Furthermore, Pharaoh commanded that the Israelitish
women employ none but Egyptian midwives, who were to
secure precise information as to the time of their delivery,
and were to exercise great care, and let no male child escape
their vigilance alive. If there should be parents that evaded
the command, and preserved a new-born boy in secret, they
and all belonging to them were to be killed.[24]

Is it to be wondered at, then, that many of the Hebrews
kept themselves away from their wives? Nevertheless those
who put trust in God were not forsaken by Him. The
women that remained united with their husbands would go
out into the field when their time of delivery arrived, and
give birth to their children and leave them there, while they