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.
The Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women. It might be that the simple and active habits of the former rendered the labours of maternity much easier to them than among the Egyptian women, who lived in a more artificial and luxurious style, and were delicate and feeble; and, in point of fact, easy labour is the normal experience of the wives of the nomadic Arabs (Burckhardt, 'Travels among the Bedouin Arabs'). But the answer of the midwives was probably a mere pretext, though believed by Pharaoh.