And the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives -- of whom the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other was Puah --
Forced labour had failed to stop Israel growing, so Pharaoh now turns to the women who attended Hebrew births. The verse names two of them — Shiphrah and Puah — and the chapter goes on to answer the question they raise: who will they obey?
Open force had not worked, so the king changed his method.
The oppression became more cruel still. It did not stop short of the most cowardly plans, carried out in a crafty and treacherous way.
The king's private approach to these two women failed, and one writer looks at what was really behind it.
The king's attempt to enlist the two Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah, in his service failed completely. So an order went out to all the Egyptians, allowing anyone to throw into the river every male child born to the Hebrews. Why was this? Political reasons drove Pharaoh and his princes (Ex. 1:9-10). But there was a deeper reason than that; for surely the enemy of souls was in all this, working behind the scenes to ruin the whole human race for ever, if he could. For if all the male children of Israel had been destroyed, Christ could not have been born of the house and line of David. On the surface the conflict was between Egyptian interests and Israel's. In reality it was between God and the devil.
Another writer traces the same enemy back to the first murder in the Bible.
Satan wanted to destroy the seed of Abraham, so as to make the coming of the Promised One impossible. The murder of Abel was his first attempt. Here is an attempt on a larger scale, followed by many others.
The command came from a king no subject dared to refuse. The midwives faced two claims on their obedience.
The king had passed laws to kill all the male children of the Israelites. It took a great deal of courage to go against the authority of the king. Killing all the male children would destroy the nation, but these midwives "feared God" (v.17). They put the authority of God above the authority of the king. It has always been so in the history of the testimony, in the Old Testament and in the New. There is an authority we bow to where it is legitimate and right and proper. But there is a higher authority we bow to: the authority of God.
One writer sets the weakness of these two women against the power of the king, and draws four lessons from it.
Pharaoh was an absolute king, and none of his subjects dared to oppose his will. But even these weak women are supported in their disobedience, because they judged it their first duty to fear God... We may learn, first, that the enemy is utterly powerless to frustrate the purposes of God. Second, that nothing can defeat those who are connected with His purposes. Third, that the fear of God can lift the weakest and humblest above the fear of man. And last of all, that every sign of faithfulness to Him is welcome to the heart of God, in a scene where Satan reigns as the god of this world, and oppresses and seeks to destroy His people.
God's reward to the midwives landed in the very area Pharaoh wanted to control.
The midwives put the fear of God first. Because of their faith, God increased the population of Israel still further: He provided households for the midwives (v. 21), that is, He gave them children.
One writer draws a rule from their example.
They would not carry out the king's cruel scheme, but braved his anger, and so God made them houses. "Those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed." (1 Sam. 2:30) May we always remember this, and act for God in every circumstance!
One writer puts the midwives beside Rahab, who hid the spies. He approves what they did, but not the way they did it.
It was right of Rahab to hide the spies, and right of Shiphrah and Puah to save the male children of Israel. But if they had had the faith and courage to do it without telling deliberate lies, God would have upheld them. We find that the deed is often approved though the way it was done is not.
- Fear misplaced. Pharaoh feared a growing people. When open force failed, he turned to a crafty and cowardly plan.
- Fear's real target. The line under attack was the line of Christ. So the real quarrel was not Egypt against Israel, but God against the devil.
- Fear rightly placed. Two women feared God more than the king. When the lower authority commanded sin, they obeyed the higher one.
- Fear that lifts. The fear of God raises the weakest above the fear of man — and shows the enemy powerless against God's purpose.
- Fear rewarded. God gave the midwives houses of their own. He multiplied the very people Pharaoh wanted to reduce. Those who honour Him, He honours.
and he said, When ye help the Hebrew women in bearing, and see [them] on the stool, if it be a son, then ye shall kill him, but if a daughter, then she shall live.
Pharaoh now moves from hard labour to murder, ordering two midwives to kill the newborn Hebrew boys and spare the girls. Behind that order lies a much older conflict, and what these two women fear will decide it.
The command was more than cruel policy. One writer sets it beside Herod's later fear of the Messiah's birth and traces both to the same source.
An attack like this, and like Herod's dread of the Messiah's birth, can go far beyond the ordinary evil ways of man. Such evil reminds us of the hidden wicked one, the old Serpent and the Devil, and his hatred of the woman's Seed. Here it is only a cowardly and devilish effort to thwart what God was doing with the sons of Israel, even through the midwives against the male children. But the fear of God in the midwives frustrated it. They refused the treachery and the murder the wicked king commanded, and God established them in their houses.
Pharaoh killed the sons and spared the daughters. His reasons were political, but commentators see another hand behind them.
Political reasons drove Pharaoh and his princes (Ex. 1:9-10). But there was a deeper reason than that. Surely the enemy of souls was in all this. He was working behind the scenes to ruin the whole human race for ever, if he could. If all the male children of Israel had been destroyed, Christ could not have been born of the house and family of David. So the conflict looked like Egypt's interests against Israel's, but it was really between God and the devil. God desired to bless men; the devil sought to ruin them.
The midwives faced a direct order from the king of Egypt. Commentators read this as the point where one authority must yield to a higher one.
The king had passed laws to kill all the male children of the Israelites. It took a great deal of courage to go against the authority of the king. Killing all the male children would destroy the nation, but these midwives "feared God" (v.17). They accepted the authority of God above the authority of the king. It has always been so in the history of God's testimony, in the Old Testament and in the New. There is an authority we bow to where it is legitimate and right and proper. But there is a higher authority we bow to: the authority of God.
Two women stood against the most absolute ruler on earth, and the king lost. One writer draws three lessons from that mismatch.
