When now, in spite of all their tribulations, the children of Israel
continued to multiply and spread abroad, so that the land was full of
them as with thick underbrush—for the women brought forth many children
at a birth[11]—the Egyptians appeared before Pharaoh again, and urged
him to devise some other way of ridding the land of the Hebrews, seeing
that they were increasing mightily, though they were made to toil and
labor hard. Pharaoh could invent no new design; he asked his
counsellors to give him their opinion of the thing. Then spake one of
them, Job of the land of Uz, which is in Aram-naharaim, as follows:
"The plan which the king invented, of putting a great burden of work
upon the Israelites, was good in its time, and it should be executed
henceforth, too, but to secure us against the fear that, if a war
should come to pass, they may overwhelm us by reason of their numbers,
and chase us forth out of the land, let the king issue a decree, that
every male child of the Israelites shall be killed at his birth. Then
we need not be afraid of them if we should be overtaken by war. Now let
the king summon the Hebrew midwives, that they come hither, and let him
command them in accordance with this plan."
Job's advice found favor in the eyes of Pharaoh and the Egyptians."
They preferred to have the midwives murder the innocents, for they
feared the punishment of God if they laid hands upon them themselves.
Pharaoh cited the two midwives of the Hebrews before him, and commanded
them to slay all men children, but to save the daughters of the Hebrew
women alive," for the Egyptians were as much interested in preserving
the female children as in bringing about the death of the male
children. They were very sensual, and were desirous of having as many
women as possible at their service."
However, the plan, even if it had been carried into execution, was not
wise, for though a man may marry many wives, each woman can marry but
one husband. Thus a diminished number of men and a corresponding
increase in the number of women did not constitute so serious a menace
to the continuance of the nation of the Israelites as the reverse case
would have been.
The two Hebrew midwives were Jochebed, the mother of Moses, and Miriam,
his sister. When they appeared before Pharaoh, Miriam exclaimed: "Woe
be to this man when God visits retribution upon him for his evil
deeds." The king would have killed her for these audacious words, had
not Jochebed allayed his wrath by saying: "Why dost thou pay heed to
her words? She is but a child, and knows not what she speaks." Yet,
although Miriam was but five years old at the time, she nevertheless
accompanied her mother, and helped her with her offices to the Hebrew
women, giving food to the new-born babes while Jochebed washed and
bathed them.
Pharaoh's order ran as follows: "At the birth of the child, if it be a
man child, kill it; but if it be a female child, then you need not kill
it, but you may save it alive." The midwives returned: "How are we to
know whether the child is male or female?" for the king had bidden them
kill it while it was being born. Pharaoh replied: "If the child issues
forth from the womb with its face foremost, it is a man child, for it
looks to the earth, whence man was taken; but if its feet appear first,
it is a female, for it looks up toward the rib of the mother, and from
a rib woman was made."[15]
The king used all sorts of devices to render the midwives amenable to
his wishes. He approached them with amorous proposals, which they both
repelled, and then he threatened them with death by fire.[16] But they
said within themselves: "Our father Abraham opened an inn, that he
might feed the wayfarers, though they were heathen, and we should
neglect the children, nay, kill them? No, we shall have a care to keep
them alive." Thus they failed to execute what Pharaoh had commanded.
Instead of murdering the babes, they supplied all their needs. If a
mother that had given birth to a child lacked food and drink, the
midwives went to well-to-do women, and took up a collection, that the
infant might not suffer want. They did still more for the little ones.
They made supplication to God, praying: "Thou knowest that we are not
fulfilling the words of Pharaoh, but it is our aim to fulfil Thy words.
O that it be Thy will, our Lord, to let the child come into the world
safe and sound, lest we fall under the suspicion that we tried to slay
it, and maimed it in the attempt." The Lord hearkened to their prayer,
and no child born under the ministrations of Shiphrah and Puah, or
Jochebed and Miriam, as the midwives are also called, came into the
world lame or blind or afflicted with any other blemish.[17]
Seeing that his command was ineffectual, he summoned the midwives a
second time, and called them to account for their disobedience. They
replied: "This nation is compared unto one animal and another, and, in
sooth, the Hebrews are like the animals. As little as the animals do
they need the offices of midwives."[18] These two God-fearing women
were rewarded in many ways for their good deeds. Not only that Pharaoh
did them no harm, but they were made the ancestors of priests and
Levites, and kings and princes. Jochebed became the mother of the
priest Aaron and of the Levite Moses, and from Miriam's union with
Caleb sprang the royal house of David. The hand of God was visible in
her married life. She contracted a grievous sickness, and though it was
thought by all that saw her that death would certainly overtake her,
she recovered, and God restored her youth, and bestowed unusual beauty
upon her, so that renewed happiness awaited her husband, who had been
deprived of the pleasures of conjugal life during her long illness. His
unexpected joys were the reward of his piety and trust in God.[19] And
another recompense was accorded to Miriam: she was privileged to bring
forth Bezalel, the builder of the Tabernacle, who was endowed with
celestial wisdom.[20]