We are in still in Exodus chapter one with our word for today which is a phrase. הָ֣אֱלֹהִ֔יםוַתִּירֶ֤אןָ feared God. It is used 73 times in the Old Testament. Our phrase identifies who one respects or fears not to go against. A good example is Rahab in Joshua 6:24. Not only did she hide the spies but she lied to the armed officers of her own country to protect these foreign spies who came to her for help. Why? Because she was more afraid to go against the true living God than she was to go against her own government officials. This is how our phrase is used in our chapter today. Exodus 1:15-22 Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives...“When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.” But the midwives הָ֣אֱלֹהִ֔יםוַתִּירֶ֤אןָ feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live. So the king of Egypt called the midwives. The 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.” So God dealt well with the midwives. And the people multiplied and grew very strong. And because the midwives הָ֣אֱלֹהִ֔יםוַתִּירֶ֤אןָfeared God, he gave them families. Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.”
This concept is called the law of the greater good. If the good one is trying to see accomplished is better than the good accomplished by following an already established law, then it is a good thing to break the lesser rule or law in order to accomplish the greater good. This can be used to cover up evil and has been throughout history. A good example of this is when Saul decides to offer the burnt offering sacrifice on the altar instead of waiting for Samuel the priest. 1 Samuel 13:11-13 Saul replied, “When I saw that the men were scattering, and that you did not come at the set time, and that the Philistines were assembling at Mikmash, I thought, ‘Now the Philistines will come down against me at Gilgal, and I have not sought the Lord’s favor.’ So I felt compelled to offer the burnt offering.” So in Saul’s mind he was justified in disobeying God’s law. Here is the difference Saul was the one making the determination if it was the greater good instead of relying on what God has already said about what the most important things are in his instruction. Telling the truth is important but when we already know that an evil person is going to murder someone else then by telling them the truth we are helping the evil person carryout the evil act of murder. So the midwives are rewarded by God because they let God define what the greater good was instead of Pharaoh. And what was Pharaoh’s justification for murdering the babies. He was afraid the people were becoming too numerous and might rebel against his rule. Instead of blessing God’s people so he and Egypt could receive a blessing as God has promised in Genesis 12:3. Instead of blessing God’s people they instead enslaved them and treated them harshly and now wanted to murder the baby boys to slow down their population. A good example of letting God define what the greater good this is in the New Testament when we see the apostles put in jail for sharing the good news about Jesus Christ. Acts 5:27-29 “We gave you strict orders not to teach in this name,” he said. “Yet you have filled Jerusalem with your teaching and are determined to make us guilty of this man’s blood.” Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings! I’ll close with Jesus’ words that sum this up succinctly. Jesus tells us like it is but then reminds us how valuable we are to God and that we can trust him to take care of us especially in an eternal way. Matthew 10:28-31.
