May 14, 2009
Commentary: Same Question, Different Answers: A Study of Exodus 1-2
By Janeen Bertsche Johnson
A major challenge facing Mennonites as we talk about national identity is our diversity of viewpoints about relating to the nation, its culture and its government. We are not a homogenous people. We have had vastly differing experiences with immigration, assimilation, displacement, war, military service, alternative service, slavery, political power, the civil rights movement and so on. The communities around us have responded to our presence and our faith perspectives in different ways, ranging from admiration to acceptance, curiosity, toleration or even hostility. To varying degrees, we have been shaped by the larger influences of our society, such as media (including popular Christian media), consumerism, patriotism, civil religion and militarism. These powerful influences have shaped our national identity.
No wonder we find ourselves with such differing attitudes about voting in elections, running for political office, expressing national pride, or protesting government policies or actions.
Facing such diversity in our understandings of national identity, how do we talk together? I remember a statement of a wise elder a few years ago. He said that we will be held together, not by having the same answers, but by asking the same questions.
In Exodus 1:7-2:10 the characters ask the same question about relationship to government, but they arrive at different answers. This story about the circumstances surrounding the birth of Moses asks, “How should we respond to government when we perceive it is using its power in an unjust or immoral way?”
A warning before we look closely at this story: As Mennonite Christians, living in the United States brings opportunities for both “promise and peril.” There are many reasons to be thankful about living in this country. The story from Exodus about the Egyptian empire describes both similarities and key differences between that ancient government and our own. We need to read this text without assuming that government always acts in unjust or immoral ways.
Exodus 1:7-2:10 is a text about power, identity and fear. The growing population of Israelites threatened Egyptian identity. The Hebrew people, an unwelcome ethnic group, had not assimilated into Egyptian culture and religion. The result was fear, especially among those in power.
The new king did not remember the history of the Hebrew Joseph rising to power in Egypt and saving the whole country from a terrible famine. All Pharaoh cared about was a perceived current threat. A people group might take over, turn against Pharaoh’s people or even leave and hurt the Egyptian economy.
The king’s first approach was to attempt population control through oppression, apparently based on the theory that if you make potential parents work harder, they won’t have energy left to become parents! But that didn’t work. “The more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread.” (1:12)
Then, Pharaoh turned to a policy we cannot fathom today: male infanticide. At first, it was a hidden policy, known only to the midwives. Later, it became a command for all the people.
In the face of this immoral command, we have the stories of five women who resisted the king’s command but in different ways.
First, Shiphrah and Puah, the Hebrew midwives, received a direct command from the king. They were to kill all newborn Hebrew boys – apparently before the mothers were aware that their babies had been born alive. But because the midwives feared God more than they feared Pharaoh, they disobeyed the king. Shiphrah and Puah are the first recorded examples of civil disobedience from our faith tradition.
Shiphrah and Puah could have faced death themselves for defying the king. But when Pharaoh called them in and asked why they hadn’t killed the newborn boys, they came up with a story that played directly on the king’s fears: “The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.” (1:19) In other words, “We are even stronger than you thought we were!” Now, we could debate the ethics of the midwives’ lie to cover their disobedience, but the author of the text clearly sees them as heroines. God dealt well with the midwives and gave them families of their own.
The story of the midwives shows us that civil disobedience is one possible answer to the problem of how to respond to a government’s unjust or immoral power.
Another response came from Jochebed, the mother of Moses. By the time Jochebed gave birth to Moses, Pharaoh had made public his infanticide policy in a command to all his people, both Egyptians and Hebrews. Any Hebrew baby boy was to be thrown into the Nile.
When Moses was born, Jochebed disobeyed the king’s orders by hiding her son for three months. But when it was no longer possible to hide him, she did a fascinating thing. She obeyed the letter of the king’s command and threw her baby into the Nile. It’s just that she didn’t do it the way Pharaoh intended!
We don’t know what kind of outcome Jochebed expected or hoped for. But her example gives us another option for responding to unjust power. Sometimes loopholes can allow people to technically stay within the law (although stretching its intent) without violating their conscience. Jochebed thought outside the box and was willing to risk the unknown results of her choices.
The fourth woman of the story was Miriam, Moses’ sister. When Jochebed put the basket holding Moses into the Nile, she placed Miriam as a watcher, far enough away to hide, but near enough to see what happened. Miriam saw when an Egyptian princess arrived and spotted the basket and must have been filled with fear. But when Miriam noted the princess’s response of pity, she moved in with an offer. “I could find a nurse for you, if you’d like, to take care of this baby.” (2:7) In another ironic twist, Moses’s mother ends up getting paid to take care of her own biological son and gets royal protection over his life!
Miriam represents those who monitor what is happening among those with power and call others to action when the time is opportune. She demonstrates that those willing to work with people can have power to thwart the negative impact of an immoral or unjust law.
The final woman in this story was the Egyptian princess, Pharaoh’s own daughter. Unlike the others in the story, she has influence within the empire. You could read this story in a way that makes her look like a fool – set up by Jochebed, duped by Miriam, and raising the very person who will later call terrible curses upon her people.
However, the story is more nuanced than that. Pharaoh’s daughter was not ignorant. She recognized the baby as one of the Hebrew children and had pity on him. She surmised that the baby was in the river basket because of her father’s command, and she made a conscious decision to save the child’s life regardless of what her father might say or do. She used her power and privilege to protect baby Moses from Pharaoh’s edict until Moses was too old to be harmed.
This is another possible response to unjust power. Few of us are insiders in the way Pharaoh’s daughter was. But in our global context, we are indeed powerful. As U.S. citizens, we have resources, if we are willing to share them. We have voices in our democratic government, if we are not too apathetic to raise them. We have privileges of freedom of speech and religion, if we are willing to use them on behalf of those without freedoms.
How many times has the Colombian church begged members of Mennonite Church USA to speak to our government about what is happening there because U.S. taxes fund the Colombian military? And how frequently do our Palestinian Christian sisters and brothers beg us to seek justice from our government, so they have a chance for economic opportunities and a chance to raise their children in peace? How few of us have spoken out?
Pharaoh’s daughter models the importance of confronting injustice by using whatever power we have within the political system.
The five women of Moses’ birth story demonstrate several ways we might respond when faced with the power of government being used in unjust or immoral ways:
- Using civil disobedience
- Thinking outside the box
- Monitoring the situation and calling others to act when the time is right
- Using our power to act on behalf of the powerless
We need to talk together and prayerfully discern faithful ways to respond. We may not all choose the same response. But together, we can grapple with the same questions.
Janeen Bertsche Johnson, campus pastor at Associated Mennonite Biblical Seminary, Elkhart, Ind., is a member of the Executive Board of Mennonite Church USA and the National Identity Task Force.