Pharaoh was an absolute king, and none of his subjects dared to oppose his will. But God sustained even these feeble women in their disobedience, because they judged it their first duty to fear God. The mightiest monarch in the world is powerless against God. He is just as powerless against those who stand with God and His people... So we may learn three things. First, the enemy is utterly helpless to frustrate the purposes of God. Second, no one can beat those connected with His purposes. Third, the fear of God can lift the feeblest and humblest above the fear of man.
Every measure Pharaoh took produced the opposite of what he wanted.
What a sad mistake, then, for a weak mortal to set himself up against the eternal God... The king of Egypt might as well have tried to stop the ocean's tide with his puny hand. He could no more prevent the increase of those who were the subjects of the Lord's everlasting purpose.
God answered their choice twice over. He rewarded the midwives, and He later repaid Egypt for what it did to Israel's infants.
Blessed is the record of the faithful Hebrew midwives... And God rewarded the actions of these women. They received honours; their families increased and were blessed. When Pharaoh saw his plan fail, he called on his own people to commit wholesale murder. They began to sow an awful seed. The harvest came years later, when the firstborn died and there was no house in Egypt without one dead. Galatians 6:7 applies to nations too: "Whatever one sows, that will he also reap."
- Fear — Two midwives feared God more than they feared a king who could kill them. That one fear decided everything.
- Refusal — Human authority is real, and we honour it. But when it commands what God forbids, we obey the higher authority.
- Enemy — Behind the throne stood an older hatred. Wipe out the boys, and Christ could not be born of David's family.
- Futility — Pharaoh's hand against God's purpose was a hand against the tide. The harder Egypt pressed, the faster Israel grew.
- Harvest — God gave the midwives households. He gave Egypt back its own crop when its firstborn died.
But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt had said to them, but saved the male children alive.
Exodus opens with a king who fears a growing people, so he orders two midwives to kill every newborn boy. Verse 17 is the turning point, and a nation's future hangs on what these two women decide.
The decree was not simply harsh policy. Writers read a deeper enemy behind Pharaoh's throne, aiming at the line through which the Promised One would come.
The attempt to destroy all the male children follows next. Satan, who is a murderer from the beginning, showed his cunning and power in this way. He wanted to destroy the seed of Abraham so as to make the coming of the Promised One impossible. The murder of Abel was his first attempt. Here is an attempt on a larger scale, which was followed by many others.
Kelly sets this cruelty beside Herod's dread at the Messiah's birth. Both go too far to explain by ordinary human evil.
A case like this, and Herod's dread of the Messiah's birth, can go so far past the ordinary evil ways of man that it reminds us of the hidden wicked one, the old Serpent and the Devil. It reminds us of his hatred of the woman's Seed, from the first to the last of man's day.
The verse gives the reason before it gives the action. Their refusal was not courage in the abstract; it grew out of what they feared most.
But the midwives, because their fear of God was greater than their fear of the king, did not obey the king's cruel commandment (v. 17).
Their social position made the contrast sharper. Pharaoh could not be resisted by anyone in his realm, yet these two were held steady.
Pharaoh was an absolute king, and none of his subjects dared to oppose his will. Yet God sustains even these feeble women in their disobedience, because they judged it their first duty to fear God. The mightiest ruler in the world is powerless against God, and just as powerless against those who are identified with God and His people... We may therefore learn how powerless the enemy is to frustrate the purposes of God, and how the fear of God can lift the feeblest and humblest above the fear of man.
This was not rebellion for its own sake. Writers draw a rule from it: real authority exists, and it has a limit.
The king had passed laws that every male child of the Israelites must be killed. It took great courage to go against the king's authority. Killing all the male children would destroy the nation, but these midwives "feared God" (v. 17). They accepted the authority of God above the authority of the king... There is an authority we bow to where it is lawful and right and proper. But there is a higher authority we bow to, the authority of God.
Another writer marks where that limit falls, and points to a moment when rulers crossed it.
Obedience to the powers that be is a sacred duty. But we owe them that obedience only inside the circle of their own lawful authority. Sometimes they step outside this circle. The rulers in Jerusalem did, when they ordered the apostles not to teach or preach in the name of Jesus. Such rulers must be told what Peter and John answered: "We must obey God rather than men."
The chapter does not leave their risk unanswered. In God's answer the writers see a rule that reaches far beyond Egypt.
The closing verses of this section give a helpful lesson. It lies in the conduct of those God-fearing women, Shiphrah and Puah. They would not carry out the king's cruel scheme, but braved his anger, and so God made them houses. "Those who honour me I will honour, and those who despise me shall be lightly esteemed." (1 Sam. 2:30) May we always remember this, and act for God in every circumstance!
The reward also matched the crime it defeated. Pharaoh wanted fewer children; God gave children to the women who saved them.
The midwives had faith to put the fear of God first. So God increased the population of Israel still more: He provided households for the midwives (v. 21), that is, He gave them children.
The lesson is not only for times of crisis. One writer turns it toward those who care for the young today.
These women feared God and they protected the male children. The nation grew strong partly because of their efforts, and because of the power God gave in protecting them. Dear sisters, what an encouragement this is! Pray for the children who grow up among us and protect them. Teach them, set them an example, and help them in the things of God.
- Fear decides. Two fears met in one room; the fear of God proved stronger than the fear of the most powerful man on earth.
- Fear lifts. The fear of God lifts the feeblest and humblest above the fear of man; weakness was no barrier to faithfulness.
- Fear draws a line. Obey rulers inside the circle of their lawful authority. When they step outside it, obey God rather than men.
- Fear is honoured. God made them houses of their own — those who honour Him, He honours.
- Fear protects. The enemy struck at the children to stop the promised Seed. God used two women to save them, and He still calls His people to guard and teach the young.