Puah and Shiphrah: The Hebrew Midwives Who Feared God

Exodus 1:15–21

Exodus 1:15 And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah:

Exodus 1:16 And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live.
Exodus 1:17 But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive.
Exodus 1:18 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?
Exodus 1:19 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 midwives come in unto them.
Exodus 1:20 Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty.
Exodus 1:21 And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses. (KJV)

Introduction

Puah and Shiphrah appear only briefly in Scripture, yet their actions stand as a powerful testimony of courage, obedience, and the fear of God.

Israel was living in Egypt and multiplying greatly. A new Pharaoh arose who did not know Joseph and became fearful of Israel's increasing population. He first attempted to weaken the Israelites through hard bondage. When oppression failed to stop their growth, Pharaoh turned to something far more sinister: he commanded the Hebrew midwives to kill the male children at birth.

But Pharaoh encountered two women who recognized an authority greater than his own.

Exodus 1:17 (KJV):

“But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive.”

That one statement tells us what governed their decision: they feared God more than they feared Pharaoh.

Who Were Puah and Shiphrah?

Exodus 1:15 names two midwives:

Shiphrah — Hebrew Šiprâ (שִׁפְרָה), associated with ideas of beauty, fairness, or brightness.

Puah — Hebrew Pûʿâ (פּוּעָה). The precise derivation is less certain. It has sometimes been connected with crying out or calling, including sounds associated with childbirth.

I would revise the older article slightly here. Rather than stating that Puah definitely means “to glitter,” it is better to acknowledge that the etymology of her name is uncertain. This keeps your study biblically and linguistically careful.

There is also discussion about whether the expression “Hebrew midwives” means that these women were themselves Hebrews or were midwives who served Hebrew women. The traditional and most natural reading understands them as Hebrew women.

Pharaoh's War Against the Seed

The background is important. Exodus 1 repeatedly emphasizes that Israel was fruitful, multiplied, increased, and became exceedingly mighty (Exodus 1:7, 12, 20). Pharaoh saw their multiplication as a political threat. First came oppression. Then forced labor.
Then increasingly severe bondage. Finally came an order of death.  

Pharaoh commanded Puah and Shiphrah that when a Hebrew woman gave birth:
If the child was a son, he was to be killed. If the child was a daughter, she was permitted to live (Exodus 1:16). 

This was not simply oppression. Pharaoh was attempting to control the future of an entire people by destroying their sons.
Yet the narrative shows the limitation of human power when it stands against God's covenant purposes.

“But the Midwives Feared God”

These are the controlling words of the passage. Biblically, the fear of God is more than being frightened of God. It involves reverence, recognition of His authority, and a willingness to order one's conduct accordingly.

Puah and Shiphrah had two commands before them:

Pharaoh said: Kill the children.

God's moral order said: Preserve life.

They chose God.

Their resistance is particularly significant because Pharaoh was the most powerful human authority in their world. These women apparently possessed none of his political power, military strength, or wealth.

Nevertheless, Pharaoh could command them, but he could not command their consciences away from God. Their fear of God produced courage before man.

This principle appears elsewhere in Scripture:

Proverbs 29:25: “The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe.”

Acts 5:29: “We ought to obey God rather than men.”

The midwives lived this principle centuries before Peter spoke those words.

They Saved the Children Alive

Exodus does not merely say that the women refused to kill.

It specifically says they:

“saved the men children alive.”

That is active language.

Their faith was demonstrated through what they did.

This is an important lesson when studying biblical faith. Faithfulness to God is not merely what someone professes internally. There are moments when allegiance to God becomes visible through a decision.

Puah and Shiphrah reached such a moment.

Obedience to Pharaoh would have required disobedience to God.

Therefore, they refused.

Pharaoh Questions the Midwives

Pharaoh eventually summoned them:

“Why have ye done this thing, and have saved the men children alive?”
— Exodus 1:18

Notice that Pharaoh himself recognized that his command had not been carried out.

