Who was Puah in the book of Exodus?

        Puah (Exod. 1:15), midwife in the time of Moses, probably a director of a group of midwives. Naturally, a nation with almost two million people would need many midwives, but only Puah's and Shiprah's names are listed. They were probably the principal women and had under them many midwives, to whom it was decreed by the Pharaoh of Egypt that they must destroy all Hebrew male children when they were born.
       The Hebrews were increasing so rapidly that the new Pharaoh was alarmed at their growing power.
       Puah was told that when she saw a Hebrew mother giving birth to a baby, "if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live.'' Exodus 1:16. But Puah had the courage to disobey the mandate of a cruel tyrant and to save "the men children alive."
       For her courage, we are told God rewarded Puah by enabling the Hebrews to have even more children and stronger ones than before.
       It is also recorded, "because the midwives feared God, that he made them houses.'' Exodus 1:21  Dr. Lee Anna Starr, in her scholarly work The Bible Status of Woman, interprets this to mean "he elevated them to the headship of their father's houses.''