God has always had a PLAN, and He will always have a PEOPLE.
The Scriptures are full of stories of ordinary people who might otherwise have remained invisible to us. Yet, they were hidden heroes—critically important to the unfolding of God’s Big Plan throughout history.
Among them were a few uniquely pivotal characters who had a special role to play. They arose at critical times as deliverers and, almost single-handedly, rescued the Jewish people of their day from complete annihilation.
Esther. Joseph. Moses.
Without these individual figures, the Biblical narrative would have been very different. Yes, as Mordecai reminded Esther, if she refused to act when it was within her power to help, deliverance would come from somewhere else. Someone else would do the job—and receive the glory. But thankfully, when the critical moment came, there were those, like Esther, who did not shirk their responsibility, but rather seized the realization that perhaps they had “come to the kingdom for such a time as THIS.” (Esther 4:14)
Moses was certainly one of these pivotal figures. He was chosen by God to be the “leading man” who would shepherd His people out of slavery. Yet he very nearly refused the role. Arguing at length with God, Moses came up with no less than seven reasons why HE was NOT the ONE to do the job. (Exodus 3-6)
But God was not convinced—not after all He had already invested in him. For from his earliest days—from the very moment he was born—God had been preparing and preserving Moses for this role. And He did it, in large part, through a supporting cast of six remarkable women.
Six courageous—“rebellious”—women.
Six women who each, in their own way, defied the expectations and authorities of their day to protect, preserve, and guide the life of a baby boy—and, eventually, a man—who was destined to become the deliverer of an entire nation.
They were not the “leading men” in this drama. They were not the ones turning staffs into snakes, nor were they the ones who would stretch out a rod over the Red Sea. But without them, Moses might have disappeared into oblivion—without ever rescuing a single Israelite slave, receiving a single Commandment, or writing a single word of Torah.
Author Rabbi Jonathan Sacks made this profound observation: “Without Moses there might have been no exodus. But without the heroism of these six women there would have been no Moses.”
Who were they? Let’s take a look:
Jochabed
—Moses’ “rebellious” mother who defied the direct order of Pharoah. (Exodus 1:16, 22) She hid her baby son at home as long as she could. Then, before casting him into the Nile River, as the cruel law dictated, she placed him into a water-safe basket first, and set him adrift. She hoped to make him unseen, yet seen—unheard, yet heard—unnoticed, yet somehow noticed.
It’s interesting that the edict was to kill the Jewish baby boys—not ALL the Jewish babies. Why just the boys? Because Pharoah hoped to remove the lion’s teeth without depriving himself of the lion’s strength. By killing only the baby boys, he would staunch the generation of new Hebrew warriors—but not new slaves. Boys became men who might ultimately rise up and defeat Egypt from within, but Hebrew girls had but one destiny: to became slaves. Pharoah didn’t need more enemies, but he would always need more slaves.
Pharoah, however, underestimated the resolve of Hebrew mothers. Jochabed, like every Jewish mother, said, “Not today, Pharoah. Not MY boy.” She surely knew that her role in her son’s life was not finished.
Shiphrah and Puah
—The two “rebellious” midwives who feared God rather than Pharaoh, putting their own lives in danger by defying the law of the king (Exodus 1:15-21).
Who were they? The original Hebrew text isn’t clear whether they were “Hebrew midwives” or “midwives to the Hebrews.” Though we do not know who they were or which people they belonged to, we do know that when the evil law was passed, these two women had the moral courage to disobey it. In essence, they knew they were being asked to commit a “crime against humanity,” and they refused to do it.
Here again, the life of Moses was spared, along with countless other sons of Israel, due to the moral courage of “rebellious” women, committed to do what is right and good—no matter the consequence.
