1. The initial scenes of #BlackIsKing show: a reed basket journeying across a river, Beyoncé nurturing a baby boy by the river, other women nurturing babies by the river. The narrative arc that develops does more theological work than many preachers have done. Here’s what I mean:

2. On the surface, this imagery is a reference to the Biblical story of Moses, which across history, has inspired people seeking liberation. If you dig deeper it's an ode to the people I like to call the “Women of the Exodus.”

3. While Moses is often centered in the story of the liberation of the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt, without women, five women in particular, there there would have been no Moses— no movement to the Promise Land:

4. Woman #1 + #2=Shiphrah + Puah. These midwives defied a Pharoah’s genocidal instructions to kill all Hebrew baby boys. They told him: “The Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they give birth easily, and their babies are born before either of us gets there" (Exodus 1:19)

[A misinterpretation of this verse has been used to sell theories and books about birthing like Hebrew woman that leave many women who find themselves needing epidurals very disappointed but I digress ]

5. Shiphrah and Puah provide one the earliest examples of civil disobedience for justice’s sake in written history. Their subversion sustained the birth of a nation and paved the way for one boy in particular to be born.

6. Enter Woman #3: When the Pharoah’s genocide by midwives attempt failed, he gave a command for every newborn Hebrew boy to be thrown in the Nile river. But a courageous woman, Jochebed, hid her baby.

7. When she could no longer hide him, Jochebed put the baby in a reed basket, placed him in tall grass at the edge of the river, and walked away. A remarkable act of faith and surrender.

8. And then, there is Woman #4: Pharoah’s Daughter whose name the Bible doesn’t tell us. She noticed Moses in the river when she went there for a bath. She knew he was a Hebrew boy, but she felt compassion for him and pulled him out of the Nile.

9. At this point Miriam, Moses’ sister (Woman #5) who had been watching the reed basket journey across the Nile walked up to the Pharoah’s daughter and said: “Should I go and find one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you?”

10. Home girl negotiated a deal for Moses’ mother to get paid to nurse her son. Scholars say she was about 12 years old when she did this. I stan a shrewd Queen. (Miriam was also a problematic prophetess but another story, another day).

11. The moment in scripture when Miriam fetches her mother & presents her to the Pharoah’s daughter as the woman who will nurse Moses is a beautiful moment where three women stand in the Nile river, across age/class, religion/nationality lines united towards a just cause.

12. Pharoah’s daughter adopts Moses after he’s done nursing and raises this Hebrew boy as her own right under her father’s nose. A woman who uses her privilege to do good. An ally.

13. Shiphrah, Puah, Jochebed, Pharoah’s Daughter & Miriam protected, nourished, nurtured & raised Moses who went on to lead the Israelites out of egypt. They are archetypes of women as givers of life, women as protectors, women as nurturers, women as wise & women as resourceful.

14. We don’t tell their stories enough. We don’t honor their legacy enough. And across history, we haven’t remembered the mothers of kings and movements enough. #BlackIsKing reminds us we should.

15. Those are just some nuggets from the opening scenes. There is so much about #BlackIsKing I still don’t understand yet. Like I said before, the lesson from Lemonade is a visual Beyonce album takes time.

16. But I am in awe of the many ways it is possible to see, know, experience and understand God. It is this same God Apostle Paul preached about to men in Athens using an idol in a shrine (Acts 17:22-23).

17. And if there are casualties, here’s the death I choose: I’m dead to lazy theology and fragile Christianity. My God is so much BIGGER.