Puah

Puah is named as one of two Hebrew midwives who resisted Pharaoh’s order to kill newborn boys, helping preserve the Israelite population under oppression.

Identity and Role

The account identifies Puah and Shiphrah as the Hebrew midwives to whom the king of Egypt issued his command. Their work placed them at the point where royal policy met the births of Hebrew children, giving them the power to comply with or resist the order.

Defiance of Pharaoh’s Order

Pharaoh instructed the midwives to kill each Hebrew boy at birth while allowing girls to live. Puah and Shiphrah instead feared God and did not carry out the command; they kept the male infants alive. When Pharaoh summoned them to explain their actions, they answered that Hebrew women gave birth before a midwife arrived.

Consequences and Narrative Significance

The narrative says God dealt well with the midwives and that the people continued to multiply and grow strong. Because they feared God, he established households for them. Pharaoh then widened the order, commanding all his people to cast every Hebrew son into the river, making the midwives’ resistance one stage in an escalating effort to suppress Israelite growth.