Infanticide

The killing of infants in the UPDV is named in two narratives: the order Pharaoh gave the Hebrew midwives at the start of Exodus, and the lament for slain infants in 1 Maccabees. Both stand as instances of murder under the broader prohibition.

Pharaoh's Order To The Midwives

The first instance is set in Egypt before the exodus. "And the king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah" (Exod 1:15). The order itself is unmistakable: "and he said, When you⁺ do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them on the birth-stool; if it is a son, then you⁺ will kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she will live" (Exod 1:16). The killing is targeted by sex — sons to die, daughters to live — and given to the very women whose work is to bring children into life.

In The Lament Over Jerusalem

The second instance is the lament Mattathias raises over the desecrated city: "The vessels of her glory are carried away captive: Her infants are murdered in the streets, And her young men have fallen by the sword of the enemies" (1Ma 2:9). The stanza puts the infants between the carried-off vessels and the fallen young men, making the killing of children one item in a wider catalog of national violence.