Exodus 1:16
“and he said, “When you perform the duty of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them on the birth stool; if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live.””
What does Exodus 1:16 mean?
Pharaoh's command here reveals the depth of his fear: he's so threatened by the growing Hebrew population that he orders the midwives to commit infanticide, targeting only the boys. This wasn't a random cruelty but a calculated attempt at genocide, rooted in the paranoia of a ruler who saw a foreign people multiplying in his land. What makes this moment significant is what happens next: the midwives refuse, choosing to protect life even when defying their king. Their quiet resistance becomes an act of courage that sets the entire story of liberation in motion, showing that sometimes the most powerful stand against injustice comes from ordinary people in impossible positions.