The midwives – יוכבד and מרים – did not obey פרעה’s command to kill the baby boys.
Since they feared Hashem, “םים בָּת עַשׂ לָּה וַיַ - He made for them _________”.
One explanation is that Hashem blessed them with households, families.
However, רש"י explains that Hashem blessed them with descendants who would – in the future – be כהנים, descendants who would be לויים, and descendants who would be kings.
(אהרן, who was the father of all כהנים, and משה, a לוי, came from יוכבד.
דוד המלך came from מרים).
QUESTION:
According to רש"י’s explanation, the reward would actually come about at a later time.
The special roles of _______ and _______ would begin with the משכן, more than eighty years later, and דוד המלך would become ______ a few hundred years later.
So why does רש"י not simply explain that Hashem blessed the midwives with families?
ANSWER:
In an earlier פסוק we learn that תד מְיַלְ ים לַ ק אֱלֹ יטֶבי ֵו ֵ – Hashem did ______ to the midwives. This indicates that Hashem did something special for them.
Since we already learned earlier that Hashem blessed ____ of בני ישראל in מצרים with large families, רש"י explains that the midwives were not only blessed with families, or large families, but with special descendants – dynasties of כהנים, לויים, and kings.
Further discussion:
How was the reward for the midwives specifically מדה כנגד מדה? (See אות ח in the Sicha)
