Komentarz do Wyjścia 1:17

ותחיין את הילדים This may mean THEY MAINTAINED THE CHILDREN IN LIFE — they provided them with food (Sotah 11b). The Targum renders ותחיין the first time it occurs (i. e. in this verse) by וקימא (which means, “and they — the women — preserved the babes”). and the second time (Exodus 1:18) by וקימתן (which means, “and ye women have preserved etc.”) The Targum is able to distinguish between the two meanings of this word, but this cannot be done in Hebrew because in the Hebrew language in the case of fem. plur. this word and similar forms (ending in נָה or ןָ) are used in the sense of “they did something” (3rd person) and in the sense of “ye did something” (2nd person). For example: (Exodus 2:19) “And they (the daughters of Jethro) said, (וַתֹּאמַרְןָ) “An Egyptian man etc.”, which is the past tense (the Rashi text must read here לשון עָבַר) (imperf. with Vau conv.), just as one would use וַיֹאמְרוּ if one were speaking of men; (Jeremiah 54:25) “Ye women have spoken (ותדברנה) with your mouths”, having the same meaning as דברתן, and corresponding to ותדברו when used of men; (Ezekiel 13:19) “And ye (women) have profaned Me (ותחללנה) among My people” which is a past tense, the same as חללתן corresponding to ותחללו when used of men.

ותיראנה, meaning “they feared, revered.” If the word had been spelled without the letter י it would be a derivative of ראה, to see. It appears in that mode in Exodus 2,6.

ותיראן המילדות את האלוקים, The midwives were G'd-fearing, etc." Why did the Torah repeat that: 1) "they did not do what the king had told them to do," 2) "they kept the children alive?" According to Sotah 11 they supplied food and water for these boy babies. If so, why had they not been doing this before the king's decree came into effect? Perhaps all the Torah wanted to tell us is that they did not stop to provide these services at their own expense. The Torah therefore would describe the level of the midwives' fear of G'd. They did what they could to keep these babies alive; they most certainly did not kill the babies.