Sotah

R. Awira expounded: As the reward for the righteous women who lived in that generation were the Israelites delivered from Egypt. When they went to draw water, the Holy One, blessed be He, arranged that small fishes should enter their pitchers, which they drew up half full of water and half full of fishes. They then set two pots on the fire, one for hot water and the other for the fish, which they carried to their husbands in the field, and washed, anointed, fed, gave them to drink and had intercourse with them among the sheepfolds, as it is said: When ye lie among the sheepfolds etc.  As the reward for 'When ye lie among the sheepfolds', the Israelites merited the spoliation of the Egyptians, as it is said: As the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her pinions with yellow gold.  After the women had conceived they returned to their homes; and when the time of childbirth arrived, they went and were delivered in the field beneath the apple-tree, as it is said: Under the apple-tree I caused thee to come forth [from thy mother's womb] etc.  The Holy One, blessed be He, sent down someone from the high heavens who washed and straightened the limbs [of the babes] in the same manner that a midwife straightens the limbs of a child; as it is said: And as for thy nativity, in the day thou wast born thy navel was not cut, neither wast thou washed in water to cleanse thee.  He also provided for them two cakes, one of oil and one of honey, as it is said: And He made him to suck honey out of the rock, and oil etc.  When the Egyptians noticed them, they went to kill them; but a miracle occurred on their behalf so that they were swallowed in the ground, and [the Egyptians] brought oxen and ploughed over them, as it is said: The ploughers ploughed upon my back.  After they had departed, [the Israelite women with their babes] broke through [the earth] and came forth like the herbage of the field, as it is said: I caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field;  and when [the babes] had grown up, they came in flocks to their homes, as it is said: And thou didst increase and wax great and didst come with ornaments  — read not with ornaments [ba'adi 'adayim] but in flocks [be'edre 'adarim]. At the time the Holy One, blessed be He, revealed Himself by the Red Sea, they recognised Him first, as it is said: This is my God and I will praise Him. And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives etc.  Rab and Samuel [differ in their interpretation]; one said they were mother and daughter, and the other said they were daughter-in-law and mother-in-law. According to him who declared they were mother and daughter, they were Jochebed and Miriam; and according to him who declared they were daughter-in-law and mother-in-law, they were Jochebed and Elisheba.  There is a teaching in agreement with him who said they were mother and daughter; for it has been taught: 'Shiphrah'  is Jochebed; and why was her name called Shiphrah? Because she straightened [meshappereth] the limbs of the babe. Another explanation of Shiphrah is that the Israelites were fruitful [sheparu] and multiplied in her days. 'Pu'ah' is Miriam; and why was her name called Puah? Because she cried out [po'ah] to the child  and brought it forth. Another explanation of Pu'ah is that she used to cry out through the Holy Spirit  and say: 'My mother will bear a son who will be the saviour of Israel'. And he said: When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women etc.  What means 'obnayim'?  R. Hanan said: He entrusted them with an important sign and told them that when a woman bends to deliver a child, her thighs grow cold like stones ['abanim'].  Another explains [the word 'obnayim'] in accordance with what is written: Then I went down to the potter's house, and, behold, he wrought his work on the wheels.  As in the case of a potter, there is a thigh on one side, a thigh on the other side and the wooden block in between, so also with a woman there is a thigh on one side, a thigh on the other side and the child in between. If it be a son, then ye shall kill him.  R. Hanina said: He entrusted them with an important sign, viz., if it is a son, his face is turned downward and if a daughter, her face is turned upward.  But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt spoke to them.  Instead of alehen ['to them'] we should have had 'lahen'!  — R. Jose son of R. Hanina said: It teaches that he solicited them for immoral intercourse,  but they refused to yield. But saved the men children alive — A Tanna taught: Not only did they not put them to death, but they supplied them with water and food.  And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Behold the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian women etc.  What means hayoth?  If it is to say they were actually midwives,  do you infer that a midwife does not require another midwife to deliver her child! — But [the meaning is] they said to him, This people are compared to an animal [hayyah] — Judah [is called] a lion's whelp;  of Dan [it is said] Dan shall be a serpent;  Naphtali [is called] a hind let loose;  Issachar a strong ass;  Joseph a firstling bullock;  Benjamin a wolf that ravineth.  [Of those sons of Jacob where a comparison with an animal] is written in connection with them, it is written: but [in the instances where such a comparison] is not written, there is the text: What was thy mother? A lioness; she couched among lions etc. And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that He made them houses.  Rab and Samuel [differ in their interpretation]; one said they are the priestly and Levitical houses, and the other said they are the royal houses. One who says they are the priestly and Levitical houses: Aaron and Moses; and one who says they are the royal houses: for also David descended from Miriam, as it is written: And Azubah died, and Caleb took unto him Ephrath, which bare him Hur,  and it is written: Now David was the son of that Ephrathite etc. And Caleb the son of Hezron begat children of Azubah his wife and of Jerioth,' and these were her sons: Jesher and Shobab and Ardon.  'The son of Hezron'? He was the son of Jephunneh!  — [It means] that he was a son who turned [panah] from the counsel of the spies. Still, he was the son of Kenaz, as it is written: And Othniel the son of Kenaz, Caleb's younger brother, took it!  — Raba said: He was the stepson of Kenaz.