EXODUS 1:15 — How Could Two Hebrew Midwives Deliver the Children of Hundreds of Thousands of Women of Childbearing Age?

Nov 4, 20242 min read

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Exodus 1:15 Updated American Standard Version (UASV)

15 Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah,

When we look at Exodus 12:37 and Numbers chapters 1-4, there were about 600,000 men besides women and children, which would mean about three million. This would mean that there must have been hundreds of thousands of women of childbearing age. Pharaoh is said to have spoken to the midwives Shiphrah and Puah. How is it possible for these two midwives to deliver children for so many women?

It is like any profession; in which a leader would deal with those that he had placed in charge of the midwives. Egyptian society was one of the more organized. The Pharaohs had someone serving in the position of oversight in almost every conceivable profession. Of course, the Pharaoh would not personally assign people to oversight positions, he would have an administer of affairs, the position that Joseph served at while he was in Egypt. (Gen. 41:37-44, 46) The administer of affairs would likely have had a person over the nation of Israel, who was responsible to assign the Hebrews professions and report to him.

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About the Author

EDWARD D. ANDREWS (AS in Criminal Justice, BS in Religion, MA in Biblical Studies, and MDiv in Theology) is CEO and President of Christian Publishing House. He has authored over 220 books. In addition, Andrews is the Chief Translator of the Updated American Standard Version (UASV).