Why does the Torah write "Ka'asher Diber Aleihen" rather than 'Lahen'?
Sotah 11b: This teaches us that Pharaoh actually accosted Shifrah and Pu'ah and asked them to be intimate with him, 1 but they refused his advances. 2
See Torah Temimah, note 27.
Oznayim la'Torah: This also explains why Pharaoh had the audacity to order Jewish midwives to kill Jewish babies - He assumed that, if he pretended to have fallen in love with them, they would be so flattered that the mighty Pharaoh held a feeling of affection towards them, that they would happily carry out his commands. Perhaps the Pasuk also intimates that he was the one to change their names to Shifrah and Pu'ah in honor of their new position - like he changed Yosef's name to Tzafenas Pa'ne'ach, in order to flatter them and in order to raise their prestige in the eyes of Yisrael, so that they should not suspect them of killing their babies.
"V'Lo Asu Ka'asher Diber Aleihen...." The Gemara (Sotah 11b) derives from here that Pharaoh had enticed them to sin; yet they were unmoved. What is the derivation?
Maharal (Gevuros Hashem Ch. 15, p. 74): The Gemara says the verse should have said 'Diber Lahen. Rather it uses 'Aleihen,' meaning speech from one party to another. 1 As this verse is not speaking about Pharaoh's words per se, but of the midwives refusing to carry out his decree, it ought to say 'Lahen.' Rather, Chazal expound that his speech to them was personal, to sin.
See a similar distinction in Bereishis 28:15:3:1.
"... Diber Aleihen...." The Gemara (Sotah 11b) derives from here that Pharaoh had enticed the midwives to sin. Why does the verse allude to this here, in the context of Pharaoh's decree to kill the baby boys?
Maharal (Gevuros Hashem Ch. 15, p. 74): Pharaoh knew full well that the midwives were not likely to obey his decree. Surely they loved their fellow Jews, and they despised Pharaoh! The seduction was Pharaoh's attempting to draw the midwives towards his side. 1
Maharal (ibid.): Pharaoh wanted that [after sinning with him], the midwives would full under his Mazal; then they would obey his decree. (Also refer to 1:17:1:1**.)
Having said that the two midwives did not carry out Pharaoh's orders, why does the Torah see fit to add "va'Techayenah Es ha'Yeladim"?
Rashi, Seforno (to 1:18): Not only did they not kill the babies, they provided them with water and food.
Oznayim la'Torah: They also performed all the tasks listed in Yechezkel 16, that are for the baby's safety 1 - such as cutting the umbilical cord and boiling water to wash the baby.
And which may therefore be performed even on Shabbos. See Shabbos 129b. Oznayim la'Torah - Regarding all of these, Pharaoh did not take them to task, since he only expected them to kill the babies while they were still inside the womb, where they could claim innocence. Once they informed him that the Jewish mothers were 'Chayos,' there was nothing he could say. Refer to 1:19:2:1.
Why were the midwives not afraid of the repercussions of their refusal to disobey Pharaoh?
Because their fear of G-d (expressed at the beginning of the Pasuk) was stronger than their fear of the king. 1
Oznayim la'Torah: And Yir'as Elokim is the antidote to Zenus and murder, as we find by Avraham Avinu, who was afraid that they would kill him and take Sarah - "because there is no fear of G-d in this place!" (Bereishis 20:11).
What is the Chidush that the midwives did not kill the fetuses? One must be killed rather than commit murder?
Moshav Zekenim: This teaches that they had the Din of Yisrael even before Matan Torah. 1
And according to Dinei Yisrael, a fetus is not considered a baby, in which case abortion is not considered murder. See Sanhedrin 57b (PF).
QUESTIONS ON RASHI
Rashi writes: "Va'Techayenah... - They would supply water and food" (Sotah 11b). How do Chazal derive this?
Gur Aryeh: The Pasuk does not merely say 'v'Chayu' - the babies lived; but rather "Va'Techayenah" - they (the midwives) caused them to live. 1
Gur Aryeh: Alternatively, as Rashi (to Sotah 11b) derives - The verse could have said merely 'they did not kill the babies.' Because it says "they caused them to live," it means they took an active role.
