Puah and Shiprah are Egyptian names. Aben Ezra, the ancient Jewish historian, says that these two women 'were chiefs over all the midwives, who were more than 500.' As superintendents of such a large staff to which they had been appointed by the Egyptian government, Pharaoh ordered them to carry out his terrible command just as he would give orders to any other of his officials. As it is likely that only the chief Hebrews could afford the service of midwives, probably the order of Pharaoh only applied to them. Although Egyptians by birth, it would seem as if they had embraced the Hebrew faith, for we are told that Puah and Shiprah 'feared God' ( Exodus 1:21).
Receiving the royal command to commit murder, these two loyal, vigorous, middleaged women were caught between two fires. Whom should they obey? The God of the Hebrews in whom they had come to believe, or the tyrannical king of Egypt? True to their conscience and honored calling they knew it would conflict with the divine command to kill, and so 'saved the men children alive.' Thus, they obeyed God rather than man, and in so doing brought upon their heads the rage of Pharaoh. Bible Gateway
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