And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah:
15. And the king of Egypt spake. The tyrant now descends from the open violence and cruelty which had availed nothing, to secret plots and deceit. He desires the infants to be killed at their birth; and commands the midwives to be the instruments of this dreadful barbarity. We read of no such detestable example of inhumanity since the world began.
The enmity of the seed of the serpent against the seed of the woman divests men of humanity itself and makes them forget all pity. Even confessed innocence is no defence against this old enmity; what blood so guiltless as that of a newborn child, yet it is shed like water and sucked with delight. Pharaoh and Herod proved themselves agents for that great red dragon, standing to devour God's people.
AI summary
Commenting on Exodus 1:15-22
And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives,.... It is difficult to say who these midwives were, whether Egyptian or Hebrew women. Josephus is of opinion that they were Egyptians, and indeed those the king was most likely to succeed with; and it may seem improbable that he should offer such a thing to Hebrew women, who he could never think would ever...