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| Exodus 1:15-21 |
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Lesson # Exodus 1:15-21 Study Material - Exodus 1:15-21 You must be in fellowship prior to your Bible study, so that the spiritual information you receive can become a source of blessing to your soul and produce spiritual growth. Ex. 1:15-21 15 Then the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah, and the other was named Puah; 16 and he said, 'When you are helping the Hebrew women to give birth and see them upon the birthstool, if it is a son, then you shall put him to death; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.' 17 But the midwives feared God, and did not do as the king of Egypt had commanded them, but let the boys live. 18 So the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said to them, 'Why have you done this thing, and let the boys live?' 19 And the midwives said to Pharaoh, 'Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous, and they give birth before the midwife can get to them.' 20 So God was good to the midwives, and the people multiplied, and became very mighty. 21 And it came about because the midwives feared God, that He established households for them. 'Then', denotes a change, but not only a change in time, as we seem to be nearer to the end of the 430 year period, in as much as we were near the beginning of it in the former verses, but there is also a change in religious attitude. Note that the midwives were God fearing women. And why is that significant? Because these midwives have Egyptian names, not Hebrew names. Shiphrah, whose last portion of her name 'phrah' means sun and her whole name refers to 'brightness', so her name is the brightness of the sun. Puah means glittering. Now compare these names to the names of the cities built by the Hebrews. The 'setting sun' and 'built by Ra' respectively for the names of the cities Pithom and Raamses. A spiritual change has occurred and now the Israelites are ready for their deliverance from Egypt. Even the midwives have been influenced by the Hebrew God, such that they have come to believe in Christ, the promised Savior. I read an account that the population of Egypt was near seven million during the 18th dynasty. Of this more than two and perhaps three million were Hebrews. There were other foreign groups within Egypt, so Pharaoh was concerned with so great a nation within his own borders. They may have even been a majority group depending on the population of Egyptians within the country. Speculating here a little, if there were another million foreigners then the Egyptians could have been just even or perhaps fewer in number than the Hebrews. Thus the order to the midwives, Egyptian women, who were used in the employ of the Hebrews to help in the birthing process. Here is still another reversal of who was working for whom. Egyptian women working for or with Hebrew women during the time of birth. The order is for the midwives to examine the fetus immediately when it is in the process of slipping through the birth canal and if a boy then prevent it from coming to life. Once a child has taken that first breath, then to kill it would mean murder. Pharaoh could easily have ordered his soldiers to go out and kill the male children, but murder, or the drowning of the male children will come later as Pharaoh degenerates to that point. Here the text of the scriptures is clear. Pharaoh wanted to impose miscarriages at the point of birth. Presumably a more tasteful method of preventing male children from adding to the population. The phrase, 'al-haa'aab-nayim', is similar to the one in Jere. 18:3, in that the turning of the pottery on the potters wheel in now being represented here in the process of the midwives assistance with the birth. That is, while the fetus is still in the process of coming out, the midwife is to turn the infant and check for the gender. If a boy, then prevent the birth or prevent the life from entering into the child. Implied here is that the continued twisting of pottery will break the pot, so also the twisting will break the neck, most probably, of the child thus preventing the birth and making it look like a miscarriage. No one is the wiser and there is no possibility of an uprising from the Hebrews. The tactic was disgusting and deceitful to be sure. It would be just another still born child. If a girl, then the birth is to continue per normal. Their consciences prevented them from carrying out the order of Pharaoh. By the way, these two named midwives were most probably just representative names for many midwives. Only two people could not possibly attend the many births that would be occurring within the nation of two million or more Hebrews. So we are forced to conclude that the midwives and the influence of God on their lives was more wide spread. There was help in preventing this plot too. God made it possible for the Hebrew women to have faster and probably less painful births, such that the midwives would arrive late and thus not be able to perform the deceptive abortion/miscarriage act. I would also bet that when called, the midwives took their time in getting where they needed to go. So the explanation to Pharaoh, when he discovered that the numbers of males were growing rather than reducing, was probably a true one. That being that the birth was already completed when the midwives arrived. God blessed the midwives as a result, even in the face of their recruitment by Pharaoh in this deception of birth failure. Pharaoh tried to be sneaky. And, by the way, this practice would have occurred over a period of probably several months if not years. The violence will escalate against the Hebrews to the point of drowning the children. And now we are just about ready for Moses. 
Now is the time to post a prayer. End Of Lesson Study to show thyself approved (mature) unto God, a workman that needs not to be ashamed, rightly dividing (studying/discerning), the Word of truth. |
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