The Skeptics Annotated Bible (57 page)

15 And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah:

16 And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live.

17 But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive.

(1.18-20) God rewarded the Hebrew midwives for lying to the Pharaoh.
86 Is it OK to lie?

18 And
the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said unto them, Why have ye done this thing, and have saved the men children alive?

(1.18)
“The king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said unto them, Why have ye done this thing, and have saved the men children alive?”

19
And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are lively, and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them.

(1.19)
“And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are lively, and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them.”

20
Therefore God dealt well with the midwives
: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty.

(1.20)
“Therefore God dealt well with the midwives.”

21 And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses.

22 And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive.

2
And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took to wife a daughter of Levi.

2 And the woman conceived, and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a goodly child, she hid him three months.

3 And when she could not longer hide him,
she took for him an ark of bulrushes
, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the river’s brink.

(2.3)
“She took for him an ark of bulrushes.”
The birth story of Moses is suspiciously similar to that of the birth of Sargon, an Akkadian monarch from the 3rd millennium BCE.

4 And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him.

5 And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river’s side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it.

6 And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews’ children.

7 Then said his sister to Pharaoh’s daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee?

8 And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called the child’s mother.

9 And Pharaoh’s daughter said unto her, Take this child away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child, and nursed it.

10 And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she said, Because I drew him out of the water.

(2.11-12) Moses murders an Egyptian after making sure that no one is looking.

11 And it came to pass in those days, when
Moses
was grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked on their burdens: and he
spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew
, one of his brethren.

(2.11)
“Moses … spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew.”

12
And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.

(2.12)
“And he looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no man, he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.”

13 And when he went out the second day, behold, two men of the Hebrews strove together: and he said to him that did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow?

14 And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the Egyptian? And
Moses feared, and
said, Surely this thing is known.

15 Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to slay Moses. But Moses
fled from the face of Pharaoh
, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well.

(2.14-15)
“Moses feared, and … fled from the face of Pharaoh.”
87 Did Moses fear the Pharaoh?

16 Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock.

17 And the shepherds came and drove them away: but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.

18 And when they came to
Reuel their father
, he said, How is it that ye are come so soon to day?

(2.18)
“Reuel their father”
88 Who was Moses’ father-in-law?

19 And they said, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and also drew water enough for us, and watered the flock.

20 And he said unto his daughters, And where is he? why is it that ye have left the man? call him, that he may eat bread.

21 And Moses was content to dwell with the man: and he gave Moses Zipporah his daughter.

22 And she bare him a son, and he called his name Gershom: for he said, I have been a stranger in a strange land.

23 And it came to pass in process of time, that the king of Egypt died: and the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up unto God by reason of the bondage.

24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.

25 And God looked upon the children of Israel, and
God had respect unto them.

(2.25)
“God had respect unto them.”
21 Does God respect anyone?

3
Now Moses kept the flock of
Jethro his father in law
, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb.