Understanding Exodus 1:15-21 in Depth: Courage That Defied Pharaoh

Context of the Midwives' Defiance

This story comes early in Exodus, right after the Israelites had grown large in number, which made Egypt’s new king feel threatened.

Pharaoh, fearing the growing Hebrew population, ordered Shiphrah and Puah - two named midwives - to kill all Hebrew baby boys at birth, but they refused because they feared God more than the king. In that culture, midwives were trusted women with quiet influence, and defying Pharaoh was extremely risky for both their jobs and their lives. Yet they chose to obey God, and when questioned, they explained that Hebrew women gave birth too quickly for them to intervene - possibly a clever way to avoid direct confrontation while protecting the babies.

Their courage in the face of pressure shows that ordinary people can take faithful stands, and God blessed them by giving them families of their own, honoring their bravery and faith.

The First Act of Resistance and God's Redemptive Plan

Shiphrah and Puah’s quiet refusal demonstrated personal courage and marked the first recorded resistance to Pharaoh’s oppression, a key moment in God’s plan to deliver His people.

By sparing the Hebrew boys, these women preserved the male line through which Moses would eventually be born - Moses, who would lead Israel out of slavery and point forward to the ultimate Deliverer, Jesus Christ. In this way, their act was not only moral but redemptive, standing at the very beginning of God’s rescue mission for humanity. The Bible often highlights how God uses unlikely people - like two midwives - to advance His covenant promises, which He first made to Abraham: 'I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse' (Genesis 12:3). Here, Pharaoh tries to curse Israel by killing sons, but God blesses the midwives and multiplies His people all the more.

The midwives feared God, meaning they lived in awe of Him and trusted His authority above all else. This fear of God is the foundation of wisdom and right action throughout Scripture, as Proverbs 9:10 says, 'The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.' Their reverence led them to disobey an unjust ruler, showing that when human laws contradict God’s, obedience to God must come first. And God rewarded them not only by protecting them but by giving them families - He blessed them with the very thing Pharaoh was trying to destroy: children.

God honors those who protect life, especially when it costs them everything.

Their story sets a pattern we see again and again: God works through faithful people to preserve life and fulfill His promises. He later raised a deliverer from the sons they saved, and He continues to use ordinary acts of courage to achieve His purposes.

The Fear of God and the Blessing of Obedience

Shiphrah and Puah’s courage stemmed from deep loyalty to God, a choice that still resonates today.

They feared God more than Pharaoh, and that fear wasn't about being scared - it was about reverence, trust, and choosing to live under God's authority rather than man's. This same choice appears throughout Scripture, like when Jesus' followers were told not to speak in His name but replied, 'We must obey God rather than human beings' (Acts 5:29).

When we choose to fear God instead of people, we step into the kind of faith that changes history.

God blessed the midwives by giving them families, showing that when we stand for what's right, He doesn't leave us empty. Their story reminds us that faith isn't always loud or dramatic - sometimes it's a quiet 'no' to evil and a simple 'yes' to God. He honored their courage and continues to work through ordinary people who trust Him over worldly pressure.

The Survival of the Sons and the Coming of the Savior

Shiphrah and Puah’s bravery in preserving the Hebrew boys was a moral victory and the first thread in a divine plan that led to Moses’s birth and eventually to Jesus Christ, the true Deliverer.

By sparing the male children, these midwives ensured the survival of the line through which Moses would be born, and Hebrews 11:23 affirms this link: 'By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict.' Like the midwives, Moses’ parents defied Pharaoh out of reverence for God, continuing the pattern of faithful resistance. This act of protection set in motion the exodus - the dramatic rescue of Israel from slavery - which becomes a foundational picture of salvation in the Bible.

The exodus story, begun by these quiet acts of courage, points forward to Jesus in clear ways. Matthew 2:16 echoes Pharaoh’s massacre when Herod orders the killing of infants in Bethlehem, seeking to destroy the newborn King of the Jews - showing that from the beginning, evil powers oppose God’s anointed. God preserved Moses to lead His people out of Egypt, and He preserved Jesus to lead humanity out of sin and death. The entire exodus event - deliverance through a chosen savior, liberation from bondage, and the establishment of a covenant people - serves as a 'type' or foreshadowing of Christ’s work, as Paul explains in 1 Corinthians 10:1-4, where he says the Israelites 'were all baptized into Moses' and 'drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ.'

God’s plan to save the world began not with an army, but with the quiet courage of two women who refused to kill.

The midwives’ defiance was about survival and part of God’s long-term plan to bring forth the One who would deliver a nation and the whole world. Their story reminds us that God often works through small, faithful acts to fulfill His grand promises, and that the gospel itself has roots in the quiet moments when ordinary people choose to fear God rather than man.

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