Fear / Revere God

The Hebrew Midwives: Fear Over Pharaoh שִׁפְרָה וּפוּעָה

The first explicit acts of civil disobedience in the entire Bible are performed by two women whose names we know — Shiphrah and Puah — and whose rationale the text states plainly. Pharaoh commanded them to kill every Hebrew boy at birth. They refused. The reason given in Exodus 1 is not courage, not ideology, not Hebrew solidarity:

They feared God. Full stop. The most powerful man in the known world commanded them to commit murder. The fear of God outweighed the fear of Pharaoh. This is the practical definition of the fourth commandment: when the authority of any earthly power collides with the authority of God, God wins — not because of calculation but because of a settled orientation of the soul.

The result is recorded without drama: "Therefore God dealt well with the midwives" (Ex 1:20). God blessed those who feared Him rather than man. The Exodus narrative begins with two unnamed women who held this commandment in their bodies as instinct.

Joseph: Fear of God in the Dark יוֹסֵף

Joseph was alone in Egypt. His brothers had sold him. His master Potiphar trusted him completely. His master's wife wanted him. No one was watching. The encounter in Genesis 39 is the most direct test of the fourth commandment in the Patriarchal narratives — a private moral choice made when discovery was impossible:

Joseph does not say "I would shame my father" or "I would betray Potiphar's trust." He says: I would sin against God. The fear of God was his primary moral framework, not social obligation or personal honor. This is what makes him the supreme example of the commandment in the early Torah narrative — his morality was vertical before it was horizontal.

The result of his fear of God was not immediate reward. He was falsely accused and thrown into prison. The commandment does not promise that fear of God will protect you from suffering. It promises that God will be with you — and eventually the story of Joseph shows that God's presence through suffering was the means by which He elevated Joseph to the throne of Egypt.

Job: The Man Defined by Fear of God אִיּוֹב

When the book of Job opens, God speaks to the adversary about Job and uses language that is the highest compliment Scripture gives to any human being:

The description has four parts: perfect, upright, fearing God, turning from evil. But the adversary's challenge targets the fear: "Does Job fear God for nothing?" — implying that Job's fear is transactional, purchased by blessings. The entire book of Job is God's answer to that charge. Job loses everything — children, wealth, health, reputation — and his fear of God endures. When everything that fear might protect him from descends on him at once, the fear remains.

By the end of the book, God says of Job: "My servant Job has spoken what is right." The fear of God, tested by total desolation, was genuine.

Nehemiah: Ethics Rooted in Fear, Not Law נְחֶמְיָה

Nehemiah was governor of Judah when the people were returning from Babylon. He discovered that previous governors had imposed heavy tax burdens on the poor and that wealthy Israelites were enslaving their own brothers for debt. He had the legal authority to do the same. He did not.

Nehemiah's ethics were not primarily legal — they were theological. He did not exploit the poor because he feared God. This is the commandment operating as an interior constraint that no external authority could produce. The previous governors acted within their legal rights. Nehemiah's restraint came from a different source entirely.

Proverbs: Fear Is the Foundation of Knowledge מִשְׁלֵי

Proverbs places this commandment at the very beginning of its intellectual framework:

Fear of God is not one virtue among many. It is the foundation upon which all other knowledge is built. Without it, wisdom becomes cleverness in service of self. Ethics becomes strategy. Even religious observance becomes performance. Fear of God is the orienting reality that makes all other understanding coherent.

Key Figures in This Commandment

Study Questions