Tag Archives: Shiprah and Puah

Prior to the introduction of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20, there wasn’t anything written down in the form of rules or regulations. God gave Adam and Eve one rule in the Garden of Eden, “do not eat from the Tree of Knowledge,” Genesis 2:17. The only thing the first inhabitants of the earth had to follow were how people lived their lives. By studying the daily witness of godly individuals like Enoch, Genesis 5:24, walking with God is a common theme in Genesis.

Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, of whom one was named Shiprah and the other Puah, ¹⁶ When you act as midwives to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, she shall live. ¹⁷ But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded, but let the male babies live, Exodus 1:15-17.

As Moses transitions from the early history of earth to reflecting upon his own life in Exodus, there are two women he feels compelled to mention. Shiprah and Puah were two female servants who witnessed a major transition while living in Egypt. When the Pharaoh who appointed Joseph as governor passes away, the new king feared that Israel would one day become greater than Egypt. Subsequently, this king turned Israel’s descendants into slaves and ordered all Hebrew mid-wives to immediately kill any Hebrew male born.

So the king of Egypt called for the midwives and said to them, Why have you done this thing and allowed the male children to live? ¹⁹ The midwives answered Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; they are vigorous and quickly delivered; their babies are born before the midwife comes to them. ²⁰ So God dealt well with the midwives and the people multiplied and became very strong. ²¹ And because the midwives revered and feared God, He made them households [of their own]. ²² Then Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son born [to the Hebrews] you shall cast into the river [Nile], but every daughter you shall allow to live, Exodus 1:16-22.

According to Exodus 2:1-6, the convictions of Shiprah and Puah spawned the first pro-life movement in Egypt to save all newborn males from being slaughtered. As other Hebrew mid-lives heard of their strong spiritual convictions by fearing God and not Egypt’s king, other infant boys were also saved. Perhaps, Moses realized that if Shiprah and Puah did not fear God, the man who God chose to rescue Israel from 400 years of slavery would have been aborted. Therefore, the book of Exodus commences by honoring the first two pro-life advocates of the Bible.

by Jay Mankus