Why do the midwives save the Hebrew boys despite the king’s command?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

The midwives fear God and refuse to kill the boys. God deals well with them and builds them houses because they fear him; Challoner explains this as a temporal reward for their fear of God and humanity, not for the lie in their answer.

Chapter breakdown

The children of Israel enter Egypt with Jacob, each with his household: Ruben, Simeon, Levi, Juda, Issachar, Zabulon, Benjamin, Dan, Nephthali, Gad and Aser. The chapter gives the total of Jacob’s descendants as seventy and notes that Joseph was already in Egypt.

Joseph, his brothers and their generation die. The children of Israel increase into multitudes, grow very strong and fill the land. A new king arises over Egypt who does not know Joseph. He tells his people that Israel’s children are numerous and stronger than they are. He proposes oppression to prevent further growth, lest in a war they join Egypt’s enemies, overcome the Egyptians and leave the land.

The king places workmasters over them to afflict them with burdens. They build Pharao’s cities of tabernacles, Phithom and Ramesses; Challoner gives “storehouses” as another reading of tabernacles. The more the Egyptians oppress them, the more they multiply and increase. The Egyptians hate, afflict and mock Israel’s children. They make their lives bitter with hard work in clay and brick and every kind of burdensome service in the works of the earth.

The king speaks to the Hebrew midwives, Sephora and Phua. At the delivery of Hebrew women, they are to kill a male child but keep a female alive. The midwives fear God and do not follow the king’s command; they save the boys.

The king calls them and asks, “What is it that you meant to do, that you would save the men children?” They answer that Hebrew women differ from Egyptian women: they are themselves skilled in the work of a midwife and give birth before the midwives arrive. God deals well with the midwives, and the people multiply and grow very strong.

Because the midwives fear God, he builds them houses. Challoner explains that their reward is for their fear of God and humanity, not for their lie, which the note calls a venial sin. It describes the reward as temporal: establishing and enriching their families.

Pharao then commands all his people to cast every newborn male into the river and to keep the females alive. The chapter ends with this command.

The story inside

The king’s declared aim is to prevent Israel’s further growth and a wartime threat he describes. Burdensome labor is followed by continued increase, and his command to the midwives is followed by their refusal because they fear God. When asked to explain, they give their answer about childbirth. The narrative records God’s favor and the establishment of their houses; Challoner distinguishes that reward from their lie. The last command widens the addressees to all Pharao’s people, with males to be cast into the river and females kept alive. The account states these commands and responses without giving an invented enforcement system (Exodus 1:8–22).

Lessons worth keeping

1
The king’s speech gives the reason he offers for oppression. He names multiplication, joining enemies, overcoming Egypt and departure. Retaining those as his stated fears distinguishes his claims from events the chapter says actually occur (1:9–10).
2
The midwives’ reason for refusing is explicit: they fear God. Their refusal preserves the boys, and their answer to the king is reported separately. Challoner’s note also distinguishes their fear and humanity from the lie; the reward is not presented as approval of falsehood (1:17–21 and note).
3
The commands preserve different addressees and exceptions. The first addresses Sephora and Phua during delivery; the last addresses all the king’s people and names the river. Both commands keep females alive. Those details show what changes and what remains in the orders (1:15–16, 22).

Test your recall

What does the king fear Israel might do, why do the midwives refuse his command, and how does the final river command change whom he addresses?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 5966–5982
Exodus Chapter 1 The Israelites are multiplied in Egypt. They are oppressed by a new king, who commandeth all their male children to be killed. 1:1. These are the names of the children of Israel, that went into Egypt with Jacob: they went in every man with his household: 1:2. Ruben, Simeon, Levi, Juda, 1:3. Issachar, Zabulon, and Benjamin, 1:4. Dan, and Nephthali, Gad and Aser. 1:5. And all the souls that came out of Jacob’s thigh, were seventy: but Joseph was in Egypt.
Lines 5983–5997
1:6. After he was dead, and all his brethren, and all that generation, 1:7. The children of Israel increased, and sprung up into multitudes, and growing exceedingly strong they filled the land. 1:8. In the mean time there arose a new king over Egypt, that knew not Joseph: 1:9. And he said to his people: Behold the people of the children of Israel are numerous and stronger than we. 1:10. Come let us wisely oppress them, lest they multiply: and if any war shall rise against us, join with our enemies, and having overcome us, depart out of the land.
Lines 5998–6013
1:11. Therefore he set over them masters of the works, to afflict them with burdens: and they built for Pharao cities of tabernacles, Phithom, and Ramesses. Of tabernacles.... Or, of storehouses. 1:12. But the more they oppressed them, the more they were multiplied and increased. 1:13. And the Egyptians hated the children of Israel, and afflicted them and mocked them: 1:14. And they made their life bitter with hard works in clay and brick, and with all manner of service, wherewith they were overcharged in the works of the earth.
Lines 6014–6023
1:15. And the king of Egypt spoke to the midwives of the Hebrews: of whom one was called Sephora, the other Phua, 1:16. Commanding them: When you shall do the office of midwives to the Hebrew women, and the time of delivery is come: if it be a man child, kill it: if a woman, keep it alive. 1:17. But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt had commanded, but saved the men children.
Lines 6024–6033
1:18. And the king called for them and said: What is it that you meant to do, that you would save the men children? 1:19. They answered: The Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women: for they themselves are skilful in the office of a midwife; and they are delivered before we come to them. 1:20. Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied and grew exceedingly strong.
Lines 6034–6040
1:21. And because the midwives feared God, he built them houses. Because the midwives feared God, etc.... The midwives were rewarded, not for their lie, which was a venial sin; but for their fear of God, and their humanity: but this reward was only temporal, in building them houses, that is, in establishing and enriching their families.
Lines 6041–6045
1:22. Pharao therefore charged all his people, saying: Whatsoever shall be born of the male sex, ye shall cast into the river: whatsoever of the female, ye shall save alive.