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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Hebrew? | Ex 1:15 | Morant61 | 19215 | ||
Greetings Susan! I guess I don't understand the question. Ex. 1:15 calls them Hebrew midwives. The word used is Strong's Number 5680 'ib-ree’', which is 34 times in the Old Testament and is always translated 'Hebrew'. Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |
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2 | Hebrew? | Ex 1:15 | prayon | 19311 | ||
Greetings, What I was trying to say and did a bad job of was it is possible that the midwives were Egyptian. I wanted to see if anyone had any opinion that they were or weren't. My reasoning is this: when the midwives are first introduced they are called Hebrew midwives, which suggests that they were Hebrew. But actually that can mean that they were midwives who were Hebrew or that they were midwives to the Hebrew people. Actually they were probably not Hebrew since if they were, Pharaoh couldn't of expected compliance and must of realized that his plan was doomed from the start. Also in v. 16 he makes a distinction between the two when he said "when you help the Hebrew women in childbirth.." If they weren't Hebrew they must of learned about the Hebrew God and feared Him more than Pharaoh. Some other interesting points: To the Hebrew people sheppherds were the lowest of the low and Pharaoh would not of treated them with the respect that he did. Also, 2 midwives would not of been able to serve 3-500,000 people who were 'multiplying greatly'. More than likely they were administrative and had many midwives under them. They would had to of told the staff under them to kill all the boys if they wanted to go along with Pharaoh. How would they of gotten the staff to go along? prayon |
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3 | Hebrew? | Ex 1:15 | Morant61 | 19343 | ||
Greetings Susan! I did find one historical reference that claims the midwives were Egyptian, the Jewish historian Josephus in his Antiquities of the Jews (Ant. 2. 9, 2), says that the midwives were themselves Egyptians. According to the MT text, however, they were Israelites. Modern research would seem to support this since their names appear to be of NW Semitic, not Egyptian, origin. No one knows for sure, but I would say they were Hebrew. In response to your points, I would say: 1) He didn't show them respect. He simply ordered them to do something immoral. 2) He may have expected compliance simply because they were slaves. The alternative being death. 3) There undoubtedly were more than 2 midwives. These may have simply been the leaders among them. I think the case would have been stronger if Ex. 1:15 had not called them Hebrew midwives and then referred to helping the Hebrew women in v. 16. As it is, if they were Egyptian, there would have been no point in using the term 'Hebrew' at all in v. 15. Your Brother in Christ, Tim Moran |
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