I’m teaching Blacks and the Bible: Studying the Scriptures through an African American Lens during the fall session of our church’s bible institute. So far, we’ve studied Hagar and Joseph. Tonight, we turned to Exodus and spent some time looking at the birth of Moses.

The midwives in Exodus, chapter 1, were instructed to participate in a mass genocide. But because they feared God, they chose to
preserve the babies’ lives. The courageous act of the midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, is in stark
contrast to the posture of Sarah in Genesis, who was complicit in the abuse and mistreatment of Hagar. We each took time tonight answering the question, “What does it look like to be an ally of the oppressed?”

Our responses were as varied as our life experiences.
In truth, there was no right or wrong answer.
I applauded everyone’s courage to wrestle with the question.

I love teaching.