Together, Women are Empowered to be Fearless

Exodus: I: 6 through 2: 1-10

The Dalit women of India suffer untold discrimination of all sorts because of a fixed notion,
determined at birth that relegates them to a state of servitude and exploitation. The term
Dalit means oppressed. The Dalits are discounted as no people and the Dalit women are
triple oppressed because of their so called low caste status, because they are poor and
therefore vulnerable and because they are women who could be exploited further.
Like the film clipping on the stories of womens empowerment, the Exodus story in these
chapters is a claiming of power not to be afraid; a story of liberation from bondage. It is all
the more exhilarating that such a story of transformation is enacted by an all women team
who transcended boundaries and rules that fixed them to a state of helplessness. It informs
the women of today of what women are capable of doing together and challenges us today to
forge alliances across boundaries of class, ethnicity, race and language in order to save lives.
The women in this story did what they could in their limited spheres, without knowing what
the other women were up to, but collectively it became a well planned strategy to safeguard
the life of a child. It was not a political story, it is not a story of a male prophet, it is not a
story of redemption of a particular people, but a story of womens power, a web of
interconnectedness that sustained a life. It is a story of not giving up when all the odds were
against them. It is good to start reading from Chapter 1, verse 6 through to Chapter 2, verse
10 to fully grasp the background to the story.
The story is more than 3000 years old and spans a generation in which there was a Pharaoh
who had a bad dream but did not know what it meant. Joseph, a Hebrew and a slave, bought
by an Egyptian, had been interred in prison by a false accusation. But by interpreting the
dream of the Pharaoh which warned him of an impending famine that would last for 7 years,
Joseph was able to save the lives of all the Egyptians. Joseph also had the wisdom to propose
what should be done to safeguard the people. Because of his guidance people were saved not
only in Egypt but also in the surrounding countries. Egypt becomes more powerful and
prosperous by selling grains to its neighboring countries under famine and of course the
Pharaoh profited from all this. But within the space of one generation, such a remarkable
story was forgotten.
It is not easy to determine who this Pharaoh was in history. What is very clear is that the
Pharaoh made a plan to exterminate the male children of the Hebrews in a very cunning and
clandestine way because he feared that the Hebrews were increasing in number. Such an
unease and anti migrant stance is becoming a reality in some countries even today.
Oppression always starts in a clandestine way at first. Often, the oppressor looks for some
people as colluders from within the community he wants to oppress, and influences them to
betray their own people through bribery or threats. In this instance it was a command to the
midwives to kill the male babies of the Hebrews. But as women who feared God and
respected lives, the midwives circumvented his instructions by purposely delaying their going
to the birthing Hebrew wives and gave that as an excuse for their inability to kill the male
babies. When such a clandestine effort to exterminate the Hebrews proved to be ineffective,
the Pharaoh came up with a more daring plan which conscripted the public it self. People
were asked to participate in the slaughter. The imperatives you will throw and you will
keep alive are plural in Hebrew, indicating that the people were to carry out this command.
Why did the Pharaoh come up with the plan to throw the babies into the river Nile instead of
A 2010 Lenten Study compiled by the World Council of Churches, the World Student Christian Federation
and the World YWCA. http://women.overcomingviolence.org Bible Study created by Priscilla Singh

having them killed in some other way? One reason is to get rid of the Hebrew male babies.
(Girl children can always be taken as concubines or servants or made to give birth to
Egyptian children.) But the other reason is that he could find favor with the Egyptian
Goddess Hapi who was personified by the river Nile that was the lifeline of ancient Egypt.
Seasonal festivals were observed along the banks of the Nile in honor of Hapi and
occasionally human sacrifices were offered to the river Goddess who will only be too pleased
to make the land more prosperous by its life giving waters. The Pharaoh must have thought
that he had found a brilliant solution to a problem that he saw and a rich reward that he would
reap by finding favor with the river Goddess through a mass of human sacrifice!
It is interesting to note that none of the names of the people involved are mentioned in this
chapter. The child Moses parents are known only as from the Levite tribe. When the text is
read, it appears as though Moses was their first born son which is not true. Because there is
immediately the mention of his sister Miriam who would have been much older because she
could clearly understand and play her role in talking with the Pharaohs daughter to engage
the babys mother as his wet nurse. We also know that Moses had another older brother,
Aaron who was three years older than Moses. (7:7). He was not killed because he must have
been over the age limit given for the killing of the male babies.
Often in Gods scheme of things, people play vital roles which might look seemingly
insignificant at that time. But in hind sight, it could be seen as life transforming. Saving one
child when so many other children died appears insignificant and even horrifying. But it is
important to note that when the child became the leader of the liberation story of Hebrews,
even the powerless women who played a role are remembered. People who are nameless and
seemingly insignificant, not only have a role to play but when they play a role in Gods plan,
greater responsibilities and significance are added to them as well.
In this story even a papyrus basket has some significance. The word for basket is the same
Hebrew word (tebah) used to describe the vessel that saved Noah and his family from the
flood waters (translated "ark" in Gen 6-8). This word is deliberately used by the narrator and
occurs only in these two stories in the Hebrew Bible. In both stories, the emphasis is on the
activity of God in using the efforts of ordinary people to accomplish Gods purpose. In both
cases, the "ark," the instrument of deliverance, was carefully prepared by the people
themselves.
The mother who had been hiding the baby for three months had to let go of her son by
entrusting him over to God. She did as she was told; throw the baby into the Nile; however,
she safe guarded him by putting him in a basket carefully lined with bitumen and pitch. The
mother and the mid-wives were too powerless to openly defy the orders of the Pharaoh but
cleverly found some ways to circumvent them even while they made a pretext of obeying the
orders, a demonstration of subversive power that is life saving.
Any act of saving lives in an oppressive context cannot be achieved without the active
participation of people who are on the privileged side. The daughter of the Pharaoh was such
a person. However, she is also without much power because she was a woman even if she is
from the Pharaohs family. Her decision to take the baby out of the water and to have it taken
care of is a power that defies the order within the oppressors side. It is speculated that this
lady could have lost a child previously and was grieving. To condemn any living and crying
child to death is more than a bereaved mother could bear. Pain and suffering even when one

