Exodus doesn’t tell
us the name of the pharaoh that Moses opposed. (Scholars have debated this
riddle ever since.) Here is the most powerful man on earth at the time and it
never uses his name.
Yet it does tell us the name of the two
midwives that refuse to listen to that pharaoh and put to death the baby boys
of the Israelites.
Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was
named Shiphrah and the other was named Puah; and he said, "When you are
helping the Hebrew women to give birth and see them upon the birthstool, if it
is a son, then you shall put him to death; but if it is a daughter, then she
shall live." But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of
Egypt had commanded them, but let the boys live.
Exodus 1:15-17
The nation was promoting
these ‘late term abortions’ yet these women refused. And they were remembered
for their courage.
In our world today it
tend to work the other way. Sex selective abortion, especially in China and
India, have led to an estimated 23 million less girls being born[1]. Abortions
are mandated as a way to control population and families often want to choose a
son to carry on the family line. Even
when child limits aren’t mandated, abortion are promoted. Abortion is hailed
rather than abhorred. We may think this is a new issue but it one that been
around since the days of Moses.
Maybe we need some
women like Shiphrah and Puah who will fear God above the head of the nation.
[1] tps://www.newscientist.com/article/2199874-sex-selective-abortions-may-have-stopped-the-birth-of-23-million-girls/
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