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.
And the king of Egypt called the midwives and said to them, Why have ye done this, and saved the male children alive?
Pharaoh's plan has failed, so he calls the two midwives in to answer for it in front of absolute power. His question — "Why have you done this?" — exposes what was at stake in a birth room in Egypt.
Pharaoh's order looked like state policy. One writer traces it back to a deeper cause, and forward to the Messiah:
Political reasons drove Pharaoh and his princes (Ex. 1:9-10). But there was a deeper reason than that. The enemy of souls was surely in all this, working behind the scenes to ruin the whole human race for ever, if he could. If all the male children of Israel had been killed, Christ could not have been born of the house and line of David. So the conflict looked like Egypt against Israel, but it was really God against the devil. God desired to bless men; the devil sought to ruin them.
The whole nation, and the promise carried in it, hung on whether two women obeyed.
The verse before already gives the answer Pharaoh demands: they feared God. One writer weighs the two sides:
Pharaoh was an absolute king, and none of his subjects dared to oppose his will. But even these weak women are held up in their disobedience, because they judged it their first duty to fear God. The mightiest king in the world is powerless against God. He is just as powerless against those who stand with God and His people.
The same writer adds that "the fear of God can lift the weakest and lowliest above the fear of man."
Refusing a royal command takes courage, and it takes a higher claim. One writer names both:
The king had passed laws that all the male children of the Israelites must be killed. 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.
This is not a licence for general rebellion. One writer states the limit:
The word of God plainly directs His people to obey the governing authorities (Rom. 13:1; Titus 3:1; 1 Peter 2:13-17). It is not for us to raise questions about how that authority came to be, or about the character of the one who holds it. Our part is to obey. But when the will of man clashes with the word of God, and tries to force that will on our consciences, we must obey God rather than man. (Acts 4:19).
The verse leaves the king waiting for a reply. The next verse supplies it:
The king called the midwives to account for their disobedience. They have a good answer: Hebrew children were already born before the parents called a midwife, so the mother knew the child was alive. (vv. 18-19).
Pharaoh asked why they had let the boys live. The rest of the chapter answers him — not with an argument, but with blessing:
The closing verses of this section give an instructive lesson 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!
God settled the king's account later, and in kind:
When Pharaoh saw his plan defeated, 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 were killed 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 decides. Two fears met in that throne room, and the greater one won: their fear of God outweighed their fear of the king.
- Fear lifts. The fear of God raises the weakest person above the fear of man. The mightiest king on earth is powerless against those who stand with God.
- Fear has a limit. God's word tells us to obey rulers. When a ruler's will collides with God's word, we obey God rather than man.
- Fear guards the promise. The plot reached past Israel to the Christ who would come from David's line. It broke when two women refused.
- Fear is repaid. God honours those who honour Him, and He made these women houses. The king sowed dead children and reaped a night when every Egyptian house held one dead.
And the midwives said to Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian; for they are strong, and they have borne before the midwife comes to them.
Pharaoh has summoned the two midwives and demanded to know why the Hebrew boys are still alive. Their answer is that Hebrew mothers give birth before a midwife can reach them. Behind that answer stands a decision they had already made in verse 17.
So why were the boys still alive? The midwives point to the timing of the births.
The king called the midwives to account for this disobedience. They have a good answer. Hebrew children were already born before the parents called a midwife, so the mother knew the child was alive.
Where did two powerless women find the nerve to defy a king? Verse 17 gives the reason: they feared God.
Pharaoh was an absolute king. None of his subjects dared to oppose his will. But God sustains 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 learn several things. First, the enemy is completely unable to frustrate the purposes of God. Second, no one can defeat those who are connected with His purposes. Third, the fear of God can lift the feeblest and humblest above the fear of man. And last, every sign of faithfulness to Him is welcome to the heart of God, in a scene where Satan reigns and oppresses His people.
Their refusal was not rebellion for its own sake.
The king had passed laws that all the male children of the Israelites must be killed. 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 for God's people, 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 draws the line clearly, writing about three men who later refused a king's decree.
