Exodus 1:17
“But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive.”
The children of Israel served the Egyptians with rigor, but
the more they served the more the Hebrew women gave birth. Out of fear Pharaoh (assuming
the Hebrews would multiply, and when there falleth out any war, the Hebrews
would join also unto their enemies, and fight against them) spoke with the
Hebrew midwives “When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and
see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be
a daughter, then she shall live.
Shiphrah and Puah were in dire straits! With a heinous
decree laid to their power these sisters utterly refused to commit such acts,
but instead choose to fear the LORD. These sisters continued to keep the male Israelites
alive and when confronted again by pharaoh concerning this matter they said it
plainly: “Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are
lively, and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them.”
Regardless of
the consequence Shiphrah and Puah trusted in YHWH, in return the MOST HIGH dealt
well with the midwives and made them houses. The word “midwife” is a term which
reflects the role of nurturing and supporting a woman during her pregnancy and
childbirth. Midwife has two very similar
meanings: ‘a woman who is with the mother’ and ‘bring into being’.
Exodus 1:14-21
Exodus 1:14-21
