Exodus 1:15-21

Their Ministry: Midwives

Their Home Lives: Place of Residence probably Egypt -- Bible Timeline: About 1525 B.C.

Their Status: Could have been relatives or friends of family which was common for the position of midwife.

Character Traits of Puah and Shiprah: Wise, Obedient, Feared God, Diplomatic (before Pharaoh), Loving towards children

Physical Attributes: Unknown

Ultimate Purpose: Their faith in God allowed them to be an instrument in saving the male Hebrew babies.

Meanings of their names: Puah "Joy of Parents" * Shiprah "Beauty"

Backdrop:
The word midwife means "to help to bear". Another meaning is "with-wife" or "with the woman". These women were skilled in assisting other women in labor and childbirth. In many cases, the midwife would be a relative or a friend of the mother to be. Their duties usually consisted of cutting the navel cord, washing the infant in water, and wrapping the infant in swaddling clothes, though they were also there to assist in more urgent cases as needed.

Delivery of the infant usually required the mother to kneel with her leaning on someone’s knee, or to sit on a labor stool or birth-seat, which is shaped like crescent moon and has 4 legs.

A look at the story scripturally:

And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah.
Exodus 1:15

Both Puah and Shiprah, though called Hebrew midwives, were probably Egyptian. These women were the chief midwives over all others. A group of about 500 or more. They would assist both Egyptian and Hebrew women in childbirth.

And he said, When ye do the office of midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live.
Exodus 1:16

Pharaoh called on Puah and Shiprah to help eliminate the male babies. He probably knew that any Hebrew woman would not cooperate by killing her own people. But an Egyptian woman would. In this case a midwife. Pharaoh was trying to reduce the population of the Hebrews which had grown quite abundantly. (Exodus 1:7-12)

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