The believer obeys kings only so far as obeying them keeps him obedient to God. Suppose a king demands something that would mean disobeying God. Then, to keep a good conscience towards God, he must refuse to submit, even at the cost of his life.
More hung on this moment than the lives of a few babies.
Satan devised the murderous conspiracy described in Ex. 1:15-22. Pharaoh decreed that every male child of the people of Israel must be thrown into the Nile. If Egypt had carried out this decree, what would have become of the purposes of God? Israel as a nation would have ceased to be; and what of the Christ who was to be born of that nation? (Rom. 9:5). But God is never thwarted by the enemy, whatever apparent success He may allow him to have from time to time. Here God worked in His wisdom. Pharaoh's cruel decree ended with Pharaoh himself educating and training, in his own palace, the man chosen to lead Israel out of Egypt in triumph.
God did not leave their stand unanswered.
The closing verses of this section of our book give an instructive lesson 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 same rule ran the other way for Egypt.
They began to sow an awful seed. The harvest came years later. The firstborn died, and there was no house in Egypt without someone dead. Galatians 6:7 applies to nations too: "Whatever one sows, that will he also reap." God honoured the Hebrew midwives because they honoured Him. The retribution came upon cruel Egypt in God's own time.
- Fear decides. They feared God more than they feared the king. That settled what they did and what they said.
- Fear lifts. The fear of God lifts the weakest and lowest above the fear of man. Two women with no power outlasted an absolute king.
- Fear has a limit line. Obey rulers — until they demand disobedience to God. Then refuse, whatever it costs.
- Fear guards a promise. Killing the boys would have ended Israel as a nation. Instead the plan put Israel's future deliverer inside Pharaoh's own palace.
- Fear is repaid. God made the midwives houses, while Egypt reaped what it sowed when its own firstborn died.
And God dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied and became very strong.
Two women with no rank and no power stood between Pharaoh's death sentence and a nation's survival. This verse is God's verdict on what they did. It raises a question every believer under pressure faces: what do you do when the fear of God clashes with a king's command?
Pharaoh's cruelty was part of a longer war. One commentator points out when that war burns hottest.
It is always the same. There is always war between God and the enemy. Nowhere does it rage so fiercely as where His people are concerned, and when a clear display of divine mercy is close at hand. God's approaching favour to Israel drew out the hatred of Satan. Satan stirred up a fitting instrument for his malice in the ruler of the world of that day, "another king who did not know Joseph." These verses sum up Exodus 1:7-20. That passage gives the details of Pharaoh's cunning, aggressive and ruthless efforts to crush Israel. God defeated him just as plainly, for, whatever he said or did, "the people multiplied and grew very strong." The order to destroy the boys failed, not only through human pity, but through the fear of God. He honoured those who honoured Him, and brought His enemies to nothing.
The stakes went beyond one generation of babies. Pharaoh's plan came back on him.
What if this order had been carried out? What would have become of God's purposes? Israel as a nation would have ceased to exist; and what of the Christ who was to be born of that nation? (Romans 9:5). But the enemy never defeats God, whatever apparent success God may allow him from time to time. Here God worked in His wisdom, and Pharaoh's cruel order had only one result. Pharaoh had to educate and train in his own palace the man destined to lead Israel out of Egypt in triumph.
No subject of Pharaoh dared to cross him. Yet these women did, because they feared God.
Pharaoh was an absolute king, and none of his subjects dared to oppose his will. Yet God supported even these weak women in their disobedience, because they judged that their first duty was to fear God. The mightiest king in the world is powerless against God. He is just as powerless against those who stand with God and His people... So we learn four things. First, the enemy is completely unable to frustrate the purposes of God. Second, no one can conquer those who are tied to His purposes. Third, the fear of God can lift the weakest and humblest above the fear of man. Last, God's heart welcomes every sign of faithfulness to Him in a place where Satan reigns.
The real issue was which voice ranks higher.
