6681. 'And the king of Egypt called the midwives' means that those under the influence of falsities planned a course of action against those who had true factual knowledge in the natural. This is clear from the meaning of 'calling' here as planning a course of action, for the purpose of the calling was the destruction of truths, but the planned course of action was made to fail because the truths were kept safe by the Divine, meant by 'the midwives feared God', 6678 (the evil in the next life who molest the good likewise plot with one another, as I have been allowed to know from experience); from the meaning of 'the king of Egypt' as those under the influence of falsities, dealt with just above in 6679; and from the meaning of 'the midwives as the natural where true factual knowledge resides, dealt with in 4588, 6673, 6675, 6678. From all this it is evident that 'the king of Egypt called the midwives' means that those under the influence of falsities planned a course of action against those who had true factual knowledge in the natural.

6678. 'And the midwives feared God' means that true factual knowledge was kept safe because it was kept so by the Divine. This is clear from the meaning of 'fearing God' as keeping what the Divine has commanded, for people who fear God keep His commandments, though - since all holy fear, and consequently obedience to and keeping of commandments, have a Divine and not at all human origin - a keeping by the Divine is what is meant by 'feared God'; and from the meaning of 'the midwives' as the natural where true factual knowledge resides, dealt within 4588, 6673, 6675.