The midwives feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had had told them to do; they let the boys live. So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous.

Exodus 1:17 & 20

“Shiphrah” and “Puah”, I stumble over the pronunciation of their names, but they, on the other hand, did not stumble when it came to obeying God. They stood firm.

Shiphrah and Puah, midwives in Egypt during the Israelites’ slavery, faced a tough choice. The pharaoh, or king of Egypt, noticed the births of many healthy Israelite babies and did not like it one bit. He oppressed the people more and more, but to no avail. They still had numerous babies. He eventually commanded the midwives to kill all the boy babies born to the Israelites, but the girl babies, of no consequence to him, he allowed to live.

What a predicament for Shiphrah and Puah to find themselves in! Their job description in itself meant helping the Israelite mothers birth live babies. How could they then not allow those same babies to live? Shiphrah and Puah must have feared for their own lives as they considered their next actions. 

The book of Exodus states these faithful midwives chose not to kill the boy babies. Their love, fear, and reverence for God outweighed any apprehension of disobeying the pharaoh’s orders. 

Their obedience to God certainly payed off. Eventually, Moses, one of the boy babies not killed, led the entire nation of Israel out of slavery and toward the Promised Land. What a great reward!

Obedience may not always be easy. We may worry about any risks involved, but in the long run, the rewards outweigh the risks.

God, you are so good. Your faithfulness abounds even in the midst of difficult times. You never lose sight of your children. Thank you for the rewards of obedience. Whether great or small, we recognize they are from you and are so worth it.

Susan P.