The women answered that the Hebrew women were vigorous and gave birth before the midwives could reach them (Exodus 1:19).

This part of the passage raises an important interpretive question: Were the midwives lying?

Scripture does not explicitly say that their statement was false. It is therefore better not to teach as certainty something the text does not state.

What Scripture does explicitly commend is their fear of God.

Exodus 1:20–21 connects God's favorable treatment of the midwives with this fact:

“Therefore God dealt well with the midwives…”

and:

“because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses.”

The theological emphasis of the passage is therefore not deception. It is their fear of God and their refusal to participate in Pharaoh's murderous decree.

God Made Them Houses

The expression “made them houses” should not simply be understood as God constructing physical houses for them.

In biblical language, a house can refer to a household, family, or continuing family line.

Compare God's promise concerning David:

2 Samuel 7:11: “…also the LORD telleth thee that he will make thee an house.”

Thus Exodus 1:21 most naturally indicates that God established households or families for the midwives.

Pharaoh sought to destroy Hebrew families.

God established the families of the women who protected Hebrew children.

That contrast is striking.

Pharaoh Could Not Stop God's Purpose

One of the strongest themes in Exodus 1 is that the more Pharaoh attempted to suppress Israel, the more Israel multiplied.

Exodus 1:12 says:

“But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew.”

This prepares us for everything that follows. Pharaoh's oppression cannot stop the covenant people. Pharaoh's forced labor cannot stop them. Pharaoh's command to the midwives cannot stop them.

And when Pharaoh later commands that Hebrew sons be thrown into the river, even that decree will become part of the circumstances through which Moses is preserved and eventually brought into Pharaoh's own household. Human rulers act, but God remains sovereign over the larger story.

The Covenant Connection

This passage becomes even more significant when read alongside God's earlier promises.

God told Abraham:

Genesis 15:5: his seed would become innumerable.

Genesis 15:13: his descendants would be strangers in another land and would be afflicted.

Genesis 15:14: God would judge the nation that oppressed them.

Exodus begins showing those words unfolding historically. Israel is multiplying.

Israel is in a foreign land. Israel is afflicted. Yet the covenant promise has not disappeared.

This is why the multiplication of Israel is such an important theme in Exodus 1. Pharaoh is fighting against something much larger than population growth. Without realizing it, he is resisting the unfolding of God's covenant promise.

What Puah and Shiphrah Teach Us

Puah and Shiphrah demonstrate that faithfulness is not determined by one's position or visibility. These were not queens, military commanders, or political officials. They were midwives.

Yet when a defining moment arrived, their decision mattered to an entire generation.

Their story teaches several truths: the fear of God must exceed the fear of human authority; believers must not cooperate with commands that require direct disobedience to God; protecting innocent life can require courage; God sees acts of faithfulness that human history might otherwise overlook; and human opposition cannot overturn God's covenant purposes.

There is another beautiful feature in the narrative: Scripture preserves the names of the midwives, but Exodus 1 does not give us Pharaoh's personal name.

The mighty ruler wanted to determine who would live and who would die.

Yet Scripture remembers Shiphrah and Puah.

Personal Application

Ask yourself:

Whose voice carries the greatest authority when obedience to God becomes costly?

It is easy to speak about fearing God when there is no opposition. Puah and Shiphrah demonstrate what the fear of God looks like when obedience carries consequences.

Their testimony challenges us not merely to confess that God is Lord, but to live under His authority.

There may be circumstances in which culture, institutions, influential people, or even governing authorities pressure God's people to compromise what they understand Scripture to require.

The principle remains:

Human authority has limits. God's authority does not.

 Bible-Study Thought

Puah and Shiphrah stood at the beginning of the Exodus story almost unnoticed, but their obedience helped preserve the generation from which God's deliverance would emerge.

Pharaoh had power. The midwives had the fear of God.

And in the biblical narrative, the fear of God proved stronger than the fear of Pharaoh.

What Pharaoh intended to extinguish, God continued to multiply.