Puah

Splendid. (1.) One of the two midwives who feared God, and refused to kill the Hebrew male children at their birth (Ex. 1:15-21).

(2.) A descendant of Issachar (Judg. 10:1).

(splendid).

1. The father of Tola, a man of the tribe of Issachar and judge of Israel after Abimelech. (Judges 10:1) (B.C. 1211.)

2. The son of Issachar, (1 Chronicles 7:1) elsewhere called Phuvah and Pua.

3. One of the two midwives to whom Pharaoh gave instructions to kill the Hebrew male children at their birth. (Exodus 1:15) (B.C. 1571.)

pu'-a, pu'-va: (1) pu'ah: One of the Hebrew midwives whom the king of Egypt commanded to kill all male children of the Hebrews at birth. The midwives, fearing God, refused to obey, pretending that the children of the Hebrew women were usually born before they arrived. Their act is spoken of as being meritorious in the eyes of the Lord, who is said to have rewarded them by making "houses" for them (Ex 1:15-20). In the Midrash, Ex Rabba', Puah is identified with Miriam, and Shiphrah, the other midwife, with her mother Jochebed. According to another tradition Puah was a proselyte.

(2) pu'ah, in 1Ch 7:1; puwwah, in Ge 46:13; Nu 26:23; written also "Pua" the King James Version, and "Puvah" Revised Version: Second son of Issachar, ancestor of the Punites, enumerated in the desert census taken by Moses and Eleazar.

(3) pu'ah: Member of the tribe of Issachar, mentioned (Jud 10:1) as the son of Dodo and the father of Tola, the judge.

Ella Davis Isaacs