One of the most fascinating—and sometimes troubling—episodes in the book of Exodus occurs before Moses ever confronts Pharaoh.
Two women stand between the murderous decree of the most powerful ruler in Egypt and the lives of innocent Hebrew babies.
Their names were Shiphrah and Puah.
Pharaoh commanded them to kill every Hebrew baby boy at birth. They refused.
When Pharaoh demanded an explanation, they gave an answer that has generated discussion among Bible readers for centuries:
Did the Hebrew midwives lie to Pharaoh?
And if they did, an even more difficult question follows:
Did God bless them because they lied?
The answer requires us to read the passage carefully.
Pharaoh’s Terrible Command
The Bible says:
Exodus 1:15–17 (KJV)
“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:
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.
But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive.”
There is one statement here that unlocks the entire passage:
“But the midwives feared God.”
Pharaoh was their earthly ruler.
He possessed political authority.
He could punish them.
He could possibly have had them executed.
But Pharaoh was asking them to do something that violated the law and character of God: murder innocent children.
The midwives therefore faced a choice.
Fear Pharaoh or fear God.
They chose God.
This principle appears again much later in Scripture:
Acts 5:29 (KJV)
“Then Peter and the other apostles answered and said, We ought to obey God rather than men.”
The Bible teaches respect for legitimate authority, but no human authority has the right to demand that we disobey God.
When man’s command directly contradicts God’s command, God remains the believer’s highest authority.
Then Pharaoh Asked the Question
Pharaoh discovered that the Hebrew boys were still alive.
Exodus 1:18–19 (KJV)
“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?
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.”
And here lies the controversy.
Were the midwives telling the truth?
Were they telling part of the truth?
Or were they deliberately deceiving Pharaoh to protect the babies?
The Bible does not explicitly tell us.
That is important.
We should be careful about being more definite than Scripture itself.
Possibility One: They Lied to Pharaoh
Many respected Christian interpreters throughout history have understood the midwives’ statement as a lie.
Under this interpretation, Shiphrah and Puah deliberately deceived Pharaoh because telling him what they were actually doing could have endangered themselves and the Hebrew children.
Their actions could essentially be understood like this:
Pharaoh: “Why are the boys still alive?”
The real answer was:
“Because we fear God and refuse to murder them.”
But instead, they told Pharaoh that the Hebrew women were delivering their children before the midwives could arrive.
If this interpretation is correct, however, something very important must still be understood:
The Bible recording someone’s actions does not automatically mean God approves everything that person did.
Scripture faithfully records the failures of many people whom God nevertheless used.
Abraham failed.
Jacob failed.
David failed.
Peter failed.
Yet God continued working through their lives.
Therefore, even if the midwives lied, we cannot conclude simply from God’s subsequent blessing that God blessed their lie.
In fact, the text tells us something very different.
Possibility Two: They Told the Truth—but Not the Whole Story
There is another very reasonable interpretation.
The midwives may have been telling Pharaoh something that was technically true while deliberately withholding information from him.
They said:
Exodus 1:19 (KJV)
“…the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are lively, and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them.”
The Hebrew word translated “lively” carries the sense of being vigorous, strong or full of vitality.
It is therefore possible that Hebrew women were genuinely giving birth quickly.
There is also another possibility.
The midwives, having determined that they would not participate in Pharaoh’s murderous scheme, may simply have ensured that they did not arrive until after the babies had been delivered.
In that case, the statement:
“They are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them”
could have been literally true.
What they did not tell Pharaoh was why they were not getting there earlier.
That would make their answer evasive and deliberately incomplete without necessarily making every word false.
Possibility Three: They Were Telling the Complete Truth
There is also a third possibility that should not be dismissed.
The Hebrew women really may have been experiencing unusually strong and rapid deliveries.
Why is that possible?
Because something supernatural was already happening among the Israelites.
Pharaoh had been deliberately attempting to suppress their population.
But Scripture says:
Exodus 1:12 (KJV)
“But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel.”
Pharaoh was fighting against a people carrying God’s covenant blessing.
The harder Egypt tried to suppress Israel, the more Israel multiplied.
It is therefore entirely possible that the extraordinary reproductive strength of the Hebrew women was another manifestation of God’s blessing upon His covenant people.
The text simply does not give us enough information to say with certainty which explanation is correct.
And that means we should not build a doctrine upon something the Bible itself leaves uncertain.
But Did God Bless the Midwives?
Absolutely.
The next verses say:
Exodus 1:20–21 (KJV)
“Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty.
