Pharaoh Oppresses Israel (Exodus 1:15-21)

15 Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives [so heroic were the midwives, that two of them are named], one of whom was named Shiphrah [dawn] and the other Puah [fragrant], 16 “When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him [population control through forced infanticide], but if it is a daughter, she shall live.” [Why kill the boys and not the girls? Boys will grow up to be potential fighting men.] 17 But the midwives feared God [meaning they understood that right and wrong are not human inventions but part of the divinely created order] and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live. 18 So the king of Egypt called the midwives [perhaps several years have passed] and said to them, “Why have you done this, and let the male children live?” 19 The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.” [It could be that there were societal differences between Egyptians and Hebrew women when it came to childbirth with the Egyptian women more passive and relying upon midwives during the birthing process while the Hebrew women were more actively involved, especially now that the midwives were ordered to kill the male children upon delivery. Maybe the midwives were called after or just before the delivery?] 20 So God dealt well with the midwives. [They were protected and given families of their own (v. 21).] And the people multiplied and grew very strong. 21 And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families. 22 Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.” [Now the pogrom plan reaches its final stage. Any Egyptian may take the life of a Hebrew male child. Why did he want them cast into the Nile? The Nile was seen as a God, and these boys are sacrificed as food to it.]