13 And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with rigour:
14 And they made their lives bitter with hard bondage, in morter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour.
15 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:
16 And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live.
17 But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive.
18 And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said unto them, Why have ye done this thing, and have saved the men children alive?
19 And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women; for they are lively, and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them.
20 Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty.
21 And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses.
22 And Pharaoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive.
Men need little encouragement to find reasons for the ill treatment of others. In fact, I would venture to say that men are mostly stayed and constrained by God's hand. It is a damaged world, but with no moral influence, such as God being completely removed or an image put in His place, men shall fervently chase sin through its course. They shall run to find the end of it, and destroy everything in their path. The king has now put the sons and daughters of Israel under extreme labor. He has instructed, what appears to be Egyptian midwives to the Hebrew women, to kill the male children of the Hebrews. These midwives feared God above the king and so helped the men children into the world, by disobeying the king. God blessed the midwives, and the people of Israel multiplied under persecution.
Then when Herod saw that he had been tricked by the magi, he became very enraged, and sent and slew all the male children who were in Bethlehem and all its vicinity, from two years old and under, according to the time which he had determined from the magi. 17Then what had been spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled:…Matthew 2:16&17
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