus you shall say to the children of Israel, I AM has sent (salah - let loose, send, stretch out, shoot forth, be impelled) me to you.' Moreover God said to Moses, 'Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: 'The LORD God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is My name forever, and this is My memorial to all generations.' (Ex. 3:13-15). That name of God given here is written with the four Hebrew letters Yod, Hey, Vaw, Hey. These individual pictographic letters carry the meaning, "Behold the hand, Behold the nail". This is the name of the Deliverer of Israel Who "comes down". There is only one exodus, and one Name, that is the "way or road out of' bondage to spiritual tyrants, rulers and death. Jesus said: "I AM the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." (Jn. 14:6). It is also written: "Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is His own flesh..." (Heb. 10:19-20). The exodus is not by the power of an earthly ruler, nor by the power of any man, nor pagan religion, but by the Way that the LORD has made for us. As we continue our sabbath readings in the Book of Exodus, we will see more of that Way out of death, and into life. If you would like to know more and walk in the Way of exodus, you can pray with me: "Heavenly Father, and Great I AM, You have provided Your people with a Way out of bondage and death, and into Your promise of life. I can see the identity of Your Son throughout the Way, and I want to remain faithful to follow and remain on this road that You have made for me through the body of Your Son, Your firstborn Son. You are our Deliverer Who sees our bondage, and hears our cries, and comes down. Fill me with Your Holy Spirit so I can learn more about the Way that You have made for me. I ask this in Jesus' name. AMEN."