Miriam

KNOWN AS AARON & MOSES’ OLDER SISTER
Ex. 2:1-10; 15:20, 21; Num. 12:1-15; 20:1; 26:59;
Deut. 24:9; Micah 6:4

            IMAGINE: Being called by God, at approximately ninety-one years of age, along with your two little brothers, to help lead approximately 2,000,000 oppressed Israelites out of Egypt, out from under Pharaoh’s control.

            Miriam is the daughter of Amram and Jochebed, both being from the tribe of Levi. She has two younger siblings Aaron and Moses. Her life was spent in the Nile Delta, in Goshen. This is where the Hebrews lived, for approximately 430 years, and are the descendants of Jacob.
            The time comes when a new Pharaoh becomes leader in Egypt who is unfamiliar with Joseph and how the Egyptians survived the famine many years ago. All he can take notice of is how the Hebrews multiply at such an alarming rate. He becomes fearful and paranoid that these slaves will become too many and thus turn against the Egyptian people.
            He instructs the Hebrew midwives to kill every baby boy that is born. With excuses to Pharaoh, by the midwives, as to why this does not occur he instructs that all male infants are to be thrown into the Nile upon them being discovered.  Miriam has a younger brother, Aaron, and now her parents have a new baby just at the time Pharaoh’s decree has become effective.
            Jochebed puts together a small basket with tar and pitch, making it waterproof, and lays the baby in this floating device and puts it in the Nile river. Miriam follows her baby brother until one of Pharaoh’s daughters instructs her slave girl to fetch the basket where she notices it is holding one of the Hebrew babies.
            It would be hard to imagine how scared Miriam, a young girl of about eleven years old, possibly was as she approached the princess. She asks the princess if she would like her to find a Hebrew woman who might be willing to nurse the baby.
            Miriam, after being told yes, runs to her own mother. Pharaoh’s daughter hands the baby over to Jochebed, not knowing this was the baby’s birth mother and pays her to nurse him. After the boy is weaned he is returned to the princess. She names her newly adopted son Moses, meaning “to pull out/draw out of water”.  
            Again, it is hard to relate to how Miriam must have felt. She saved this little brother from snakes and crocodiles lurking in the Nile by keeping her eye on the floating basket. Miriam had managed to arrange for their own mother to keep him awhile longer.  Now she was going to have to let go of him forever for all she knew.
            When Moses was eighty years old, Aaron approximately eighty-three years old and Miriam around ninety-one years old they are reunited as God has now instructed Moses and Aaron to lead the Hebrews out of Egypt. Miriam is mentioned on several occasions with helping her brothers with the Exodus and desert wanderings assuming leadership over the women.
            As Miriam, Aaron, Moses and the Israelites leave Egypt, Pharaoh tries one last ditch effort to subdue them and bring them back. God opens the Red Sea with a powerful east wind dividing the waters, causing there to be a wall of water on each side.  The path to the other side was made dry ground so as to allow the Hebrews to pass through.
            Pharaoh’s horses, chariots, and horsemen charged after the Hebrews, but to no avail. As Moses and the approximately 2,000,000 people he was leading reached the other side of the Red Sea, God released the wall of water and Israel’s enemies drowned.

Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister
took a tambourine in her hand, and all the
women followed her with tambourines
and dancing. Miriam sang to them: Sing
to the Lord, for He is highly exalted; He has
 thrown the horse and its rider into the sea.
Exodus 15:20, 21

            Miriam leads the women with tambourine, song and dance after the Israelites crossed the Red Sea on dry ground and the Egyptian army was overthrown as the walls of water tumbled down and they were all drowned. Miriam is the first recorded singer. She is also the first woman to be identified as a prophetess, thus she is entrusted with words from God.

Indeed, I brought you up from the land
of Egypt and redeemed you from that
place of slavery. I sent Moses,
Aaron, and Miriam ahead of you.
Micah 6:4

