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Exegesis On Exodus 1:17-20 A Brief Introduction To The Book: Historical Date
Exegesis On Exodus 1:17-20 A Brief Introduction To The Book: Historical Date
Immediate Context
Historical Date
Attempts to date the Exodus to a specific century have been inconclusive. 1 Kings 6:1 places
the event 480 years before the construction of Solomon's Temple, implying an Exodus at c.
1450 BCE, but the number is rhetorical rather than historical, representing a symbolic twelve
generations of forty years each.
Textual Date
The journey from Egypt to the Sinai wilderness took exactly three month (19:1-2). It would
seem logical that Moses composed the book during or shortly after the encampment at Sinai
(1446 B.C). Thus the book covers event that occurred sometime before Moses birth in 1526
To the event surrounding Mount Sinai (1446) .
Interpretation
V.17. The choice made by the midwives was to disobey Pharaoh’s command and reverence
God who is the life giver. They believed human life is precious and they could not kill the
babies.
V. 18-19. Egyptian women need the care of a midwife more than the Hebrew women who
were lively, robust and delivered the babies so fast that they didn’t need the help of a
midwife. By the time the midwife comes, the baby is born, washed and with the mother.
What could they do?
As far as the midwives arriving too late, that might have been true. Perhaps they just didn’t
tell the fact that their tardiness was deliberately planned. The Scriptures don’t tell us the
details here so we aren’t even sure if this was a lie or the truth. What we do know was: these
women chose to disobey the command because it was the wrong thing to do. Because they
did the right thing, the thing that pleased God
V. 20. They refused to violate the law of life. God blessed them for doing what is right in His
eyes. He blessed them with “households” “families” of their own.
Present application
Whom do we fear God or worldly authority? Is this where you are right now? Or perhaps
someone close to you is facing a hard decision, wanting to do right but afraid of the
consequences? Perhaps it’s at work, you’ve been asked to compromise, and it feels all wrong.
Maybe it’s a hard parenting choice and you’re getting resistance. Maybe a friend has asked
you to cover something up and you know you will lose the relationship if you say “no”.
I don’t know where you are now, or where you may be headed but I do know to be a woman
of influence for good for God in your world you will need to choose the right over the wrong.
Others will watch you; your influence will be affected by what you do. ASK God for his
strength, His help, to choose right.