“Therefore God prospered the midwives, and the people continued to multiply and grow very powerful. Indeed, because the midwives feared God, he made them founders of families.” (Exodus 1:20-21 CJB)
Miriam
—Moses’ “rebellious” sister who willingly stood watch over her little brother’s basket as it bobbed in the waters of the Nile. She courageously hid herself in the bulrushes—amid unimaginable dangers—guarding his life.
When the Princess of Egypt, Pharoah’s daughter, came down to the river at that very spot, clever Miriam quickly calculated the value of stepping out of the shadows of insecurity. She boldly approached the princess and negotiated a brilliant plan: to hire their own mother, Jochabed, to nurse little Moses—and get paid for it! (Exodus 2:7-9) Of course, this also allowed Jochabed extra time to give him his first instructions in the ways of the LORD.
If it had not been for Miriam, Moses might never have even known he was born a Hebrew.
Bithiah
—Moses’ “rebellious” foster mother, a Gentile, the daughter of Pharoah who defied her cruel father by rescuing a helpless Hebrew baby from certain death. (Exodus 2:5-10)
Though the Biblical account does not name her, a certain “daughter of Pharaoh” is named as Bithiah in 1 Chronicles 4:18, and Jewish Midrash suggests that they are the same person. She gave him his name: Moses—“I drew him out of the water”—and throughout his life, he was called by no other name than the one she gave him.
An interesting side note: Jewish tradition believes this daughter of Pharoah, Bithiah, was expelled from the house of Pharoah—and eventually Egypt—for bringing up a Hebrew child as her own. Whether that is true historically, we know not, but the Egyptian princess who rescued Moses out of the bulrushes will always be remembered with distinction for cherishing and protecting what is priceless—a life.
Zipporah
—Moses’ “rebellious” wife who recognized that, when Moses’ life was in imminent danger, she needed to take bold action to save him. (Exodus 4:24-26).
We don’t know a lot about Zipporah. She was one of the daughters of Jethro, a Gentile priest in the land of Midian. Moses fled there from Egypt—and there they met, married, and two boys were born. When Moses returned to Egypt, Zipporah and the boys were willing to go with him—and it was on this trip that Moses ran headlong into the wrath of God.
God had hand-picked Moses for this mission to persuade Pharoah into letting the Israelites go. He had instructed him, equipped him, and enabled him. But for some reason, in all his preparation, Moses had neglected one thing: he hadn’t performed the covenantal ritual of circumcision on his boys.
Zipporah was not an Israelite, and as the boys’ mother, she may not have understood the purpose in it. However, it became clear how important it was when—halfway between Midian and Egypt—God threatened to kill Moses over it.
Immediately, Zipporah went into problem-solving mode, and with a sharp stone, she got the job done. She must have already learned the value of obedience without full understanding, and because she took it upon herself to obey, Moses’ life was spared.
Think about it: Moses’ role in the Exodus, the miraculous crossing of the Red Sea, the Law given on Mt Sinai—all of that, and more, happened because Zipporah did what had to be done. The life of Moses was spared and Israel’s destiny was set in motion that night in the desert—thanks to Zipporah.
What each one of these women did mattered—in eternity. It wasn’t that they rebelled for the sake of rebellion alone. No, but in each case, they decided what was the right, moral, courageous, holy, godly thing to do, regardless of others’ opinion, judgment, or potential punishment—and they did it.
“Moses became a hero because he had ‘greatness thrust upon him.’ He led Israel not because he chose to, but because he was commanded by God. These women, however, were not commanded. They acted because they had a strong moral sense, indomitable humanity, and an intuitive grasp of what heaven asks of us on earth: they ‘feared God.’” —Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Women and the Exodus: A Biblical Exploration
Sometimes the people God uses to accomplish His greatest purposes are not the ones standing in the spotlight. Sometimes they are the invisible few quietly making a courageous decision—or simply doing the next right thing.
They may never realize, in the moment, the significance of what they are doing. But God does, because God has always had a PLAN—and His PLAN will always be accomplished by His PEOPLE. Whoever they are.
