Exodus 1:8—2:10
8Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. 9He said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than we. 10Come, 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.” 11Therefore they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor. They built supply cities, Pithom and Rameses, for Pharaoh. 12But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread, so that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites. 13The Egyptians became ruthless in imposing tasks on the Israelites, 14and 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. 15The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, 16“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.” 17But the midwives feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but they let the boys live. 18So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this, and allowed the boys to live?” 19The 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.” 20So God dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied and became very strong. 21And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families. 22Then 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.”2Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman. 2The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a fine baby, she hid him three months. 3When 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. 4His sister stood at a distance, to see what would happen to him. 5The 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. 6When 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. 7Then 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?” 8Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Yes.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. 9Pharaoh’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. 10When 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.”
Every generation is fascinated with the story of Moses. Depending on your generation you may have seen The Ten Commandments or Prince of Egypt. Some of us with grandchildren may know both! For us Christians, the story of Moses leading the enslaved Hebrews through the Red Sea into the freedom of the Promised Land resonates in our hearts as more than a beloved story from Sunday School. Jesus selected Passover, the annual celebration of the liberation of an enslaved people from Egypt, as the background for his passing over from death to new life.
That story of liberation echoes throughout African American history as the defining story of American slaves receiving from God their freedom. The story of Moses and the Hebrew slaves endures as the defining story of every people who find themselves relying on God alone to bring them freedom and liberation.
Today, we focus on the beginning of that story. Did you notice how women dominate the story of the birth of Moses? Did you notice how water plays such a prominent role in that story? The central image of the story of Exodus can be nothing other than water – a most feminine symbol. The waters of the Red Sea part and allow the Jewish slaves are reborn into free people in the promised land. Those same waters which save the Jewish slaves become the instrument of death for their Egyptian overlords. We find hints of the importance of water in today’s reading. When Pharaoh commands the Egyptian people to kill the Jewish male children, he commands that they be thrown into water.
Women begin the work of overthrowing the injustices of Pharaoh’s system. Another group of women, including Pharaoh’s daughter, see that the infant Moses and she saves the child from Pharaoh’s evil plans. How ironic that Pharaoh’s household will be overthrown by the royal daughter’s adopted son. The Hebrew midwives, Shiphard and Puah, are introduced to us as rebel agents of God working against the evil plans of Pharaoh. Notice how they act without any male collaborators and thwart the evil designs of an Egyptian ruler overwhelmed by fear. Moses’ mother and sister also undermine Pharaoh. While Moses’ mother acts against that command, she brings her child to the river and floats him in a basket on the water. Perhaps you will appreciate that when Jesus works his act of liberation through the cross the people who stand with him at the cross are women.
As we begin the story of Moses and the liberation of God’s people from Egyptian slavery, can ask ourselves where is God acting today to bring liberation to enslaved people? Perhaps we can begin with those communities who found in Exodus the hope of their liberation. We know the names of the big women players in the black and brown civil rights movements: Rosa Parks, Coretta Scott King, Josephine Baker, Isabel Allende, Sonia Sotomayor, Rita Moreno.
What about the forgotten ones? The ones like Moses’ mother and his sister? Amelia Boynton registered people to vote in Alabama from the 1930’s through the 1950’s. When Dr. King raised the issue of voting rights in Alabama, Amelia found an ally in the work she was doing. On Bloody Sunday, she was attacked on the Edmund Pettus Bridge as were so many other unnamed women. When the nation saw the brutality of white racism attacking non-violent protestors, the passage of the voting rights act would follow and follow quickly.
Dolores Huerta collaborated with Cesar Chavez in the work of organizing farm workers in their struggle for equitable pay and working conditions. You may have heard the phrase used in Brown Civil Rights work: Si, Se Puedo, Yes, You Can. Dolores first used that phrase. Perhaps you recall the boycott of grapes. Perhaps you recall that brown agricultural workers fared better after Dolores secured their rights and benefits.
Amelia and Dolores would not think of themselves as important players in the movement for black and brown civil rights. Both played significant roles in those movements for liberation. We see that God does not neglect the marginalized and persecuted. God steps up and comes to their help. People like you and me, people who did not think of ourselves as somebodies in the world, you are chosen by God for that work. Find that place where you can raise your voice, find that place where you can lift someone who is on the bottom, find that place where other Christians are making a difference. There you will find your place where God can bring freedom into the world through you, through people like you. Prophets, God’s prophets, birthing God’s reign of justice.