Exodus 1:15

1:15 The king of Egypt said ¹  to the Hebrew midwives, ²  one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, ³ 

Exodus 1:21

1:21 And because the midwives feared God, he made ⁴  households ⁵  for them.

Exodus 2:2

2:2 The woman became pregnant ⁶  and gave birth to a son. When ⁷  she saw that ⁸  he was a healthy ⁹  child, she hid him for three months.

Exodus 2:22

2:22 When she bore ¹⁰  a son, Moses ¹¹  named him Gershom, for he said, “I have become a resident foreigner in a foreign land.” ¹² 

[1:15]  ¹ tn Heb “and the king of Egypt said.”

[1:15]  ² sn The word for “midwife” is simply the Piel participle of the verb יָלַד (yalad, “to give birth”). So these were women who assisted in the childbirth process. It seems probable that given the number of the Israelites in the passage, these two women could not have been the only Hebrew midwives, but they may have been over the midwives (Rashi). Moreover, the LXX and Vulgate do not take “Hebrew” as an adjective, but as a genitive after the construct, yielding “midwives of/over the Hebrews.” This leaves open the possibility that these women were not Hebrews. This would solve the question of how the king ever expected Hebrew midwives to kill Hebrew children. And yet, the two women have Hebrew names.

[1:15]  ³ tn Heb “who the name of the first [was] Shiphrah, and the name of the second [was] Puah.”

[1:21]  ⁴ tn The temporal indicator וַיְהִי (vayÿhi) focuses attention on the causal clause and lays the foundation for the main clause, namely, “God made households for them.” This is the second time the text affirms the reason for their defiance, their fear of God.

[1:21]  ⁵ tn Or “families”; Heb “houses.”

[2:2]  ⁷ tn Or “conceived” (KJV, ASV, NAB, NASB, NRSV).

[2:2]  ⁸ tn A preterite form with the vav consecutive can be subordinated to a following clause. What she saw stands as a reason for what she did: “when she saw…she hid him three months.”

[2:2]  ⁹ tn After verbs of perceiving or seeing there are frequently two objects, the formal accusative (“she saw him”) and then a noun clause that explains what it was about the child that she perceived (“that he was healthy”). See GKC 365 §117.h.

[2:2]  ¹⁰ tn Or “fine” (טוֹב, tov). The construction is parallel to phrases in the creation narrative (“and God saw that it was good,” Gen 1:4, 10, 12, 17, 21, 25, 31). B. Jacob says, “She looked upon her child with a joy similar to that of God upon His creation (Gen 1.4ff.)” (Exodus, 25).

[2:22]  ¹⁰ tn The preterite with the vav (ו) consecutive is subordinated to the next clause, which reports the naming and its motivation.

[2:22]  ¹¹ tn Heb “and he called”; the referent (Moses) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[2:22]  ¹² sn Like the naming of Moses, this naming that incorporates a phonetic wordplay forms the commemorative summary of the account just provided. Moses seems to have settled into a domestic life with his new wife and his father-in-law. But when the first son is born, he named him גֵּרְשֹׁם (gerÿshom). There is little information available about what the name by itself might have meant. If it is linked to the verb “drive away” used earlier (גָרַשׁ, garash), then the final mem (מ) would have to be explained as an enclitic mem. It seems most likely that that verb was used in the narrative to make a secondary wordplay on the name. The primary explanation is the popular etymology supplied by Moses himself. He links the name to the verb גּוּר (gur, “to sojourn, to live as an alien”). He then adds that he was a sojourner (גֵּר, ger, the participle) in a foreign land. The word “foreign” (נָכְרִיּה, nokhriyyah) adds to the idea of his being a resident alien. The final syllable in the name would then be connected to the adverb “there” (שָׁם, sham). Thus, the name is given the significance in the story of “sojourner there” or “alien there.” He no doubt knew that this was not the actual meaning of the name; the name itself had already been introduced into the family of Levi (1 Chr 6:1, 16). He chose the name because its sounds reflected his sentiment at that time. But to what was Moses referring? In view of naming customs among the Semites, he was most likely referring to Midian as the foreign land. If Egypt had been the strange land, and he had now found his place, he would not have given the lad such a name. Personal names reflect the present or recent experiences, or the hope for the future. So this naming is a clear expression by Moses that he knows he is not where he is supposed to be. That this is what he meant is supported in the NT by Stephen (Acts 7:29). So the choice of the name, the explanation of it, and the wordplay before it, all serve to stress the point that Moses had been driven away from his proper place of service.