Given the parallels between the wise women of the early chapters of Exodus and the wise women who are building the tabernacle toward the end of Exodus, it seems clear that Bezalel and Aholiab, the chief artisans of the tabernacle, are in some sense parallel to Shiphrah and Puah, the faithful Hebrew midwives. As Shiphrah and Puah led the Hebrew mothers in giving birth to sons as an act of wisdom in the “fear of God” (1:17), so too Bezalel and Aholiab are leading the wise women artisans in bringing to birth the nation of Israel as the son of God (cf. 4:22).
This also fits with the statement that concludes the midwife narrative which says that because the midwives feared God, He blessed them and gave them “houses” (1:21). Faithful midwives build houses and are given houses; Bezalel and Aholiab are the new faithful midwives who fear the Lord and are building the house of Yahweh.
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