Exodus 1:20 says that God treated the Hebrew midwives well for refusing Pharaoh’s order to kill the baby boys, and that the Israelite people kept multiplying and grew very strong despite the king’s oppression. The verse is a narrator’s summary of God’s response to faithful, courageous people, and it shows that the growth of Israel was the work of God rather than of Pharaoh’s policies. Moses, traditionally identified as the author of Exodus, is the narrator, and the original hearers were the Israelites who would later be led out of Egypt.
God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied, and grew very mighty.
Exodus 1:20 (WEB)
What Exodus 1:20 Means
The verse opens with “God dealt well with the midwives.” The Hebrew idiom means God did good to them, blessed them, or prospered them. The midwives had chosen to fear God rather than the king, so the narrator tells us that God honored that choice. The verse does not spell out every blessing, but the sentence that follows in verse 21 says God gave them families, which is one clear form that the good dealing took.
The second clause, “the people multiplied, and grew very mighty,” shows that the Israelites kept growing even while Pharaoh was trying to stop them. Pharaoh had ordered the Hebrew boys thrown into the river, yet the population rose. The narrator presents this as evidence that God’s promise to make Abraham’s descendants numerous was still moving forward, and that no royal decree could block it.
What the verse does not promise is that God will always shield the faithful from every hardship or that obedience will always lead to an easy outcome. The midwives still faced a dangerous king, and Israel still suffered under slavery. The verse makes a narrower claim: when God’s people act with faithful courage, God is at work for them, and his purposes are not defeated by the powers opposing them.
The Context of Exodus 1:20
Exodus is the second book of the Torah, the first five books of the Old Testament, and it picks up the story after Jacob’s family settled in Egypt and a new Pharaoh arose who did not remember Joseph. The book moves from the enslavement of Israel to their deliverance at the Red Sea and their journey toward Sinai. Its first audience was the Israelite community, who needed to understand how they came to be oppressed and how God had been working through that oppression.
Verses 17 through 23 form the immediate setting. The midwives defy Pharaoh’s command, Pharaoh confronts them, they give a reply that the Hebrew women are vigorous and give birth quickly, and then verse 20 gives God’s verdict on their conduct. Verse 21 adds that God gave them families, and verse 22 returns to Pharaoh escalating his order to all his people. Read this way, verse 20 is the turning point that shows God’s favor resting on those who resist injustice, even as the oppression intensifies.
Key Phrases in Exodus 1:20
Acts 5:29
But Peter and the apostles answered, “We must obey God rather than men.
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Peter and the apostles answer the authorities by saying that they must obey God rather than men. This parallels the midwives’ decision to fear God rather than Pharaoh’s command, and it shows the same principle of faithful resistance to an unjust human order.
Romans 8:31
What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?
(WEB)
Paul asks who can be against believers if God is for them. This connects to Exodus 1:20 by showing that the same God who favored the midwives and multiplied Israel remains on the side of his people, so opposition cannot ultimately prevail.
A Short Prayer From Exodus 1:20
Lord, you saw the midwives who chose to fear you rather than the king, and you dealt well with them. Help me to choose faithfulness over fear when the pressure to compromise comes. Where I feel outnumbered or overpowered, remind me that your purposes do not depend on the strength of the people who oppose you. Give me courage to do what is right, and trust that you are at work even when I cannot see the outcome. Amen.
