Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible (1898)
MID'WIFE. The two midwives mentioned in Ex 1:15 are probably representatives or superintendents of a whole class, as such a number seems to stand in a decided disproportion to the needs of the Jewish nation at that time. The expression "upon the stools," in the following verse, refers to a kind of chair in which the patient sat during the birth, and which is still in use in modern Egypt.