Did Faithful Ancient Israelite Women Ever Experience a Miscarriage?
“But you shall serve the Lord your God, and He will bless your bread and water, and I will remove the sickness from your midst. There shall be no one miscarrying or barren in your land; I will fulfill the number of your days” (Exod. 23:24NASB)
I remember thinking whether or not this passage meant that women who are part of God’s people would never miscarry or experience infertility. I can never imagine the pain couples experience in being unable to conceive a child, and the even more intense trauma of suffering a miscarriage. But, what of the faithful who experience these tribulations? Is God going back on His Word?
Moses is in no way communicating every single Israelite woman would neither experience a miscarriage nor infertility. The fact that elsewhere God clearly indicates some Israelite women would miscarry—as in the case of the law concerning two men fighting and a pregnant woman getting caught in the crossfire and miscarrying her baby (cf. Exod. 21:22-25)—precludes the idea that Exodus 23:26 promises no miscarriages. One could likewise deduce that some would have to grapple with infertility.
Exodus 23:26 is really an example of hyperbole. This type of extreme exaggeration is very similar to Jesus’ statement, “If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell” (Matt. 5:29-30). Rather than self mutilation, He is encouraging his followers to be mindful of the sins in all they see with their eyes and do with their hands. In the same way, Moses is communicating that when the Israelite people are faithful to Yahweh’s covenant, they will thrive as a nation and community; however, if they abandoned their covenant, forsook their God, then they would sever themselves off from the source of their existence, and their nation would fall.
It is true that God supernaturally open up the wombs of certain barren women, such as Manoah (Judges 13) and Elizabeth (Luke 1); however, are exceptional cases, and the Christian need not think it is normative for all.
There is no easy answer to comfort those who suffered from infertility and miscarriages. It is, however, a painful reminder that something is not right with the world we live. When we come face to face with God through the Scriptures, we do find that God made this word good, and that miscarriages and infertility was never intended. It was Adam and Eve who sinned and fell into a state of sin, suffering, and death. God, however, has also stepped into history to redeem what was lost. The Father sent the Son, who died upon the cross for sinners, and rose again the third day so that whoever believes would have eternal life. When Christ returns, the dead shall be raised, the righteous shall be raised to eternal life, and the unrighteous to eternal condemnation, and the cosmos renewed.
Maranatha.
I remember thinking whether or not this passage meant that women who are part of God’s people would never miscarry or experience infertility. I can never imagine the pain couples experience in being unable to conceive a child, and the even more intense trauma of suffering a miscarriage. But, what of the faithful who experience these tribulations? Is God going back on His Word?
Moses is in no way communicating every single Israelite woman would neither experience a miscarriage nor infertility. The fact that elsewhere God clearly indicates some Israelite women would miscarry—as in the case of the law concerning two men fighting and a pregnant woman getting caught in the crossfire and miscarrying her baby (cf. Exod. 21:22-25)—precludes the idea that Exodus 23:26 promises no miscarriages. One could likewise deduce that some would have to grapple with infertility.
Exodus 23:26 is really an example of hyperbole. This type of extreme exaggeration is very similar to Jesus’ statement, “If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into hell” (Matt. 5:29-30). Rather than self mutilation, He is encouraging his followers to be mindful of the sins in all they see with their eyes and do with their hands. In the same way, Moses is communicating that when the Israelite people are faithful to Yahweh’s covenant, they will thrive as a nation and community; however, if they abandoned their covenant, forsook their God, then they would sever themselves off from the source of their existence, and their nation would fall.
It is true that God supernaturally open up the wombs of certain barren women, such as Manoah (Judges 13) and Elizabeth (Luke 1); however, are exceptional cases, and the Christian need not think it is normative for all.
There is no easy answer to comfort those who suffered from infertility and miscarriages. It is, however, a painful reminder that something is not right with the world we live. When we come face to face with God through the Scriptures, we do find that God made this word good, and that miscarriages and infertility was never intended. It was Adam and Eve who sinned and fell into a state of sin, suffering, and death. God, however, has also stepped into history to redeem what was lost. The Father sent the Son, who died upon the cross for sinners, and rose again the third day so that whoever believes would have eternal life. When Christ returns, the dead shall be raised, the righteous shall be raised to eternal life, and the unrighteous to eternal condemnation, and the cosmos renewed.
Maranatha.
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