Shiphrah and Puah

Scripture: Exodus 1:15–21

The Pharaoh's command and the midwives' names (Exodus 1:15–16), "Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, 'When you serve as midwife 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.'" The passage is among the most careful in the early Exodus narrative. The Hebrew midwives received a direct royal command for infanticide. Two women are named: שִׁפְרָה (Shiphrah, possibly "beautiful" or "prolific") and פּוּעָה (Puah, possibly "girl" or "splendid"). The command was precise and personal: Pharaoh did not issue a general decree to the Hebrew population; he summoned the midwives by name and gave them private instructions. They were to be the mechanism.

Their fear and their refusal (Exodus 1:17), "But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live." The Hebrew יְרֵאוּ הַמְיַלְּדֹת אֶת-הָאֱלֹהִים (the midwives feared God) is the text's singular explanation for their disobedience. They feared God; therefore they did not obey the king. The fear of God (יִרְאַת אֱלֹהִים, yirat Elohim) is the foundational orientation of biblical ethics, the recognition that YHWH's authority supersedes every human authority. They did not fear Pharaoh enough to kill newborns. They feared God enough to let them live.

The question and the answer (Exodus 1:18–19), Pharaoh summoned the midwives and asked: "Why have you done this thing and let the male children live?" Their answer: "Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them." The response has been analyzed from two angles. Some interpreters take it as a true statement, the circumstances of the deliveries did not give the midwives opportunity to act, and the theological comment in 1:17 locates the root in their fear of God rather than convenience. Others note that the Hebrew word for "vigorous" (חַיּוֹת, chayyot) can also be read as "like animals" and see the statement as either shrewd deflection or partially invented cover. What the text provides is: they gave an answer, Pharaoh accepted it, and the children continued to live.

The blessing (Exodus 1:20–21), "So God dealt well with the midwives. And the people multiplied and grew very strong. And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families" (lit. "houses"). The final clause is the resolution: the women who preserved the lives of Hebrew children were given families, בָּתִּים (battim, houses), meaning households, lineages, descendants. They feared God over Pharaoh; God gave them what they gave others. The people multiplied despite Pharaoh's command.

Named women, unnamed Pharaoh, One of the narrative's signal features is that Shiphrah and Puah are named while the Pharaoh of the oppression is not. The most powerful king in the ancient world is identified only by title; the two women who defied him are identified by name. The text operates with its own political economy: historical memory preserves those who align with YHWH's purposes. Pharaoh's name is lost to the biblical record; the midwives' names have been read in synagogues and churches for three thousand years.

Civil disobedience in the biblical record, Shiphrah and Puah's refusal is the earliest explicit case in Scripture of disobedience to a human authority on grounds of a higher authority. The structure is simple: a royal command, a prior fear, a refusal, a reckoning, an explanation that was accepted, and a blessing. The text does not call it civil disobedience; it calls it the fear of God. The subsequent tradition (Daniel's three friends, Peter and the apostles before the Sanhedrin, "We must obey God rather than men") operates on the same structure.

The Sanctum holds Shiphrah and Puah at the opening of the Exodus account as the first people in that story whose names are given. The deliverer of Israel had not yet been born; his family had not yet been named. Before Moses, there were two women with birthing tools in their hands who looked at the king of Egypt's command and feared God instead. The male children lived. The people multiplied. Their names were written down.