ALPHA MAAMA (A.M.)

Pulelulu Fepueli 22, 2023 

The Birth-Helpers  מילדת

KO E ONGO MA’ULI

EXODUS 1:15-16

THEN THE KING OF EGYPT SAID TO THE HEBREW THE OTHER PUAH, "WHEN YOU SERVE AS MIDWIFE MIDWIVES, ONE OF WHOM WAS NAMED SHIPHRAH AND TO THE HEBREW WOMEN AND SEE THEM ON THE BUT IF IT IS A DAUGHTER, SHE SHALL LIVE." BIRTHSTOOL, IF IT IS A SON, YOU SHALL KILL HIM.

‘EKISOTO 1:15-16

Pea me‘a ‘a e Tu‘i ‘Isipite ki he ongo mā‘uli Hepelū, ‘a ia ko e hingoa ‘o e taha ko Sīfila, pea ko e hingoa ‘o hono ua ko Pua. 16Pea ne folofola ‘o pehē, ‘I ho‘omo fai ho‘omo ngāue mā‘uli ki he kau fefine Hepelū, ‘o mamata ki he fā‘ele, kapau leva ko ha tama tangata, pea te mo tāmate‘i ia; ka ‘o kapau ko ha ta‘ahine, ‘e mo‘ui pē ia. 

The biblical story often turns up its nose at the "big people." In Egypt, the top dog is Pharaoh. Yet he is waved away; no ink is even used to record his name. But these two blue-collar women? Their names are recorded for everlasting posterity. As m'yalledet ("birth-helper or midwife"), Shiphrah and Puah were tasked with helping women yalad ("give birth"). In this story, however, they did more than that: they feared God, duped the king, and saved countless lives. In response, God "dealt well with the midwives" and "gave them families" (Exod. 1:20-21).

Women figure prominently in Moses' life. These midwives begin his story; his mother and sister save him; Pharaoh's daughter takes him in. Later, his wife, Zipporah, will rescue him from a divine attack (4:24-26). In a world in which women rarely exercised authority, God used these women powerfully in his plan of redeeming the world. All this set the stage for when God would call a teenage virgin, an everyday village girl, to bring forth our Savior into the world.

O Lord, who brings down the mighty from their thrones, uplift the low, the common, the overlooked.