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 midwives told Pharaoh, 'The Hebrew women are different from Egyptian women. They are strong and give birth quickly, before we can even get there to help them.'
The Hebrew midwives cleverly told Pharaoh that Hebrew women gave birth so quickly that they couldn't kill the baby boys as ordered.
📚 Historical Context
In the book of Exodus, the Israelites had grown numerous in Egypt, leading a fearful Pharaoh to order the midwives to kill Hebrew baby boys at birth as part of his plan to control their population. The midwives, however, chose to obey God rather than the king and lied to Pharaoh, claiming that Hebrew women gave birth so quickly that they often arrived too late to intervene. This act of defiance highlighted the midwives' faith and set the stage for God's deliverance of the Israelites from Egyptian oppression.
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