Shiphrah and Puah: The Midwives Who Feared God, Not Pharaoh

With a Subtitle: Two overlooked midwives feared God over an empire and quietly changed history.

A brief Excerpt: When Pharaoh ordered Hebrew baby boys killed, two midwives quietly refused – and changed the course of redemptive history. Shiphrah and Puah's story asks every reader the same question: what do you fear most?

The Author is: I. M. Koen

Editor’s note – Most of us skim past the opening chapter of Exodus on our way to the burning bush and the parted sea. But Scripture slows down here for a reason. Two midwives, unnamed by any earthly power but named by God Himself, refused a genocidal order and altered the course of redemptive history. We’re running this piece because their quiet defiance still asks every reader the same question: what do you fear more, God or man?

You’ve probably never heard of Shiphrah and Puah.

There are moments in Scripture that feel small at first glance. We tend to fly right over them as we read so that we can get to the “good parts” of the Bible narrative. But when we slow down, put some air around the story, and really think about it, those moments carry the weight of history.

Tucked into the opening chapter of Exodus is the story of two women most people have never heard a sermon about: Shiphrah and Puah. They were midwives. Ordinary. Overlooked and positioned far from power. Their job was to help Hebrew women give birth. Just like any nurse today working in the Labor and Delivery Unit of a hospital. And yet, they stood toe-to-toe with the most powerful man in the world, unafraid, and refused to obey.

Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, issued a chilling command: every Hebrew baby boy was to be killed at birth. It wasn’t a suggestion. It wasn’t a policy debate. It was an absolute law.

Then Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, gave this order to the Hebrew midwives, Shiphrah and Puah: 16 When you help the Hebrew women as they give birth, watch as they deliver. If the baby is a boy, kill him; if it is a girl, let her live. 17 But because the midwives feared God, they refused to obey the king's orders. They allowed the boys to live, too. [Exodus 1:15-17]

Verse 17 says something remarkable: But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them. That single line is the turning point.

Pharaoh had power and authority. Pharaoh had glory. Pharaoh had commands that contained dire consequences if not followed. But Shiphrah and Puah had something greater; they feared God more than they feared man.

And that’s where Godly courage is born.

The Battle of Fears

Let’s be honest — everyone fears something. Fear of loss. Fear of rejection. Fear of consequences. Fear of authority. Courage is not the absence of fear. It’s choosing which fear will rule you.

These women didn’t dismiss Pharaoh as weak. They understood exactly what he could do to them. But they decided that God’s authority outweighs human authority every time. The fear of God anchored them when everything else could have shaken them.

And it raises a question all of us must answer: What do you fear most? Because whatever that is will ultimately control your decisions.

Editor’s note – That question the author poses – what do you fear most? – is worth sitting with rather than answering too quickly. Most of our fears are ordinary and constant: financial loss, disapproval, embarrassment. Scripture doesn’t ask us to eliminate fear but to relocate it, so that reverence for God outweighs every lesser dread.

The Power of Quiet Defiance

Shiphrah and Puah didn’t organize a protest to block traffic and disrupt business. They didn’t gather a following and smash windows. They didn’t overthrow a regime by burning convenience stores. They simply refused to comply. And that quiet act of Godly disobedience changed history.

Because of their courage, Hebrew boys lived, including one who would later rise up and lead a nation to freedom: Moses. Let that settle in.

History didn’t turn because of a king’s decree. It turned because two women quietly said, “No.”

We live in a world that celebrates loud influence, platforms, visibility, likes and shares, followers, and recognition. But the Kingdom of God often moves through unseen obedience.

You don’t have to be visible to be vital.

Some of the most significant moments in history happen when no one is watching. When a person decides to obey God, even when it costs them.

Obedience Without Guarantees

Here’s what makes their courage even more powerful: they had no guarantee of the outcome. Pharaoh questioned them. Pressed them. They stood in a dangerous place where one wrong answer could have cost them everything. They risked their lives. Their security. Their future. And still they held the line.

Most people are willing to follow God as long as it works out. As long as it’s safe. As long as it’s comfortable. If the outcome is predictable.

But real courage? It’s obedience without a safety net. It’s trusting God with the consequences. It’s three Hebrews saying to King Nebuchadnezzar II “God might save us. He might not. But either way, we ain’t bowing to your god.” Bam! (Daniel 3:16-28)

Editor’s note – Notice how the author defines real courage here: not the confidence that God will rescue us, but the willingness to obey Him even if He doesn’t. That is a harder faith than the one most of us default to, and a truer one.

Heaven’s Scoreboard

At the end of the story, something almost ironic happens. God blesses the midwives. He honors them. He gives them families.

And Pharaoh? The most powerful man in the chapter, the one issuing life-and-death commands, is not even named. But Shiphrah and Puah are. Think about that.

The world remembers power. God remembers faithfulness.

Heaven writes down names the world overlooks.

Editor’s note – It’s a striking detail that Pharaoh goes unnamed in the very chapter he dominates, while two servant women are recorded by name for all of Scripture’s history. God’s ledger and the world’s ledger rarely agree on who matters.

Standing in the gap against overwhelming power

Pharaoh’s command wasn’t just immoral. It was systemic evil. A genocide. A policy designed to destroy a people group. And these two women stood right in the gap between that system and the innocent lives it threatened. That’s where courage always lives. Not in opinions. Not in theory. But in moments where doing the right thing actually costs you something.

They didn’t dismantle the system overnight. They disrupted it — one act of Godly disobedience at a time. And that’s often how God works.

A Legacy Bigger Than They Knew

Shiphrah and Puah never saw the full impact of their decision. They didn’t know about the burning bush. They didn’t see the Red Sea part. They never watched their nation walk out of slavery towards a promised land. But they played their part. And their part mattered more than they could have imagined.

Editor’s note – Shiphrah and Puah never lived to see Moses lead Israel out of Egypt. Faithfulness in the moment, not certainty about the outcome, is what Scripture actually asks of us.

Dear Reader, Here’s The Challenge:

We like to believe that if we were in their position, we would have done the same thing. But courage isn’t proven in theory, conversations, or articles. It’s proven in actual moments. Moments when doing right is inconvenient. When obedience is costly, and compromise would be easier. When the trial comes. When **it’s getting real.

So, here’s the question: When your moment comes (and it surely will), what will you fear most?

Because in the end, it wasn’t Pharaoh’s command that shaped history. It was the courage of two women who feared God more than anything else.

May we all be like Shiphrah and Puah when it’s “Go Time!”

Thank you for reading this. May God empower you with courage and wisdom.

May God richly bless and keep you this year!

A Word from the Editor
History remembers the crowds and the crowns, but Heaven keeps a different record. Shiphrah and Puah risked everything for people who could give them nothing in return, trusting God with an outcome they would never live to see. “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10), and it is still the only fear sturdy enough to outlast every other one. Whatever your Pharaoh looks like this week, may you answer him the way two midwives did – with quiet, costly obedience.