A 2010 Lenten Study compiled by the World Council of Churches, the World Student Christian Federation
and the World YWCA. http://women.overcomingviolence.org Bible Study created by Priscilla Singh

is on the oppressive side could connect people who are grieving on the other side and such
connections are necessary to bring about transformation.
Pharaohs daughter gave the child a name which means son of in Egyptian, but in Hebrew
language it meant to draw out. The name she gave him said more than she understood. The
irony does not end with the naming. The Pharaoh intended the waters of the Nile River as his
means of destruction of the children of Israel. But God used the waters of the Nile as the
means of Moses salvation. A daughter who the Pharaoh allowed to live, i.e. Miriam the
sister of Moses, is used to thwart the Pharaohs plan. Moses mother saved him by following
Pharaohs orders which she only slightly modified. One of Pharaohs own family members,
his daughter undermined his plan and saved the very person who is going to be used to
liberate Israel from Egypt. She, an Egyptian princess took the advice of a small, Hebrew
slave girl. Moses mother was paid to nurse her own child out of Pharaohs treasury. Moses
was placed in enemy territory, into the very court of Pharaoh and in fact was protected at
court. He got the opportunity not only to learn the skills of the royal court but also learnt his
own history from his mother.
Five seemingly powerless women outwitted the plans of the mighty Pharaoh only because
they dared to affirm life and did not think whether the child they were saving was kindred or
enemy. That made them fearless and ingenuous.
We all have fears: the most common one is of the fear of people in power and authority.
Some people won't take responsibility, because they fear that they may not be accepted by
others. It is normal to have fears but we should not allow these fears to overcome us. The
only way we could overcome fear is to have the fear of God and the power of God within us
that would enable us to do the right thing.
It is easy to talk about justice and fairness and selfhood in so called democratic societies and
to decry atrocities, crimes against humanity, war crimes etc. But these are impossible luxuries
for those who are in a dictatorial society, or are ruled by religious laws that are different from
secular laws, when disobedience could easily mean sure death. How could one operate in
oppressive contexts? The text teaches that our fear and reverence for Lord God and caring for
the life of all of Gods creation should supersede all other fears of unjust laws or ones own
self preservation.
The child later goes on to become Moses the Deliverer and Moses the lawgiver. But in the
story, we only see him being absorbed into the Pharaoh's court. Often one does not know how
God is at work. Ones initial hopes and plans may disappear under the power of those who
would destroy us. And yet, it is only as we trust God, and do what we can, that we can come
to understand that even when the Pharaoh seemed to have won, Gods plan was not yet
finished. What appears to be common and ordinary, or a coincidence, God may turn into
something wonderful.
One cannot discount this story as something from the dark and distant past. Tyrants and
totalitarian governments are always desirous of controlling even the birth processes of their
people. We have living proofs of these oppressions in the twenty first century.
One last question to ask before concluding is where were the men? All men were kept busy
and forced to make bricks for the Pharaoh which consumed their time, energy, and
imagination. They had become completely co-opted by the enslaved reality, their minds as
well as their bodies being brought under the Pharaohs rule. These women, on the other hand,
A 2010 Lenten Study compiled by the World Council of Churches, the World Student Christian Federation
and the World YWCA. http://women.overcomingviolence.org Bible Study created by Priscilla Singh

imagined that things could be different, at least for one baby. God used their imagination, and
even responded to their imagination. The women, determined, daring, and compassionate,
were available to a different reality. And God always uses whoever (and whatever) is
available. One empowered woman in India was convinced that she could lift up other women
from their powerlessness with the help of others across borders. The Exodus story is certainly
not a story of the past but one story each one of us could make as our stories of
empowerment.
The term used for describing the basket in which Moses was placed to drift in the Nile and
the ark which Noah was asked to build are the same. So I would like to use this similarity in
the world to conclude with a funny write up which could help us to remember who we are
and most importantly whose we are.
"Everything I need to know, I learned from Noah's Ark...
ONE: Don't miss the boat.
TWO: Remember that we are all in the same boat.
THREE: Plan ahead. It wasn't raining when Noah built the Ark.
FOUR: Stay fit. When you're 60 years old, someone may ask you to do something
really
big.
FIVE: Don't listen to critics; just get on with the job that needs to be done.
SIX: Build your future on high ground.
SEVEN: For safety's sake, travel in pairs.
EIGHT: Speed isn't always an advantage. The snails were on board with the cheetahs.
NINE: When you're stressed, float awhile.
TEN: Remember, the Ark was built by amateurs; the Titanic by professionals.
Affirmation:
A Nameless baby, a nameless woman, but no less acquainted with grief.
An aimless life of wandering, powerless to name the past, less power to be the future..
Aimlessness was not Gods Plan
Given birth by a woman with a name, a face, a power,
Named by a woman out of Love, baptized in the waters of her womb, cleansed in her
lifeblood
Blessed by tears from her eyes. Blessed I have power.cleansed I have lifebaptized I
can speak Named I am!

A 2010 Lenten Study compiled by the World Council of Churches, the World Student Christian Federation
and the World YWCA. http://women.overcomingviolence.org Bible Study created by Priscilla Singh