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.
My Notes
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Gill's Exposition
And he said, when ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women,.... Deliver them of their children:
and see them upon the stools; seats for women in labour to sit upon, and so contrived, that…
Barnes' Notes
Upon the stools - Literally, “two stones.” The word denotes a special seat, such as is represented on monuments of the 18th Dynasty, and is still used by Egyptian midwives.
Adam Clarke
Upon the stools - על האבנים al haobnayim. This is a difficult word, and occurs nowhere else in the Hebrew Bible but in Jer 18:3, where we translate it the potter's wheels. As אכי signifies a stone,…
The Egyptians' indignation at Israel's increase, notwithstanding the many hardships they put upon them, drove them at length to the most barbarous and inhuman methods of suppressing them, by the…