The Brave Midwives

Why the king gave the order. Exodus 1 says the people of Israel “multiplied and grew exceedingly mighty” (1:7). The new king was afraid they would join his enemies in a war (1:10). He made them slaves, but they kept growing (1:12). So he turned to something far worse. Fear can lead to sin. The king was afraid of losing his power. His fear turned into a plan to kill baby boys. That is murder. God's law later says plainly, “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13). Fear that is not brought to God can push people to do terrible things. Every life matters to God. The king treated Hebrew babies as a problem to get rid of. God sees every child as His own work. David prayed, “For You formed my inward parts; You covered me in my mother's womb” (Psalm 139:13). Children are “a heritage from the Lord” (Psalm 127:3), a gift He gives. The king could not stop God's promise. God had promised Abraham a family too big to count. The harder the king fought that promise, the more the people grew. A king can be strong, but he is never stronger than God.

The setting (1:8-14). A “new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph” (1:8) saw Israel's growth as a threat: “come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply” (1:10). Forced labor failed, because “the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew” (1:12). The order to the midwives was his second plan. The order (1:16). The king told the midwives to watch each birth and kill any son. The plan was quiet and hidden, because a death at birth would look natural. The king spared the daughters most likely because of the fear of war in 1:10. Sons would grow into fighting men. Fear against fear. Exodus 1 shows us two kinds of fear. The Egyptians “were in dread of the children of Israel” (1:12), while the midwives “feared God” (1:17). The Hebrew verb used of the midwives is yare' (say: yah-RAY), to fear, honor, stand in awe. Fear of people led Pharaoh to murder. Fear of God led two women to protect life. Proverbs puts it this way: “The fear of man brings a snare, But whoever trusts in the Lord shall be safe” (Proverbs 29:25). Life is God's gift. Genesis taught that people are made in God's image (Genesis 1:27), and Psalm 139:13 says God forms each child before birth. Pharaoh's order attacked God's image-bearers and God's promise to Abraham at the same time. That is why it was such a serious sin, and why God's rescue of His people fills the rest of Exodus.

The king of Egypt was scared. God's people kept growing. He thought they might fight against him. So he made a plan to hurt them. His plan was to kill the baby boys. That was a terrible sin. God made every baby. The Bible says God forms each baby before it is born. Every baby is special to God. The king forgot that. He cared about his power more than people. Fear can make people do very wrong things. But God is stronger than the king's fear. The king could not make God's plan fail.

The king was afraid of God's people. So he gave a very bad order. But God made every baby, and every baby matters to Him.

What “feared God” means. In the Bible, to fear God is to know how great and holy He is, and to honor Him above everyone else. It is not being scared of a monster. It is deep respect that makes God the one you most want to please. “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge” (Proverbs 1:7). Two women and a king. Shiphrah and Puah had no army and no power. Pharaoh ruled one of the strongest nations on earth. Yet the Bible tells us, “But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them” (1:17). God mattered more to them than the king did. Who do we obey? The Bible tells us to honor parents and leaders: “Fear God. Honor the king” (1 Peter 2:17). God gives leaders to keep order. But when a leader commands something God calls sin, God's word comes first. Years later Peter and the apostles said, “We ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5:29). Courage starts with God. The midwives were brave because they were thinking about God, not only about the king. When we know how great God is, people seem smaller. That is how ordinary people can do hard, right things.

God remembers the humble. We know the names of the two midwives, Shiphrah and Puah (1:15), but we are never told the name of this Pharaoh. The most powerful man in the world is called only “the king of Egypt,” while two women who feared God are remembered by name. God honors those who honor Him. When rulers command sin. Scripture normally calls believers to submit to rulers: “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities” (Romans 13:1). Exodus 1 shows where that stops. When the king commanded murder, the midwives refused. The same thing happened with Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego, who told the king, “we do not serve your gods” (Daniel 3:18), and with the apostles: “Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge” (Acts 4:19). Their refusal was not rebellion for its own sake. It was obedience to a higher King. Fear of God as wisdom. Proverbs calls the fear of the Lord “the beginning of knowledge” (1:7). The midwives were not rulers or teachers, but they had the wisdom that matters most. Jesus taught the same order of fears: “do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28). Honor is owed to rulers. Fear in the deepest sense belongs to God alone.

Shiphrah and Puah feared God. What does that mean? It means they knew how great God is. God mattered more to them than anyone. The king was the strongest man in Egypt. Saying no to him was dangerous. But the midwives knew God was greater. So they did what was right. They kept the baby boys alive. God wants us to obey our parents and teachers. But no one should get us to sin. If someone tells us to do wrong, we obey God. God gives us courage when we need it.

Shiphrah and Puah feared God. That means they honored God most of all. So they obeyed God, not the king.

