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:
The king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives. It appears from the monumental sculptures that female accoucheurs were employed in ancient as in modern Egypt (Wilkinson, in Rawlinson's 'Herodotus,' b. 2:, ch.
85). Two only were spoken to by the king; whence it may be inferred, either that they were the heads of a large corporation (Rosenmuller, 'A. und. N. Morgenl.,' 1:, p. 255; Laborde, 'Commentaire Geographique'); or that, by tampering with these, he designed to intimidate the other practitioners, so as to secure the secret compliance of all of them with his wishes (Calvin). A third hypothesis is, that it was only the midwives who practiced in and around the capital (see the close of the chapter).
Opinions are divided as to whether the two accoucheurs mentioned were Egyptians or Hebrews. On the one hand, Josephus (b. 2:, ch. 9:, sec. 2) says that they were Egyptians; and it has been maintained that his account is most likely to be correct, being the traditional belief of the ancient Church. Besides, it is alleged the original text admits of being rendered as: 'he spake to the midwives of the Hebrew women;' while it is evident, from their own language to the king, that they had general practice among the native women.
Further still, not to speak of the character of the king, who was too wary and politic to entrust his secret designs to the execution of Hebrew midwives, it is thought that the names of Puah and Shiphrah-particularly that of the latter-having an Egyptian sound, and ending in Phra, 'the sun,' marks her to have been a Heliopolitan woman; and in accordance with this view, Osburn ('Mon. Hist.,' 2:, p. 543) says that the midwives were priestesses, who ministered in the temple of the goddess Tenu or Tamar, who was the Lucius of the Egyptians. The two mentioned were of high rank, and presided over all the midwives of Egypt, so that, as the representatives of their class, they received the royal instructions, which through them were to be communicated to their professional sisters.
On the other hand, without dwelling on the obvious construction of the original words, which denote 'Hebrew midwives,' and on their names, which are clearly Hebrew, it deserves particular notice that they were God-fearing women, who were restrained by conscientious scruples from obeying the king, and resolved to follow the dictates of piety and humanity. These considerations are strongly in favour of the opinion that they were Hebrew women.