Five Unsung Heroes of the Exodus

When we think of the Exodus story, most often we think about Moses as the hero of the story. What we don’t often think about is that before Moses, the hero, entered the story, there were five women who are recognized in the Bible for their heroic actions while Moses was still just a baby. The truth is that without the heroic actions of these five women, there would have been no Moses to lead the Children of Israel out of Egypt.

In case you are new to the Exodus story or just forgot who these five heroes were, let me go over them quickly. The first two heroes were Shipprah and Puah, the two midwives spoken of in Exodus 1 that even though they were commanded by Pharaoh to kill all of the male babies born to Hebrew women they refused the command of the Pharaoh because they feared G-D as we read in Exodus 1:17 “Yet the midwives feared God, so they did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the boys live.”

The next female hero we read of is Yochoved, Moses’ mother, who after Moses was born, hid him until he could no longer be hidden as we read in Exodus 2:2-3: “The woman conceived and gave birth to a son. Now when she saw that he was delightful, she hid him for three months. But when she could no longer hide him, she took a basket of papyrus reeds, coated it with tar and pitch, put the child inside, and laid it in the reeds by the bank of the Nile.” By doing so, Yochoved placed Moses in the hands of G-D trusting that G-D would be faithful to her son. When she placed Moses in the basket in the Nile, Miriam, our fourth female hero, Moses’ sister, kept watch on Moses as we read in Exodus 2:4: “His sister stood off at a distance to see what would happen to him.” Pharaoh’s daughter found Moses in the basket and recognized that Moses was a Hebrew, one of the male babies that were commanded to be killed by her father. Then Miriam, at the risk of her own life, speaks up and asks if Pharaoh’s daughter would like her to get a woman from the Hebrews to nurse the child as we read in Exodus 2:7: “Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Should I go and call a nurse from the Hebrews to nurse the child for you?””

At this point we have covered four of the female heroes that G-D used to save Moses and ultimately the Hebrew people. I don’t think we give these women the respect and honor they deserve. Too often when we read the opening chapters of Exodus, we breeze past these heroes on the way to Moses’ “Let my people go,” the Ten Plagues, and the Parting of the Sea.

While the truth is that all four of these women risked their lives by refusing the commands of Pharaoh and they did so without simply because they loved and feared G-D, not one of them needed G-D to speak from a Burning Bush in order to risk their lives to save their people. They simply needed their relationship with G-D to propel them to their heroic actions.

While all four of these women had heroism in common, they also had something else in common, they were Hebrews. So it made perfect sense that as women who believed in the G-D of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, that they would choose to disobey Pharaoh’s edict to save a Hebrew baby boy. 

However, the fifth female hero in the opening of the Exodus story was not a Hebrew, didn’t believe in the G-D of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and didn’t disobey Pharaoh because she feared G-D. According to what we read in Exodus, she saved Moses simply because she had compassion.

Exodus 2:6 “When she opened it, she saw the child—look, a baby boy crying! She had compassion on him and said, “This is one of the Hebrew children.”

Of the five women heroes of the Exodus, to me Pharoah’s daughter was not just a hero, she was a super hero. Think about it. In a day when hatred of the Hebrews was the official position of Egypt as declared by her father the Pharaoh, she rejected anti-Hebrew hatred. She looked at a little baby boy who, according to her father’s edict, should have been killed. She doesn’t just have compassion and find someone to care for the baby in some secret way. She could have saved the child and not openly stood against her father’s edict. No, she knowingly and purposely rose up against the hateful decree and adopted Moses. She brought him into Pharaoh’s household so she could raise him as her own. Like the other four women heroes, she risked her life. But unlike the four others, she didn’t act because of her faith in the G-D of her fathers, she acted out of compassion for a human being. While it isn’t written in the Bible, it is Jewish tradition that when the Israelites left Egypt, Pharaoh’s daughter left with them. If this is true, then this is another great example of a wild olive branch being grafted into the olive tree of Israel (Romans 11).

Pharaoh’s daughter’s heroism reminds me of what Paul wrote in Romans 2:13-15:

“For it is not the hearers of Torah who are righteous before God; rather, it is the doers of Torah who will be justified. For when Gentiles, who do not have the Torah , do by nature the things of the Torah , they are a law to themselves even though they do not have the Torah . They show that the work of the Torah is written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness and their thoughts switching between accusing or defending them”

If you are a Jew reading this today, I hope you will rejoice in two things. First, in the knowledge that sometimes G-D chooses to use women as heroes in ways that bring redemption to His people. Second, you can rejoice that throughout the Holy Scriptures we see G-D using Gentiles in His plan to redeem His people.

If you are a Gentile reading these words today, I hope you will also rejoice in two things. First, that G-D has and continues to use Gentiles in His plan to redeem His people. Second, you can rejoice that you too can be a part of that plan by standing up against today’s pharaohs who are calling for the destruction and death of the Jewish people.

If you are a woman reading this today, please know that just as G-D used these five women in His plan to redeem Israel, G-D wants to use you in His plan also.