Commentary on Exodus 1:8-2:10

Cameron B.R. Howard

The command to know who you are and whose you are has become a clich in Christian
preaching these days, often overused and under-explained.
Even so, this simple phrase gets at the heart of the book of Exodus, which is dominated by
the theme of identity. In fact, the book of Exodus can be read as Israels response to and
explication for the questions Who are you? and To whom do you belong?
This weeks lectionary passage begins with a crisis of identity for the descendants of Jacob,
Israel, who migrated to Egypt to escape famine in the closing chapters of Genesis: Now a
new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph (Exodus 1:8, emphasis added). No
longer known to the Pharaoh as a favored people, the Hebrews become enslaved to him
instead. The crisis sets the stage for understanding the identities not only of individuals in
the book of Exodus, but also of the people of Israel and of Gods very self.
Afraid of the Hebrews increase in number and power, Pharaoh orders their midwives to
murder male Hebrew babies as they are delivered. Though the NRSV renders the phrase
Hebrew midwives, the grammatical construction in the Hebrew text obscures whether
Hebrew refers to the midwives ethnicity or that of the women they serve. The names
Shiphrah and Puah mean beautiful and splendid, and so they may be generic,
folkloristic designations for the women. Shiphrah and Puah could Hebrews, Egyptians, or
members of another group that goes unmentioned.
Regardless of their nationality, Shiphrah and Puah show that they fear God, not Pharaoh.
They do not carry out the kings orders, and to save the Hebrew boys they appeal to what
appears to be Pharaohs own prejudicial sense of the relationship between physical
difference and ethnicity. They insist that the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian
women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them (Exodus
1:19). The word here for vigorous shares the root of the word life. While deceiving
Pharaoh, that language also winks at the reader: the Hebrew women are full of life. Their
identity resists death.
Throughout the early chapters of Exodus, Moses will wrestle with his dual identity as a
Hebrew and an Egyptian. The beginning of chapter 2 establishes Moses Hebrew parentage
for the reader: there should be no doubt that, as the child of two Levites, Moses is a Hebrew
and, more specifically, a Hebrew from the priestly lineage of Levi. In the face of another
murderous edict from Pharaoh against Hebrew baby boys, Moses mother has set him adrift
on the Nile.
It is unclear exactly what she hopes will come from this desperate maneuver. If Pharaoh has
his way, the baby will be thrown into the Nile, but Moses mother prepares a basket and
places him gently in the water. The river that should be the scene of Moses death becomes

the place of his salvation. When Pharaohs daughter draws him out of the water, she also
delivers him from the water, so that his name, too, evokes life.
Though the text gives us no further details about Moses childhood, we can safely assume
that it would have been full of the trappings of Egyptian royal life, even as he may have
been taught Israelite traditions by his mother, whom Pharaohs daughter hired to nurse him.
(Steven Spielbergs film The Prince of Egypt imagines the context of the Egyptian palace,
as well as Moses crisis of identity, very well.)
Exodus 2:19 does give a hint of Moses outward appearance. When the daughters of Reuel
tell their father about their misadventure at the well, they report, An Egyptian helped us
against the shepherds Something about Moses appearance looks Egyptian, even
though we readers know of his Hebrew parentage. Like the Hebrew midwives, Moses will
eventually understand whom he fears and with whom he belongs: God, not Pharaoh.
Moses dual identity will reach a crisis point when he kills an Egyptian who was beating a
Hebrew (2:11-15). His vocational identity, as Gods prophet chosen to lead Gods people
out of bondage, will continue to be tested as the book of Exodus progresses. This weeks
earliest glimpses into Moses story set the stage for that unfolding drama.
This weeks passages detailing the midwives courage and Moses infancy are parts of the
broader story of the relationship between God and Israel as presented in the book of
Exodus. Israel will learn who God is, and they will learn that their identity is rooted in
belonging to God. In Exodus 3, God will reveal Gods name to Moses, declaring that this
God YHWH is the God of Moses ancestors: Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
God will refer to the Israelites time and time again as my people, claiming them, hearing
their cries, and delivering them. Pharaoh will ask, Who is YHWH, that I should heed him
and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and I will not let Israel go (Exodus 5:2). Like
the Pharaoh who did not know Joseph, this Pharaoh does not know YHWH. Pharaoh, like
the Israelites, will need some convincing about who this God is and to whom the Israelites
belong.
Lifting up the theme of identity in Exodus fits well with Jesus questions to the disciples
about his own identity in this weeks appointed gospel reading (Matthew 16:13-20): Who
do people say that the Son of Man is? and But who do you say that I am? The book of
Exodus and the Gospel reading alike show that even if questions of identity can be boiled
down to pithy answers, the phrase who we are and whose we are is understood most fully
when accompanied by the careful interpretation of the rich stories that have shaped our
understanding of ourselves and our God.