1:15 midwives: Delivered, washed, and swaddled newborns in the private context of childbirth. Midwives were thus in a position to take a baby’s life without undue suspicion of wrongdoing, especially given the high infant mortality rate in antiquity. Shiphrah … Puah: The names of these heroines and defenders of life are preserved in the Bible, while the name of the mighty Pharaoh is not. 1:17 feared God: Means that Shiphrah and Puah shunned evil and sought to live by the standards of God (Job 1:1).