            God gave Miriam a very important and influential role concerning her leadership over the women who left Egypt. She had a front row position of leading the women through the Red Sea. She led the singing and dancing with tambourine God’s praises, once on the other side, as Pharaoh’s army drowned. She watched as God provided food and water for the masses. And… then there was a tabernacle to be built so God would have a dwelling place within the camp.
            According to Scripture, all who were willing to give, made offerings for the tabernacle of gold, silver, and bronze; blue, purple, and scarlet yarn; fine linen and goat hair; ram skins died red and manatee (sea mammal) skins; acacia wood; oil for the light; spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense; and onyx along with other gemstones for mounting on the ephod and breastplates. Ex. 25:3-7.
            There was weaving, sewing, and embroidery work to be done for the coverings and curtains. God’s dwelling place, per His instructions, was perfect and Miriam had been the leader of the women.
            But as the journey was long and the people difficult to lead, Miriam becomes critical of her little brother. Why does Moses get to make all the decisions when, as a matter of fact, she is the older sibling. Doesn’t God speak through her and Aaron also. It appears Miriam’s leadership role possibly went to her head. Sin proliferates and seemingly Miriam’s pride led to rebellion.
            Miriam becomes outright rebellious of her youngest brother and speaks out against his leadership role to her other brother, Aaron. At once God picks up on the critical spirit of these two and calls a meeting. He informs them that an ordinary prophet hears from Him through a dream or vision, but His servant Moses He speaks face to face with. After this reprimand Aaron repents immediately of his sin but Miriam is struck with leprosy.

Then Moses cried out to the
Lord, “God, please heal her!”
Numbers 12:13

            In ancient Israel leprosy was a graphic illustration of the debilitating influence of sin in a person’s life. The person was considered unclean physically and spiritually, causing them to live alone outside the camp.
            Miriam had become jealous of her baby brother just as Joseph’s brothers had done with him. She possibly reflected on this story while in solitude outside the camp. This is the last mention of Miriam until her death some forty years later.
            In all fairness to Miriam, she was the oldest of the three children. At a young age she had felt responsible for her youngest brother’s safety. Still being young she loses this brother to Pharaoh’s household. The probability exists that it was her responsibility to care for her aging parents until their deaths. She has also spent her entire life in slavery living in Egypt.
            She may have felt she was just as qualified as Moses to lead, if not more so. She was the oldest and these people are who she had been living among for some ninety-one years. Moses, for the most part, had just come on the scene recently. And on top of everything else, he appears to have an Ethiopian wife, a Cushite, indicating he had married out of the faith. Num.12:1.
            Moses had married Zipporah some forty-two years earlier and it is believed she died thus leaving Moses available to take a second wife. As the Israelites were ungrateful concerning food and water provided them by the hand of God, this little lady was busy grumbling about her station in life. Miriam was having control issues right down to who Moses should not be married to.
            God was moving His people to the Promised Land and to do so there had to be unity among them. Miriam was not the ringleader of this marching band of Hebrews. God was, as He made that clear to her through His rebuke, so as to make manifest the seriousness of sin.
            Miriam is among the few, first generation Israelites that spent the entire forty years wandering in the wilderness. Just as they are about to enter the Promised Land she dies, at what appears to be approximately one hundred thirty-one years of age. She is buried at Kedesh. Num. 20:1.

Remember what the Lord your God did to
Miriam on the journey after you left Egypt.
Deut. 24:9

            Miriam is used as an example of the seriousness of rebellion against one of God’s chosen leaders and God’s own authority. Moses and Aaron led the entire Hebrew crowd out of Egypt. Whereas Miriam was looked upon as leader of the women, leading them in song and praise to God.
            But Miriam let jealousy and resentment keep her from accepting the role God had given her. Miriam became jealous, topped off with a grumbling spirit, as her little brother was allowed to be face to face with God while she had to remain at the foot of the mountain with the rest of the grumblers.
            Having to submit to authority seems to have been, at best, difficult for her. Miriam got off track concerning herself with what someone else had instead of delightfully and joyfully serving the Lord with the job He had given her and enabled her to do.  Miriam’s story reveals God’s willingness to forgive, so we are able to re-enter fellowship with him, as Miriam was allowed to re-enter the camp after seven days of solitude.
            We are to only keep up with ourselves concerning our faithfulness to the Lord. What God has placed in our own life is what we are to stay focused on, leaving little time to be envious of what someone else’s calling is.
            Miriam’s early calling was to watch over her baby brother as he floated down the Nile. She was to protect him, thus ensuring his safety and survival. This baby brother, Moses, grew up to become the deliverer of God’s people out of bondage from their enemy. Miriam was given the job of ushering in a redeemer who would bring salvation to an oppressed people.
            We too, like Miriam, have been given a privilege and responsibility. That is to usher in the knowledge of Jesus Christ, our Redeemer and Deliverer, from our enemy and who is our salvation from bondage in this fallen world.

Something to consider:
A mistake should be your teacher,
not your enemy;
a mistake is a lesson,
not a loss.