Pharaoh Oppresses Israel Killing Babies. Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah (beauty) and the other named Puah (splendor), Exo 1:16 “When you act as midwives to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, she shall live.” Exo 1:15-16
INTRODUCTION TO THE OLD TESTAMENT
The Nation Israel Delivered and Organized
ISRAEL IN EGYPT, Exodus 1:8-12:36
1. Oppression, Exodus 1:8-22
2. How did the effort to destroy the children fail?
PHARAOH OPPRESSES ISRAEL
Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah (beauty) and the other named Puah (splendor),
“When you act as midwives to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, she shall live.”
But the midwives feared God [with profound reverence] and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded, but they let the boy babies live.
So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this thing, and allowed the boy babies to live?”
The midwives answered Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth quickly and their babies are born before the midwife can get to them.”
So God was good to the midwives, and the people [of Israel] multiplied and became very strong.
And because the midwives feared God [with profound reverence], He established families and households for them.
Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, “Every son who is born [to the Hebrews] must be thrown into the Nile, but every daughter you shall keep alive.”
GOD PROTECTS HEBREW BABES FROM PHARAOH’S DECREE
Egypt’s second stroke of policy was to begin with the children. Pharaoh and Herod set us an example in turning their attention to young life. There is nothing which so closely and instantly touches national well-being as the treatment of the children.
It is wonderful to notice what unexpected instruments God uses to defeat the purposes of his enemies. Of all people these two women seemed the unlikeliest. It may be that these two women were Egyptians, who had recently learned to fear God; but if so, their conduct was even more remarkable. God, who makes of soft sand a strong barrier against the billows, can restrain man’s wrath by the humblest instruments. You may be obscure and weak, but if you fear God He will make use of you, write your name in the book of life and multiply your spiritual children.
Comments by
WILLIAM MACDONALD
Believers Bible Commentary
On
Exodus 1:15-22
I. ISRAEL’S BONDAGE IN EGYPT (Chap. 1)
1:15-19 When Shiphrah and . . . Puah, who were probably the chief Hebrew midwives, saw the Jewish mothers bearing children on the birthstools, they did not kill the male children, as Pharaoh had ordered. They excused their inaction by explaining that the Hebrew children were usually born too quickly—that is, before the midwives could get to the mothers. This assertion probably had some truth to it.
1:20-22 The Daily Notes of the Scripture Union comment on the midwives:
The reward given to the midwives in terms of a flourishing family life (v. 21) was granted them not for their falsehood but for their humanity. This is not to say that the end justified the means, still less that there are no absolute standards of morality. But in a world as charged with sin and its effects as ours has become, it may be that obedience to greater duties is possible only at the cost of obedience to lesser ones. In this as in all else, “the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”
Foiled by the Hebrew midwives, Pharaoh now commanded his own people to enforce the decree.
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