This Sunday I am going to preach on this text.
Sometimes you gotta Shuck and Jive to get by.
The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, ‘When you act as midwives to the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, she shall live.’ But the midwives feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but they let the boys live. So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, ‘Why have you done this, and allowed the boys to live?’ The midwives said to Pharaoh, ‘Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.’ So God dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied and became very strong.1617181920
It has always interested me that the foundational text of African-American churches (for obvious reasons) is Exodus from the Torah and not from the New Testament (as you allude to here and thanks for the explanation of "Shuck and Jive" by the way.) That God is a God of Liberation (and this is clearly evident in Jesus' earthly ministry as well) is an important lesson we have learned (I hope) from our brothers and sisters in Christ in the Black Church and their experience in the Americas.
ReplyDeleteThanks Gord!
ReplyDelete