Sermon Central
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God Is In Control Series
Contributed by Bobby Oliver on Feb 26, 2018 (message contributor)
Summary: God was in control of the situation the Israelite's were in, and He is in control of our situation as well.
God Is in Control
- Last week, we began our study in the book of Exodus.
- It’s a study that I’m excited about because we’re going to be focusing on God’s honor all through this series.
- Honoring God as a church and individually is our focus for this year.
- Today, we’re going to look at the first instance where God shows Egypt and the Israelites that He is in control.
- He does it through the actions of two women named Shiphrah and Puah.
- They were 2 women who believed that God was in control, and as we’ll see in the text, they proved it through their actions.
- One of my favorite hobbies is reading books about the Civil War.
- Even though I support the Union, and I’m glad we won the war, one of my favorite Generals did not fight for the Union…he was a Confederate.
- The courage of Civil War leader Thomas Jackson is amazing.
- A fellow Confederate General told his troops during the Battle of Bull Run, “There is Jackson standing like a stone wall…Rally behind the Virginians!”
- This earned him the nickname, “Stonewall Jackson.”
- Historian Mark Brinsley wrote, "A battlefield is a deadly place, even for generals; and it would be naive to suppose Jackson never felt the animal fear of all beings exposed to wounds and death.
- But invariably he displayed extraordinary calm under fire, a calm too deep and masterful to be mere pretense.
- His apparent obliviousness to danger attracted notice, and after the first Manassas battle someone asked him how he managed it.
- ‘My religious belief teaches me to feel as safe in battle as in bed.'
- Jackson explained, ‘God (knows the) time for my death. I do not concern myself about that, but to be always ready, no matter where it may overtake me.'
- He added pointedly, ‘That is the way all men should live, and then all would be equally brave.'"
- As you can see, Stonewall Jackson is a man who understood that God is in control, no matter how dangerous the situation is.
- I believe the same can be said about these 2 Hebrew midwives.
- So in what ways do we see that God is in control in this passage?
I.) God gave courage to two women- Vs 15-17
- Last week, we looked at how fast the Children of Israel grew in number.
- They were growing so fast, and there were so many of them, that Pharaoh became concerned.
- He tried to stop their growth by giving them extra work, but God was in control of the situation, and continued to bless them with growth.
- Once Pharaoh realized he wasn’t going to be able to stop them from bearing more children, he decided to take a different approach…
- Instead of stopping them from having children, he would instead let them give birth, but if it was a male child, they were to be killed.
- So, Pharaoh was resorting to murder to try to solve his problem.
- But instead of doing the dirty work himself, he attempts to enlist the help of two women, Hebrew midwives named Shiphrah and Puah.
- There’s a difference of opinion among religious scholars about whether these women were Egyptian or Hebrew…
- The text says Hebrew midwives, which could either refer to Egyptian midwives who were assigned to the Jews, or Hebrew midwives assigned to help their own people.
- Either is possible, and it doesn’t really take away from the story if you interpret it one way or the other…
- However, I believe the evidence supports them being Egyptian women, for a couple of reasons.
- First, the Jewish historian Josephus, when writing about these women, refers to them as Egyptian.
- He was considered an expert on Jewish history, so his record holds strong merit.
- On top of that, it was the opinion of the early church that these women were Egyptian.
- Second, it’s more likely that Pharaoh would have trusted Egyptian women to perform the dirty deed, as an act of service to their country and their king…
- Imagine if he asked Hebrew women to murder their own friends and family’s babies…
- I’m pretty sure they’d have a very difficult time with that.
- So, if they were Egyptian women, there are some important things we need to notice.
- First, we read in vs 17, “But the midwives feared God…”
- Think about that.
- We’ve got 2 Egyptian women who have been raised in a pagan nation.
- But then you have the Children of Israel, raised to serve and follow God.
- How on earth do we find 2 Egyptian women who fear God?
