The Midwives
Background and Printed Text: Exodus 1:1-21
Exodus 1:1 And these are the names of the children of Israel coming Egyptward with He-Will-Heel [Jacob]. They came, a man and His house: 2They-Saw-A-Son [Reuben], Hearkening [Shimon], My-Joined-[One] [Levi] and He-Confessed-Yehovah [Judah], 3There-Is-A-Wage [Issachar], They-Shall-Cohabit [Zebulun] and Son-Of-Right [Benjamin], 4Adjudicator [Dan] and My-Wrestling [Naphtali], Troop [Gad] and Happy [Asher]. 5And he was, every being exiting from the thigh of He-Will-Heel [Jacob]: seventy being(s). And He-Will-Gather [Joseph] was in Egypt.
6And He-Will-Gather [Joseph] died, and all his brethren, and all that generation.
7And the children of Israel were fruitful. And they swarmed. And they multiplied. And they became very very strong! And the land filled them!
8And a new king arose over Egypt who didn’t know He-Will-Gather [Joseph]. 9And he said unto his people, “Behold, the people of the children of Israel is multiple and stronger than we are! 10Come-on! We shall wisely-deal to him lest he will multiply. And he shall be, when they shall happen a war, and he will be gathered—even he—upon our enemies! And he will fight into us! And he will ascend from the land!” 11And they set princes of slave-labour over him in order to humiliate him via their burdens.
And he built cities of warehouses to Pharaoh: Pithom and Raamses. 12And whenever they will humiliate him, established, he will multiply. And established, he will spread! And they were cut-off from the faces of the children of Israel! 13And the Egyptians slave-drove the children of Israel via crushing. 14And they embittered their lives via hard slavery: via mortar and via bricks and via every slavery in the field with all their slavery that they slaved via them, via crushing.
15And the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives (the one whose name is Pretty [Shifrah] and the second whose name is Groan [Puah])─ 16and he said, “When ye child the Hebrews [fem.], and ye shall see upon the stones. If he is a son, and ye shall kill him! And if he is a daughter, and he shall live.”
17And the midwives feared the Gods. And they did not, just as the king of Egypt spoke unto them. And they caused-the-children-to-live.
18And the king of Egypt called to the midwives. And he said to them, “Why did ye this speech, and have caused-the-children-to-live?” 19And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrews [fem.] are not as women of the Egyptians [fem.]. For they are alive there! Before the midwife will come unto them, and they childed!”
20And Elohim good-did to the midwives. And the people multiplied. And they strengthened very-much! 21And he was. For the midwives feared the Gods. And He made houses to them.
I. The Scene (verses 1-5)
The text starts with an overview of the children of Israel who arrived in Egypt. A list is given of the sons.
A total of seventy folks who came out of Jacob’s thigh came to Egypt. Joseph was already there.
Questions
1. How many of Jacob’s children went to Egypt?
2. Verse 5 states that these all came out of Jacob’s thigh. What does coming out of his thigh mean, and why did the Bible give this piece of information?
II. The Change of Scene (verse 6)
Verse 6 is a short scene change. Joseph died, along with all that generation.
Questions
1. What is so important about telling readers that Joseph and all his brethren died?
2. The text states that Joseph and all his brethren died, “and all that generation.” Why did Yehovah need to mention that all that generation died? Wasn’t that obvious?
III. The Multiplication (verse 7)
The children of Israel were fruitful—they were productive. They swarmed in groups, and they multiplied, having many children. They also became physically and mentally very strong. The land filled them—they had plenty to eat—and they filled the land with a great population.
Questions
1. What does being fruitful really mean in the Bible?
2. What does “they swarmed” mean?
3. What does “they multiplied” mean?
4. What is significant about their becoming very very strong?
5. The text states, “And the land filled them!” What does this mean?
IV. New King; New Fear (verses 8-11)
The new king was the new Pharaoh over Egypt. He didn’t know Joseph.
He told his people of Egypt, “Behold, the people of the children of Israel is multiple and stronger than we are! Come-on! We shall wisely-deal to [with] him lest he will multiply. And he shall be, when they shall happen a war, and he will be gathered—even he—upon our enemies! And he will fight into us! And he will ascend from the land!” They set princes over the Jewish slave labour pools in order to humiliate Israel by means of the burdens put on Israel.
