Exodus 1 Devotional

Fearing God More Than Kings

“The midwives, however, feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt had instructed; they let the boys live.”Exodus 1:17 (BSB)

Exodus opens with a promise coming true under pressure. Jacob's family arrived in Egypt as seventy people, and now they fill the land (1:5-7), just as God told Jacob he would make them a great nation there (Genesis 46:3). Then a new king rises who does not know Joseph. He answers their growth with forced labor, and when that fails, with an order to kill every newborn Hebrew boy (1:16, 22).

God never speaks in this chapter. Yet the harder Egypt presses, the more Israel multiplies (1:12), and two midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, refuse the king's order because they fear God (1:17). God is good to them and gives them families of their own (1:20-21). Pharaoh has the throne, the taskmasters, and the river, but he cannot undo a word God has spoken. This is the God who stands behind his people even when he seems silent. Because he is the one finally in charge, you can afford to fear him more than anyone who holds power over you.

To think about: Whose disapproval do you fear most right now, and what would it look like to fear God more than that person?