Shiphrah ( he, שִׁפְרָה ') and Puah ( he, פּוּעָה ') were two

midwives A midwife is a health professional who cares for mothers and newborns around childbirth, a specialization known as midwifery. The education and training for a midwife concentrates extensively on the care of women throughout their lifespan; con ...

who briefly prevented a

genocide Genocide is the intentional destruction of a people—usually defined as an ethnic, national, racial, or religious group—in whole or in part. Raphael Lemkin coined the term in 1944, combining the Greek word (, "race, people") with the Latin ...

of children by the Egyptians, according to

Exodus Exodus or the Exodus may refer to: Religion * Book of Exodus, second book of the Hebrew Torah and the Christian Bible * The Exodus, the biblical story of the migration of the ancient Israelites from Egypt into Canaan Historical events * Ex ...

1:15–21. According to the Exodus narrative, they were commanded by the King of Egypt, or Pharaoh, to kill all male Hebrew babies, but they refused to do so. When challenged by the Pharaoh, they told him that Hebrew women's labour was short-lived because they were 'lively' or 'vigorous', and therefore the babies had been born (and protected) before the midwives arrived. God "dealt well with the midwives" and "made them houses".

Exodus 1:15–1:21

15 And the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah;
16 and he said: 'When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, ye shall look upon the birthstool: if it be a son, then ye shall kill him; but if it be a daughter, then she shall live.'
17 But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men-children alive.
18 And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said unto them: 'Why have ye done this thing, and have saved the men-children alive?'
19 And the midwives said unto Pharaoh: 'Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are lively, and are delivered ere the midwife come unto them.'
20 And God dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty.
21 And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that He made them houses.

Interpretations

The Talmud

otah 11b ''Otak-otak'' (lit. brains in Malay and Indonesian) is a Southeast Asian fish cake made of ground fish mixed with spices and wrapped in leaf parcels. ''Otak-otak'' is traditionally served steamed or grilled, encased within the leaf parcel it ...

identifies Shiphrah with

Jochebed According to the Bible, Jochebed (; hbo, יוֹכֶבֶד, translit=Yōḵeḇeḏ, lit=YHWH is glory) was a daughter of Levi and mother of Miriam, Aaron and Moses. She was the wife of Amram, as well as his aunt. No details are given concerning h ...

, the mother of Moses, and Puah with

Miriam Miriam ( he, מִרְיָם ''Mīryām'', lit. 'Rebellion') is described in the Hebrew Bible as the daughter of Amram and Jochebed, and the older sister of Moses and Aaron. She was a prophetess and first appears in the Book of Exodus. The Tor ...

, Moses' sister, making the two midwives mother and daughter respectively.

"The midwives feared God"

The Torah has no word for

religion Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatural, ...

. The closest related concept found in the Torah is what it calls "the

fear of God Fear of God may refer to fear itself, but more often to a sense of awe, and submission to, a deity. People subscribing to popular monotheistic religions for instance, might fear Hell and divine judgment, or submit to God's omnipotence. Christian ...

" (Exod. 1:17). The midwives apparently believed that God's moral demands outweighed Pharaoh's legal demands. For this reason, author

Francine Klagsbrun Francine Klagsbrun, born Francine Lifton in 1931, is a writer. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Brooklyn College, a Bachelor of Hebrew Literature from the Jewish Theological Seminary, and a master's degree in art history from the Institut ...

said that the midwives' refusal to follow the Pharaoh's genocidal instructions "may be the first known incident of

civil disobedience Civil disobedience is the active, professed refusal of a citizen to obey certain laws, demands, orders or commands of a government (or any other authority). By some definitions, civil disobedience has to be nonviolent to be called "civil". Hen ...

in history." Theologian

Jonathan Magonet Jonathan David Magonet (born 2 August 1942) is a British rabbi theologian, Vice-President of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, and a biblical scholar. He is highly active in Christian-Jewish dialogue, and in dialogue between Jews and M ...

agrees, calling them "the earliest, and in some ways the most powerful, examples, of resistance to an evil regime". The "fear of God" theme is reversed a few verses later when Pharaoh commands the Egyptian people to carry out the genocide (Exod. 1:22). The Egyptians apparently feared Pharaoh more than they feared God, and therefore, participated in the crime. Rabbi

Joseph Telushkin Joseph Telushkin (born 1948) is an American rabbi, lecturer, and bestselling author of more than 15 books, including volumes about Jewish ethics, Jewish literacy, as well as the book '' Rebbe'', a ''New York Times'' bestseller released in Ju ...

compared the Shiphrah and Puah's defection with the rescuers of Jews during the Holocaust, many of whom had been religious. Those who aided the Nazis, on the other hand, feared the Nazis' power more than they feared (or even believed in) God's judgment.

"Made houses"

Commentators have interpreted Exodus 1:20–21 in various ways. Some scholars argue that the two halves of each verse are parallel, so that it is the Israelites ('who multiplied and grew greatly') for whom God 'made houses'. This fits with the reference in Exodus 1:1 to the children of Israel coming down to Egypt, each with his "house". However, Magonet notesMagonet, Jonathan (1992) ''Bible Lives'' (London: SCM), 8. that the more common view is that the houses are for the midwives - "houses" here being understood as 'dynasties'. Rabbinic thought has understood these as the houses of kehunah (priesthood), leviyah (assistants to the priests), and royalty – the latter interpreted as coming from Miriam.

Names

The name Šp-ra is found in a list of

slaves Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

during the reign of

Sobekhotep III Sobekhotep III (throne name: Sekhemre-sewadjtawy) was an Egyptian king of the Thirteenth Dynasty of Egypt who reigned three to four years, c. 1740 BC or 1700 BC. Family Parents and siblings The family of the king is known from several sources. A ...

(around 1745 BCE). This list is on Papyrus Brooklyn 35.1446, in the

Brooklyn Museum The Brooklyn Museum is an art museum located in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. At , the museum is New York City's second largest and contains an art collection with around 1.5 million objects. Located near the Prospect Heights, Crown H ...

. The museum states that "Scholars assume that this is a hieroglyphic transliteration of the Hebrew name Shiphra." The name means "to be fair" or "beautiful", and may be related to, or even the same as, the Aramaic Sapphira and (up to slight morphological adaptations) as Shiphrah, the name of the Hebrew midwife. The name of the second midwife, Puah, is a Canaanite name which means "lass" or "little girl".

External links

;Original text of Exodus Chapter 1
Hebrew – English original text
at Mechon-Mamre.org

at Mechon-Mamre.org
Judaica Press translation
with

Rashi Shlomo Yitzchaki ( he, רבי שלמה יצחקי; la, Salomon Isaacides; french: Salomon de Troyes, 22 February 1040 – 13 July 1105), today generally known by the acronym Rashi (see below), was a medieval French rabbi and author of a compre ...

's commentary at Chabad.org

References

Historical theories and materials on the Exodus Women in the Hebrew Bible Biblical midwives {{Hebrew-Bible-stub