Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Exodus 1:20

Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty.

20b. Assigned to J, because, while agreeing with v. 7, even in expression ‘am, to wax mighty, occurs elsewhere in prose only in Gen 26:16, also J it seems to imply a far greater people than is done by vv. 15 20a.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Verse 20. Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty.] This shows an especial providence and blessing of God; for though in all cases where females are kept to hard labour they have comparatively easy and safe travail, yet in a state of slavery the increase is generally very small, as the children die for want of proper nursing, the women, through their labour, being obliged to neglect their offspring; so that in the slave countries the stock is obliged to be recruited by foreign imports: yet in the case above it was not so; there was not one barren among their tribes, and even their women, though constantly obliged to perform their daily tasks, were neither rendered unfruitful by it, nor taken off by premature death through the violence and continuance of their labour, when even in the delicate situation mentioned above.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

Therefore, because they feared God, and spared the children, Exo 1:17, whereby they exposed themselves to the kings displeasure; because they would not offend God by murdering the children, which they might have done many times secretly, and therefore it was only the fear of God which restrained them from it.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

20, 21. God dealt well with themidwivesThis represents God as rewarding them for telling alie. This difficulty is wholly removed by a more correct translation.To “make” or “build up a house” in Hebrewidiom, means to have a numerous progeny. The passage then should berendered thus: “God protected the midwives, and the people waxedvery mighty; and because the midwives feared, the Hebrews grew andprospered.”

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Wherefore God dealt well with the midwives,…. He approved of their conduct upon the whole, however difficult it may be to clear them from all blame in this matter; though some think that what they said was the truth, though they might not tell all the truth; yea, that they made a glorious confession of their faith in God, and plainly told the king, that it was nothing but the immediate hand of God that the Hebrew women were so lively and strong, and therefore were resolved not to oppose it, let him command what he would; so Dr. Lightfoot r, who takes the midwives to be Egyptians:

and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty; became very numerous, and strong, and robust, being the offspring of such lively women.

r Works, vol. 1. p. 700.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

God rewarded them for their conduct, and “made them houses,” i.e., gave them families and preserved their posterity. In this sense to “make a house” in 2Sa 7:11 is interchanged with to “build a house” in 2Sa 7:27 (vid., Rth 4:11). for as in Gen 31:9, etc. Through not carrying out the ruthless command of the king, they had helped to build up the families of Israel, and their own families were therefore built up by God. Thus God rewarded them, “not, however, because they lied, but because they were merciful to the people of God; it was not their falsehood therefore that was rewarded, but their kindness (more correctly, their fear of God), their benignity of mind, not the wickedness of their lying; and for the sake of what was good, God forgave what was evil.” (Augustine, contra mendac. c. 19.)

Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament

(20) Therefore God dealt well with the midwives.Heb., and God dealt well, &c. The reason is stated in Exo. 1:21. It was not because they equivocated and deceived the king, but because they feared God sufficiently to disobey the king, and run the risk of discovery. If they had been discovered, their life would have paid the forfeit.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

20. God dealt well with the mid-wives Augustine well says: “Not their falsehood, but their mercy, kindness, and fear of God, were rewarded . For the sake of the good, God forgave the evil . ” It was well that the fear of God kept them from murder; it had been better if it had also kept them from falsehood .

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Some have thought that the houses here spoken of, which God is said to have built for them, means that they were incorporated and built up in the faith of God’s people. Psa 107:41 .

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Exo 1:20 Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty.

Ver. 20. Dealt well with the midwives. ] God is a liberal paymaster: and his retributions are more than bountiful. “Be ye therefore steadfast and unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.” 1Co 15:58

And the people multiplied. ] Sic divinum consilium dum devitatur, impletur: humana sapientia, dum reluctatur, comprehenditur, as Gregory hath it. a “There are many devices in the heart of a man: but the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand.” Pro 19:21 Among the Romans, the more children any man had, the more he was freed from public burdens. And of Adrian the Emperor it is storied, that when those that had many children were accused of any crime, he mitigated their punishment according to the number of their children. b But these poor Israelites were otherwise used.

a Greg., Moral.

b Dio, in Adriano.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)