Exodus 1:15-21 NIV

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Exodus 1:15-22

The Egyptians? indignation at Israel's increase, notwithstanding the many hardships they put upon them, drove them at length to the most barbarous and inhuman methods of suppressing them, by the murder of their children. It was strange that they did not rather pick quarrels with the grown men, against whom they might perhaps find some occasion: to be thus bloody towards the infants, whom all must own to be innocents, was a sin which they had to cloak for. Note, 1. There is more cruelty in the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 1:15

And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives ,.... It is difficult to say who these midwives were, whether Egyptian or Hebrew women. Josephus is of opinion that they were Egyptians, and indeed those the king was most likely to succeed with; and it may seem improbable that he should offer such a thing to Hebrew women, who he could never think would ever comply with it, through promises or threatenings; and the answer they afterwards gave him, that the Hebrew women were not as the... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 1:16

And he said, when ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women ,.... Deliver them of their children: and see them upon the stools ; seats for women in labour to sit upon, and so contrived, that the midwives might do their office the more readily; but while they sat there, and before the birth, they could not tell whether the child was a son or a daughter; wherefore Kimchi F8 Sepher Shorash. rad. אבן . thinks the word here used signifies the place to which the infant falls... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 1:17

But the midwives feared God ,.... And therefore durst not take away the life of an human creature, which was contrary to the express law of God, Genesis 9:6 , and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them ; knowing it was right to obey God rather than man, though ever so great, or in so exalted a station: but saved the men children alive ; did not use any violence with them, by stifling them in the birth. The scheme was so barbarous and shocking, especially to the tender sex, to... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 1:18

And the king called for the midwives ,.... Perceiving, by the increase of the Israelites, that they did not obey his commands: and said unto them, why have ye done this thing, and have saved the men children alive ? not only did not kill them, but did everything for them that was necessary for their future preservation and health; see Ezekiel 16:4 . read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 1:19

And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women ,.... Not so tender, weak, and feeble, nor so ignorant of midwifery, and needed not the assistance of midwives, as the Egyptian women: for they are lively ; or midwives themselves, as Kimchi F11 Sepher Shorash. חיה "sie alii", כי חיות הנה "quia obstetrices ipsae", Pagninus, Montanus; so the Syriac version. says the word signifies; and so F12 μαιαι γαρ εισι , Symmachus apud... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 1:20

Wherefore God dealt well with the midwives ,.... He approved of their conduct upon the whole, however difficult it may be to clear them from all blame in this matter; though some think that what they said was the truth, though they might not tell all the truth; yea, that they made a glorious confession of their faith in God, and plainly told the king, that it was nothing but the immediate hand of God that the Hebrew women were so lively and strong, and therefore were resolved not to oppose... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 1:21

And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God ,.... And regarded his command, and not that of the king, though they risked his displeasure, and their lives: that he made them houses ; which some understand of the Israelites making houses for them, being moved to it by the Lord, to preserve them from the insults of the Egyptians; others of Pharaoh building houses for them, in which he kept them, until the Hebrew women came to their time of delivery, who were ordered to be brought... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Exodus 1:15

Hebrew midwives - Shiphrah and Puah, who are here mentioned, were probably certain chiefs, under whom all the rest acted, and by whom they were instructed in the obstetric art. Aben Ezra supposes there could not have been fewer than five hundred midwives among the Hebrew women at this time, but that very few were requisite see proved on Exodus 1:19 ; (note). read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Exodus 1:16

Upon the stools - האבנים על al haobnayim . This is a difficult word, and occurs nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible but in Jeremiah 18:3 , where we translate it the potter's wheels. As אכי signifies a stone, the obnayim has been supposed to signify a stone trough, in which they received and washed the infant as soon as born. Jarchi, in his book of Hebrew roots, gives a very different interpretation of it; he derives it from בן ben , a son, or בנים banim , children; his words... read more

Matthew Henry's Complete Commentary - Exodus 1:15-22

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 1:15

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 1:16

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 1:17

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 1:18

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 1:19

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 1:20

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Exodus 1:21

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Exodus 1:15

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Exodus 1:16

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