(17) The midwives, fearing God, did not do as the king of Egypt had told them; they let the boys live. (18) So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this thing, letting the boys live?” (19) The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women: they are vigorous. Before the midwife can come to them, they have given birth.” (20) And God dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied and increased greatly. (21) And [God] established households*households Meaning of Heb. batim uncertain. for the midwives, because they feared God.

AND THE KING OF EGYPT SPOKE TO THE HEBREW MIDWIVES. These midwives were in charge of all the other midwives. For there can be no doubt that there were more than five hundred midwives. These two midwives were in charge of all the other midwives and saw to it that they gave a tax to the king from the money they collected for their services. I have seen such a practice in many places. The opinion that the two midwives were mother and daughter was handed down by tradition, for it is correct.

The name of one was Shifrah: I found in the name of Rabbi Yehudah HeChasid that they were Egyptians at first and that they converted. For were it not so, how would Pharaoh trust them, to command them to kill the children; and how could they have been quiet about this thing, as if his words were fine with them. Is not this something for which one should die and not transgress? And also how are they exceptional, that it states, "And the midwives feared, etc.?" Rather they had been Egyptians, but now in the present, "they feared [God], etc." - since they converted. But beforehand, they did not possess fear of God.

וייטב אלקים למילדת THEREFORE GOD DEALT WELL WITH THE MIDWIVES — What was the good He dealt out to them? The next verse gives the reply to this —

“And these are the names … And it was, because the midwives feared God, that He made them houses.” (Shemot, 1:1,21)It is the nature of human fear that when one experiences it he has no peace of mind, for fear is the opposite of peace of mind. However, with the fear of God, one experiences confidence and comfort. “And He made them houses,” teaches of this, for “houses” teaches of an organized, settled mind; and then it follows that when they had a settled mind from the fear of E-lohim they had no fear from the decree of Pharaoh. This is “and He made them houses.” This is the explanation of the verse (Bereshit, 49:13), “Zevulun shall dwell on the ocean shore, and he shall be a shore for ships,” for “ocean” teaches of fear and “ship” teaches of a settled mind. As it is said in the Gemara (Bava Metsia, 9b), “a ship is at rest.”