The king of Egypt orders the midwives to kill the Hebrew baby boys. But they fear God.
The story
A new king arose over Egypt, one who did not know Yosef. He told his people that the children of Israel were more numerous and stronger than the Egyptians, and proposed dealing shrewdly with them. His fear: that they would multiply and, if war broke out, join Egypt’s enemies and fight against it.
The Egyptians set taskmasters over the children of Israel to weigh them down with forced labour, and Israel built the cities of Pitom and Raamses for Pharaoh. But the more the Egyptians afflicted them, the more they multiplied and spread. The Egyptians worked them ruthlessly and made their lives bitter with mortar, bricks and work in the field.
כֵּן יִרְבֶּה וְכֵן יִפְרֹץ
Shemot 1:12
The king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives. One was named Shifra, and the other Puah. He told them: when you deliver the Hebrew women, if it is a boy, kill him, and if it is a girl, let her live.
שֵׁם הָאַחַת שִׁפְרָה וְשֵׁם הַשֵּׁנִית פּוּעָה
Shemot 1:15
The midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt had told them. They kept the children alive. The king summoned them and asked why they had done this. They answered Pharaoh: the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, and they give birth before the midwife reaches them.
מַדּוּעַ עֲשִׂיתֶן הַדָּבָר הַזֶּה
Shemot 1:18
God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and grew very strong. The Torah says again that the midwives feared God. And Pharaoh commanded all his people: throw every newborn son into the Nile, and let every daughter live.
The midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt had told them; they kept the children alive.
Words from the verse
וַתִּירֶאןָand they feared
וַתְּחַיֶּיןָand they kept alive
What it teaches: Awe of Heaven
Always remembering before Whom we stand, and so keeping away from wrong.
Twice the Torah says that the midwives feared God. Facing the king’s order, their awe took a simple form: they did not do as he said, and they kept the children alive. Awe of Heaven is not only a feeling; it is also what a person does when asked to do harm.
A question to sit with
When someone with power over us asks for something wrong, what helps us remember before Whom we stand?
Questions about the story
What happened to the children of Israel the more the Egyptians afflicted them?
They dwindled and grew weak
They multiplied and spread
They fled into the desert
Answer
b. They multiplied and spread
The verse says that the more the Egyptians afflicted them, the more they multiplied and spread. That was exactly what the king had feared.
What did the midwives tell Pharaoh when he asked them why?
That Hebrew women deliver before the midwife comes
That they had never heard his order
That they fear God
Answer
a. That Hebrew women deliver before the midwife comes
The midwives told Pharaoh that the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women and give birth before the midwife reaches them. It is the Torah, not the midwives, that tells of their fear of God.
The lesson
Awe of Heaven holds back the hand, even when a king commands harm.
For this week
Next time you are asked to do something that feels wrong, at work or at home, try pausing to ask: how would this look before God?
From the sources
The sages taught in the Talmud that the midwives did not stop at not killing the babies: they would “provide them with water and food.” On this reading, they did more than avoid wrong: they actively cared for the babies’ lives.
The verses are from Miqra according to the Masorah (Wikisource, CC BY-SA 4.0), via Sefaria, without the cantillation marks. On this site the four-letter Name is written ה׳.