Standing before the king. When Pharaoh learned the boys were alive, he called for the midwives: “Why have you done this thing, and saved the male children alive?” (1:18). Standing in front of the most powerful man in Egypt took courage. They had already made their choice. Their answer. They told him, “the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are lively and give birth before the midwives come to them” (1:19). The king had no answer, and God kept the two women safe. Did they tell the whole truth? You might wonder about that. God's Word does not tell us whether every word was exactly true. What it does tell us, two times, is why God was kind to them: “because the midwives feared God” (1:21). God was pleased with their hearts. They honored Him, and they chose to save babies' lives when the king wanted them dead. Quiet courage. The midwives did not march into the palace to argue. They kept doing what was right, birth after birth. When they were questioned, they still protected the babies. Sometimes standing for God is loud. Often it is quiet faithfulness, day after day.

The questioning (1:18). Pharaoh's question was direct: “Why have you done this thing, and saved the male children alive?” Living boys were proof that the order had been ignored. In the ancient world, defying a king's order could cost a life. The reply (1:19). “They are lively” translates chayot (say: khah-YOHT), a word built on the Hebrew root for “life.” The NKJV margin gives “have vigor of life, bear quickly, easily.” Their answer praised the Hebrew women above the Egyptian women, and it gave the king nothing he could act on. Was it a lie? God's Word does not say whether every word was true. Some Christians, like Augustine long ago, believed the midwives were wrong to speak falsely but were blessed for their mercy. Others believe their words may have been true, or that misleading a murderer to protect a baby is not the kind of lying God forbids. What Exodus does tell us, twice, is the reason for God's kindness: they “feared God” (1:17, 21). Their hearts were set on God, and God honored that. The cost of faithfulness. The midwives stood where obedience to God put their own lives at risk. Hebrews 11:23 says something similar about Moses' parents a few years later: “they were not afraid of the king's command.” Faith in God changes what people are afraid of.

The king called Shiphrah and Puah. “Why did you let the boys live?” he asked. The midwives must have been scared. The king could hurt them. But the midwives did not give up the babies. They said the Hebrew moms had their babies fast. The babies were born before they got there. Was every word of their answer true? God's Word does not tell us. It does tell us why God was good to them. He was good to them because they feared Him. They chose God's way even when it was scary. God is always with us when we do right.

The king asked, “Why?” The midwives said the Hebrew moms had their babies fast. The baby boys stayed safe.

God sees. Pharaoh may have forgotten two midwives, but God did not. “Therefore God dealt well with the midwives” (1:20). Nothing done for God is ever wasted or forgotten. A fitting gift. “Because the midwives feared God, … He provided households for them” (1:21). The ICB says, “he gave them families of their own.” They had protected the families of others, and God gave them families too. God's plan keeps moving. “The people multiplied and grew very mighty” (1:20). Every plan Pharaoh tried made Israel stronger. We will see that again and again in Exodus. Kings and armies cannot stop what God has promised. Pharaoh tries again. In 1:22 the king ordered all his people to throw the baby boys into the river. That was a cruel and evil order. But God was already at work. In Exodus 2 a Hebrew baby was put into that river in a basket. God used that baby, Moses, to rescue His people. The river Pharaoh meant for death became the place where God's rescuer was saved.

Blessing on the faithful (1:20-21). God's response came in two parts: “God dealt well with the midwives” and “He provided households for them.” The Hebrew for “households” is battim (say: bah-TEEM), houses, a common Bible way of speaking of families and descendants. Compare 2 Samuel 7:11, where God promises David a lasting house. The women who guarded other people's families received families of their own. The order goes public (1:22). Pharaoh widened the command from two midwives to “all his people.” The secret plan became open law, and the river that watered all of Egypt was to become a grave. God's answer begins. God's answer comes right away in Exodus 2. Moses' mother puts him in a basket and sets it in the reeds by the river (2:3). The word for the basket, tevah (say: teh-VAH), is the same word used for Noah's ark. God saved His rescuer in the very river Pharaoh chose for death. Three plans, three failures. Pharaoh tried three ways to stop Israel: hard labor, secret murder at birth, and open murder by the river. Each one failed, because no king can stop God's promise. Soon, in the plagues and at the sea, God would show Pharaoh and all Egypt who the true King is: not Pharaoh, but the Lord.

The king wanted fewer Hebrew babies. But God's people kept growing. The king could not stop God's plan. God also saw what the midwives did. He was good to them. They had kept other families safe. Now God gave them families of their own. God sees the good things we do for Him. Then the king gave a new order. It was even worse than the first. But nobody can stop what God has promised. Soon a baby boy named Moses would be born. God would use him to rescue His people.

God was good to the midwives. He gave them families. God sees when we choose what is right.