John Calvin Commentary Exodus 1:21

"And it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that he made them households." — Exodus 1:21 (ASV)

He made them houses.²³ It is not at all my opinion that this should be interpreted as referring to the women, and I am surprised that many interpreters have been grossly mistaken on such an important point. All agree that the pronoun is masculine and, therefore, according to ordinary usage, should refer to males. However, because the two letters ם and ן are sometimes used interchangeably, these interpreters have supposed that the two clauses of the verse must be connected and both referred to the women.

But there is no need for this, as the sentence reads very well this way: “The people multiplied and grew very strong, and it came to pass, because the midwives feared God, that God made them houses,” i.e., the Israelites. This means that through the piety of these women, the Israelites obtained an abundant offspring.

Because some interpreters saw that a suitable meaning could not be derived from this false interpretation, they have imagined that, by the inspiration of God, well-fortified houses were built for them by the people, where they could be safe from the attacks of their enemies. Nothing can be more childish than this notion.

However, so that readers do not puzzle themselves unnecessarily on this point, which is not very perplexing, let us inquire what the Hebrews meant by the expression “to make houses.” When God promises (1 Samuel 2:35) that he will build for Samuel a sure house, it is clear that he refers to a stable priesthood.

Again, when he declares (2 Samuel 7:27) that he will build a house for David, and when a little afterwards we read in David’s prayer (verse 27), “thou hast revealed to thy servant, saying, I will build thee a house,” it clearly refers to the royal dignity. It is also clear from Abigail’s speech (1 Samuel 25:28) that this was a common way of speaking, where she says, “the Lord will certainly make my lord a sure house.”

Now, it is quite unsuitable to the female sex that a woman should be made head of a family. Therefore, it appears that the words are forcibly²⁴ distorted if we say that God made a house for the midwives. Instead, it is most applicable to the whole people, meaning that they were multiplied by God until they grew, like a complete building, to their full stature.

The conclusion is that the Israelites owed to the efforts of these two women not only their survival and preservation but also their increasing prosperity. This was so that God’s glory might shine forth more brightly, because he so marvelously preserved his people by these weak instruments when they were very near destruction.

Moreover, Moses uses the word “houses” in the plural because the people were built up through the growth of offspring in individual families.

²³ The accuracy of Calvin’s criticism is undeniable, namely, — that as the Hebrew pronoun is of the masculine form, ordinary usage would forbid our considering this clause to be spoken of the midwives; and yet that the masculine and feminine pronominal affixes, distinguished respectively by a final ם or ן, are not used with such inflexible regularity as to preclude all debate. In fact, Moses has used the masculine pronoun ם at the end of ver. 17 of the next chapter, where a feminine pronoun should have been expected. In the clause under consideration, V. has the ambiguous pronoun eis, whilst the LXX. has ἐποίησαν ἑαυταῖς, which is a departure from the Hebrew text in both words. — W

²⁴ “Tire par les cheveux;” dragged by the hair. — Fr..