Questions
1. What is important about there being a new king (pharaoh) who didn’t know Joseph?
2. Why did this new king talk to his people about the Israelis?
3. What did the king and the Egyptians fear that the Israelis might do using their numbers and strength?
4. Was the fear of the Egyptians regarding the Israelis in war a reasonable fear?
5. The pharaoh said, “Come-on! We shall wisely-deal to him lest he will multiply.” Wasn’t the people of Israel already multiplying?
6. What was the official Egyptian answer to controlling the population growth and the strengthening of the Israelis?
V. Building Projects (verses 11-14)
Israel built two cities that held warehouses for Egypt: Pithom and Raamses.
Whenever the Egyptian slave captains humiliated Israel, Israel multiplied—had more children. Israel spread throughout Egypt. Finally, the Egyptians had to go through Jewish groups and faces to visit other Egyptians!
The Egyptians used crushing means to slave-drive the Israelis to work harder and harder. They made their lives bitter by the hardness of their slavery: by means of mortal and bricks and every type of labour in the field. They used crushing force to tell them what to do and where to go.
Questions
1. Who is he in, “And he built cities of warehouses to Pharaoh: Pithom and Raamses”?
2. The text states, “And whenever they will humiliate him, established, he will multiply.” Why did Israel multiply under humiliation?
3. Why did Israel spread under humiliation?
4. Who is they in, “And they were cut-off from the faces of the children of Israel,” and what was occurring?
5. What was the response to this fear of the Egyptians?
6. What does embittered mean?
7. What is mortar?
8. How are bricks made?
9. Who made these bricks?
10. What did the Israelis have to do that was included in “every slavery in the field”?
11. What does via crushing mean?
VI. Abortion (verses 15-17)
The king of Egypt had a very modern idea for birth control. He spoke to the two heads of the Hebrew midwives (who birthed the babies)—to Pretty and to Groan, “When ye child the Hebrews, and ye shall see the gender of the baby upon the birthing stones. If he is a son, and ye shall kill him! And if he is a daughter, and he shall live.”
The midwives feared the Gods—Elohim—the Gods of Avraham, Isaac and Jacob. They did exactly what the king of Egypt didn’t speak unto them to do! They made certain that the children lived.
Questions
1. Why do you suppose that one girl baby had been named Pretty and another Groan at this time?
2. Why did the king call just two women of the midwives?
3. What are the stones in, “ye shall see upon the stones”?
4. The king said, “If he is a son, and ye shall kill him!” What was he commanding the midwives to do?
5. Is abortion wrong? Is abortion murder? Explain well.
6. Why does the text state, “and if he is a daughter…”?
7. Why did the king desire for them to keep the girl babies alive?
8. Verse 17 states, “And the midwives feared the Gods.” What does this mean, and what did they do that showed this?
9. What does “And they did not, just as the king of Egypt spoke unto them” mean?
10. How did they cause the children to live?
VII. The Excuse (verses 18-19)
The king of Egypt called the midwives. He said to them, “Why did ye this speech, and have caused-the-children-to-live?” The midwives responded unto Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrews are not as women of the Egyptians. For they are alive there! Before the midwife will come unto them, and they childed!”
Questions
1. Why did the king ask, “Why did ye this speech, and have caused-the-children-to-live?” Didn’t he know the answer?
2. What does “Because the Hebrews [fem.] are not as women of the Egyptians. For they are alive there!” mean, and who are they in, “For they are alive there”?
3. The midwives said, “Before the midwife will come unto them, and they childed!” Is this the truth?
4. If what the midwives said was a lie, was that sin?
5. At some time, you will probably hear a discussion like this: “When does life begin? Does it begin at conception, or at birth?” If you do, what is the right answer?
VIII. Yehovah’s Response (verses 20-21)
Elohim did good to the midwives. The people of Israel multiplied. They continued to grow even stronger. What happened next was because the midwives feared the Gods: Yehovah made houses to them!
Questions
1. In what ways did Elohim do good to the midwives?
2. Did Yehovah want the Israelis to multiply in Egypt?
3. Why did the Israelis become so strong (“they strengthened very much!”)?
4. What does “And he was” mean?
5. Why does the text again mention, “the midwives feared the Gods”?
6. What does “He made houses to them” mean?