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 Old Testament and in the New. We bow to human authority where it is legitimate and right and proper. But there is a higher authority we bow to: the authority of God.
God's kindness to these women was not a one-off. It follows a rule He has stated plainly.
The closing verses of this section give an instructive lesson in the conduct of those God-fearing women, Shiphrah and Puah. They would not carry out the king's cruel scheme, but faced 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 Samuel 2:30). May we always remember this, and act for God in every circumstance!
The same rule ran the other way for Egypt.
When Pharaoh saw his plan fail, he called on his own people to commit wholesale murder. They began to sow a terrible seed. The harvest came years later, when the firstborn were killed 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."
The two halves of the verse are linked. God's kindness to the midwives added to Israel's numbers.
The midwives put the fear of God first. Because of that faith, God increased Israel's population even further. He gave the midwives households of their own (v. 21), that is, children.
- Threat — Pharaoh's order struck at Israel's survival, and so at the Christ who was to come from that nation.
- Fear — the midwives feared God, and that fear lifted them above the fear of the mightiest king on earth.
- Limit — we obey legitimate authority, but God's authority is higher. Where the two clash, God comes first.
- Reward — "those who honour me I will honour." God dealt well with the midwives and made them houses: He gave them children.
- Harvest — Egypt sowed the drowning of Israel's sons. Later it reaped its own dead firstborn. A nation reaps what it sows.
And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses.
Pharaoh ordered the midwives to kill Israel's baby boys, and they refused. The chapter ends not with the king but with God's reward to them, which raises two questions: why does God reward disobedience to a ruler, and what exactly did He give them?
Through the whole chapter the king tries one method after another to weaken Israel, and each one fails.
Here it is only a cowardly and devilish effort to thwart what God was doing with the sons of Israel, even using the midwives against the male children. But the fear of God in the midwives defeated it. God established them in their houses, because they refused the treachery and the murder the wicked king commanded.
Where the ESV says "families," older translations read "houses." The gift fits what the midwives did: they let children live, and God gave them children of their own.
The midwives put the fear of God first. Because of their faith, God increased the population of Israel still more: He provided households for the midwives (v. 21), that is, He gave them children.
Pharaoh held absolute power, and the midwives held none. All they had was a sense of where their first duty lay.
Pharaoh was an absolute king. 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 monarch in the world is powerless against God, and just as powerless against those who stand with God and His people... So we may learn four things. First, the enemy is utterly unable to frustrate the purposes of God. Second, no one joined to His purposes can be beaten. Third, the fear of God can lift the feeblest and humblest above the fear of man. Last of all, God's heart welcomes every sign of faithfulness to Him in a place where Satan reigns as the god of this world, and oppresses and seeks to destroy His people.
This is not a licence to defy every authority. The question is which authority is speaking.
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 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.
God's answer to the midwives follows a rule He states elsewhere in Scripture.
The closing verses of this section give a helpful lesson 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 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!
While the midwives' families grew, Egypt was sowing something of its own.
God rewarded the actions of these women. They received honours, and God increased and blessed their families. When Pharaoh saw his plan defeated, he called on his own people to commit mass murder. They began to sow an awful seed. The harvest came years later: the firstborn died, and there was no house in Egypt without someone dead. Galatians 6:7 applies also to nations: "Whatever one sows, that will he also reap."
The same care for children is asked of God's people today.
Dear sisters, what an encouragement to pray for and to protect the children who grow up among us — to teach them, to give them an example, to help them in the things of God... Those children were protected from the anger of the king. They were protected from the cruel law, and they were protected for God, that they might represent Him.
- Fear — the midwives feared God more than they feared an absolute king, and that fear lifted the weakest people in Egypt above the mightiest.
- Refusal — Pharaoh's plan needed the midwives' hands, and it collapsed the moment they refused.
- Gift — "houses" means households: they had saved children, and God gave them children of their own.
- Rule — the reward is not an exception but a pattern: those who honour God, God honours.
- Harvest — God built up the families of two women who feared Him, while Egypt sowed a seed it reaped when its own firstborn died.