And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses.”
Notice carefully what Scripture says.
It does not say:
“Because the midwives lied, God blessed them.”
It says:
“Because the midwives feared God.”
That distinction changes everything.
The inspired writer tells us exactly what God was honouring.
Their fear of God.
Their refusal to murder innocent children flowed from that fear.
Look at the Structure of the Passage
There is something beautiful about how the Holy Spirit presents the story.
At the beginning we read:
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.”
Then Pharaoh interrogates them.
And afterwards we read:
Exodus 1:21 (KJV)
“And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses.”
The passage is framed by the same truth:
THE MIDWIVES FEARED GOD.
Verse 17:
They feared God → therefore they refused Pharaoh’s command.
Verses 18–19:
Pharaoh confronted them → they answered him.
Verses 20–21:
God dealt well with them → because they feared God.
Whatever conclusion we reach about their explanation to Pharaoh, Scripture leaves us in no doubt about what God commended.
God Was Not Commending Murder Through Obedience
There is another important lesson here.
Imagine the midwives saying:
“Pharaoh is the king. We must submit to authority. We are only following orders.”
That would not have made murdering babies righteous.
There are moments when obedience to God requires refusing the command of human authority.
Daniel demonstrated this.
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego demonstrated it.
The apostles demonstrated it.
And Shiphrah and Puah demonstrated it long before them.
There comes a point where a believer must say:
“I respect authority, but I cannot obey an instruction that requires me to disobey God.”
That is not rebellion against legitimate authority.
That is allegiance to higher authority.
Two Midwives Versus the Most Powerful Man in Egypt
There is another remarkable feature of this story that can easily be missed.
Pharaoh was enormously powerful.
He commanded armies.
He controlled Egypt.
He had wealth, political authority and military might.
Shiphrah and Puah were midwives.
Yet two apparently powerless women frustrated the plans of one of the world’s most powerful rulers.
Pharaoh said:
“Kill the boys.”
They refused.
Pharaoh questioned them.
The children continued living.
Eventually Pharaoh’s secret strategy through the midwives failed so badly that he escalated his campaign:
Exodus 1:22 (KJV)
“And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive.”
Think about that.
The midwives’ resistance had worked.
Pharaoh had to abandon his first strategy and devise another.
And behind those courageous women was something Pharaoh could never control:
the covenant purpose of God.
There Is Even Something Striking About Their Names
Exodus tells us:
Shiphrah.
Puah.
Their names have been remembered by generations of God’s people.
But in this particular account, the mighty king is simply called:
Pharaoh.
The women whom society might have considered insignificant are named.
The powerful ruler who tried to destroy God’s people is not.
There is a profound lesson here.
Heaven’s record of greatness is very different from man’s record of greatness.
Earth may remember kings.
God remembers people who fear Him.
So, Was It a Lie?
The safest biblical conclusion is this:
We cannot state categorically that Exodus 1:19 was a lie because Scripture itself never calls it a lie.
The midwives’ statement could have been:
- an outright protective falsehood;
- a deliberately incomplete but technically truthful explanation; or
- a completely truthful description of what was happening.
Scripture does not give us enough information to determine conclusively which one occurred.
But Scripture does give us enough information to know why God blessed them.
Exodus 1:21 (KJV)
“And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses.”
Therefore, Exodus 1 cannot legitimately be used as a proof-text that God approves lying.
God commended their fear of Him and their refusal to participate in evil.
The Greater Lesson: Who Do You Fear More?
Perhaps this is ultimately the question Exodus 1 places before every believer.
Whose voice becomes final when obedience becomes costly?
It is easy to say we fear God when obeying Him costs us nothing.
Shiphrah and Puah feared God when obedience could have cost them their lives.
They stood before Pharaoh knowing that he had the power to punish them.
Yet there was Someone they considered greater than Pharaoh.
God.
Proverbs 29:25 (KJV)
“The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe.”
There will always be Pharaohs.
There will always be pressure.
There will always be moments when culture, employers, governments, friends, family or society may demand something contrary to God’s Word.
The question is not merely:
“What will people think?”
The greater question is:
“What does God say?”
Shiphrah and Puah answered that question with their lives.
They feared God more than Pharaoh.
They protected life rather than participate in murder.
And God remembered them.
May we have the same kind of faith—the courage to honour God when obedience is unpopular, inconvenient or costly.
Because ultimately, the fear of God must always be greater than the fear of man.
The Message Bearer, Cornelius Bella
corneliusbella 