Even today the Pharaoh, photographed last November as a mighty crouching sphinx, still seems powerful. But the book of Exodus doesn’t so much as give his name! It’s those who resisted Pharaoh’s cruelty on a grassroots level—midwives Shiphrah and Puah—whose names really matter. 

Scripture says trouble for the Hebrews began when “a new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph” (Exodus 1:8). A change of administration. 

Then this unnamed Pharaoh stoked paranoia about the supposed threat of immigrants, warning that “they will increase and, in the event of war, join our enemies and fight against us” (1:10). 

A modern version of such propaganda is that millions of immigrants are coming to the United States “from jails, from prisons, from insane asylums, from mental institutions and drug dealers.” Dangerous people. 

In fact, immigrants are less likely to commit violent crimes than current citizens. See https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-focuses-migrants-crime-here-is-what-research-shows-2024-04-11/  

Riding his wave of propaganda, Pharaoh set taskmasters over the Hebrew people “to oppress them with forced labor.” The enslavers “became ruthless.” Today immigrants get deported in shackles to India, Guantanamo or Latin America as though they were criminals. 

Do my evangelical sisters and brothers endorse such cruelty? I hope not. A Lifeway Research poll a year ago indicated that while “evangelicals are increasingly concerned about the number of recent immigrants to the US,” a majority “still believe Christians have a responsibility to care for those who are in the country illegally.”

The Lifeway Research poll indicated that “while most want to secure the border to prevent additional illegal immigration, evangelicals also advocate for a path to citizenship for those already in the country.” I pray that still holds true. See https://www.christianitytoday.com/2024/02/evangelical-immigration-reform-lifeway-safety-threat-econom/

Fellow Christians and all people of conscience, take inspiration from the midwives! Support immigrants in your community. Remember that most Americans today come from immigrant stock. Lobby our government for compassion, and find ways to resist.

One of the first commandments God gave the Israelites after they escaped the enslavers was, “You shall not wrong or oppress a resident alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt” (22:21). My family–and perhaps yours–once came to America as aliens. 

Exodus honors those who resisted injustice and showed compassion on a grassroots level. Midwives Shiphrah and Puah “feared God.” They broke the law to protect and harbor children of the Hebrews—who evidently were still regarded as immigrants even after generations in the Egypt (1:15-22).