EXOD20 Although the cause is noble, the proper action to take--often the consequences of the action of civil disobedience, both in modern times and certainly in earlier times--is incarceration, if not a worse punishment. That is the price one pays for this form of protest. And what makes civil disobedience so noble is that people are attempting to act within the law to protest a government policy or law. The acceptance of punishment without resisting adds to the moral legitimacy of the act. The attitude to the consequence can be seen in the commentaries to the first instance of disobedience in the Torah. The midwives did not kill the babies, and when asked by Pharaoh why they disobeyed him, they offered the excuse that Jewish mothers are different and that they did not need midwives In order to give birth. It is not clear from the text whether Pharaoh believed this poor excuse. What happened as a result of this protest? Pharaoh ordered all Jewish male infants to be killed by being thrown into the Nile. Therefore, their protest had no tangible results since ultimately Jewish babies were being killed anyway. We can learn from this two lessons. First, that civil disobedience does not necessarily achieve the desired results. Yet, that does not signify that people should not attempt to protest anyway, as the Torah obviously lauds the midwives' actions has something noble and correct, not wasted. Second, we also can learn that even when one is sure that nothing will be accomplished, it is important to ensure that the immorality does not take place through your hand, if you know it to be wrong (do you listen to the teacher to student?).