“By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.” (Hebrews 11:23)
Let’s get a bit of the back story here. When Moses was born, the Israelites had been in Egypt for many, many years. The Pharoah who knew Joseph had died, and a new Pharoah began to worry about the ever-increasing population of Israelites, and tried to stem the tide.
His first ploy was to enslave them and subject them to forced labor (Exodus 1:8-15). But, contrary to his expectations, verse 12, “the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread.”
On to plan B. The Pharaoh instructed the midwives that when a Hebrew woman gave birth if the baby was a girl, she was allowed to live. But if the baby was a boy, he was to be killed (verse 16). Well, as it happens, the midwives “feared God” (verse 17), and let the boys live. They explained to Pharaoh that the Hebrew women had already given birth by the time they got to them, so they lost the opportunity to kill the baby.
Then Pharaoh moved on to give the order to all his people—not just the midwives: “Every Hebrew boy that is born you must throw into the Nile, but let every girl live” (verse 22).
And it is in this context that Amram and Jochebed give birth to the baby they named Moses. But there was something about this little boy. He is described as “a fine child” (Exodus 2:2). Maybe he was exceptionally beautiful; maybe he just looked too much like his father; we’re not really told. Perhaps, as some commentaries suggest, Amram received an angelic message about the child. But for whatever reason, mom and dad went to great lengths to spare little baby Moses.
Because they were convinced on some level that God would use Moses in some powerful way, they acted in their faith to hide him. Hebrews 11:23 says they “were not afraid of the king’s edict.” According to the NIV Commentary, “This lack of fear does not speak to the parents’ not having the negative emotions we generally associate with fear, but rather suggests a firm boldness in which they refused to shrink before the hostility of Pharaoh.”[1]
But let’s talk about the midwives for a moment. They clearly disobeyed a command from their king, and God clearly blessed them as a result of their act of civil disobedience. Exodus 1:20-21, “So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.”
But doesn’t Romans 13:1 indicate that we are required to obey governing authorities? “Let everyone be subject to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God.”
John Piper says this:
“I don’t think Romans 13, the first paragraph there, rules out all civil disobedience. Let me read just a piece of it, because it sounds like it does, and I admit it is a significant exegetical problem. So it says: ‘Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God,’… and those that exist have been instituted by God. Therefore, whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment’” (Romans 13:1-2).
“So there is the basic statement. We ought to be submissive to government, because government is of God, and it is a gift of God.”[2]
The article goes on to say, “Now if you step back from Romans 13 and say, ‘Are there any appropriate acts of civil disobedience?’ There are. Acts 5:29 says, ‘We must obey God rather than men.’”[3] Piper follows that with examples including these midwives, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego, and Esther.
Yes, there are times when godly people have stood up against an ungodly government and refused to obey an order. However, such actions should be the exception rather than a rule. As Paul Carter from the Gospel Coalition in Canada explains:
“You need to have a clear command of God if you are going to disobey because there is a clear command from God, as a general rule, to be in subjection to civil authorities in Romans 13:1-7. Therefore, you can’t disobey because you think a law is stupid or unlikely to work or probably unnecessary. The law of the land needs to forbid something God commands or command something God forbids in order to qualify.”[4]
And in the philosophical definition of civil disobedience from Stanford University, we read the caution that people who act so must be willing to “accept the legal consequences of their actions.”[5]
And finally, Roger Barrier writes in “When to Disobey the Government,”
“Let me make this perfectly clear: Disobedience of civil authority is justified when that authority requires us to disobey God. ‘When civil law and God’s law are in opposition, the teaching of the Bible sanctions, if not obligates the believer to protest or disobey’ (Charles Byre)….
“When believers feel that they should disobey the government, they must be certain that it is not because the government has denied them their rights, but because it has denied them God’s rights.”[6]
Bottom line, ordinarily and customarily, the Bible commands us to obey our civil leaders. He has set them up, and we must have extraordinary reasons for acting contrary to this command. We will find that on those occasions when we must follow God rather than men, God will bless our actions. But, remember that, as Paul Carter warned, “The law of the land needs to forbid something God commands or command something God forbids in order to qualify.”[7] In all other circumstances we must do as the Scripture instructs us:
- 1 Peter 2:13-14 – Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.
- Titus 3:1 – Remind the people to be subject to rulers and authorities, to be obedient, to be ready to do whatever is good,…
- Hebrews 13:17 – Have confidence in your leaders and submit to their authority, because they keep watch over you as those who must give an account. Do this so that their work will be a joy, not a burden, for that would be of no benefit to you.
- NIV Commentary, accessed at biblegateway.com. ↑
- John Piper, “Does Romans 13 Prohibit All Civil Disobedience?” https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/does-romans-13-prohibit-all-civil-disobedience ↑
- Ibid.↑
- Paul Carter, “A Few Principles on Civil Disobedience,” https://ca.thegospelcoalition.org/columns/ad-fontes/a-few-principles-on-civil-disobedience/, emphasis added. ↑
- Civil Disobedience (https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/civil-disobedience/). ↑
- Roger Barrier, “When to Disobey the Government,” https://www.crosswalk.com/church/pastors-or-leadership/christianity-questions-answers/when-to-disobey-the-government.html ↑
- Paul Carter, “A Few Principles on Civil Disobedience.” ↑
R.L. Wilson
R.L. Wilson has been on staff at the Ankerberg Theological Research Institute since 1982. Wilson’s articles draw from the perspective of someone who grew up in a multicultural environment, and who has been a follower of Christ for many decades.
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