Christians sometimes have great difficulty understanding how to appropriate the “fear of the Lord” urged upon us by the biblical writers and of course God himself. If God is loving, how could one fear him? If God is love, how could he command fear?

The answer is bigger and longer than this, but meet Shiphrah and Puah: “But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live” (Ex. 1:17). Pharaoh instructed them to execute the male Israelite babies, but instead they feared God. They would rather displease a human tyrant and almost certainly endanger their own lives than disobey Yahweh. In this instance, fear means obeying God and not man. It’s never if you obey, but whom, and one obeyed is the one feared.

When asked why they spared the Hebrew boys, they showed not only their fear of God, but their cunning as well: “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.” And how does God feel about this lie? “So God dealt well with the midwives. And the people multiplied and grew strong. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families” (Ex. 1:20-21). I wouldn’t coin the slogan (though maybe I ought to) “Fear God, lie to tyrants, and have a family”, but pietism shouldn’t define the fear of God. Holy fear made these women saviors of babies. It put a slow and eventually a stop to genocide. And it caused them to righteously deceive one of if not the most powerful men in the world.