THE STORY OF MIRIAM
Miriam means ‘prophetess’ or ‘lady’
Moses appears to be Egyptian, as in Thutmoses (child of Thut); or it may simply mean child of the water. The Hebrew word mosheh also means ‘pulled out of’, as in pulled out of the water
What the story is about:
Miriam was a leader of the Hebrew people during the Exodus, the great founding event of Judaism. The episodes we have about her are disjointed, and probably only represent a fraction of the stories originally told in the oral tradition of the Hebrew people.
The story of Miriam contains four different episodes:
1 Miriam saved her brother Moses, Exodus 2:1-10. This well-known story shows that the survival of the leader of the Exodus, Moses, depended on the courage and ingenuity of one young woman, his sister Miriam.
2 The song of Miriam, Exodus 15:20-21. This fragment of the Song of Miriam is one of the oldest poetic couplets in the Old Testament. It is an example of a literary genre devoted to celebrating military victories with triumphal poems.
3 Miriam’s ordeal, Numbers 12. This story is about the authority of established law. Moses was the great lawgiver of the Hebrew people Moses’ legislation formed the basis of Hebrew life. The story acknowledged that Miriam and Aaron were both popular leaders, but they were bound by the Law, represented by Moses.
4 Miriam’s death, Numbers 20:1-2. Miriam died in a waterless place in the wilderness, but God subsequently caused water to appear there.
The Exodus was the great founding event of the Jewish people. It had three major themes:
a journey cycle involving exile, wandering and return to a promised land
the responsibility to fight injustice wherever it was encountered
the covenant between God and his people.
MIRIAM SAVES HER BROTHER MOSES
Exodus 2:1-10
The Pharaoh in this story, thought to be Ramses II, grew concerned about the large number of foreign workers in Egypt.
He decided to limit the Hebrew population by ordering midwives to kill male babies born to Hebrew women. Two of the midwives were woman called Shiprah and Puah. They would not co-operate with the Pharaoh’s order, but instead let the babies live. When questioned, they said that the Hebrew women were vigorous and strong and gave birth before a mid-wife had time to arrive. In this way they circumvented the Pharaoh’s command. He responded by ordering that all male babies be thrown into the Nile river.
Pharoah's daughter adopts the baby Moses
'Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman. She conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine baby, she hid him for three months. When she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him, plastered it with bitumen and pitch, then put the child in it an placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river.’
Read Exodus 2:1-10
The baby was Moses, and the Hebrew woman, Jochebed, and her daughter Miriam saved him by hiding him among the reeds at the edge of the river. He was found by Pharaoh’s own daughter, who adopted him. Cleverly, Miriam arranged that the real mother of the baby should be a wet-nurse for the baby.
The future leader of the Hebrew people, Moses, owed his life to five women:
Shiprah and Puah, the midwives who were dedicated to life rather than death, and disobeyed Pharaoh’s edict to kill all male babies. Their disobedience was the first step in the Exodus, and in its own small way was the first act of rebellion against Pharaoh
Jochebed his mother, who wove the basket in a desperate attempt to save her baby; she was the mother of three outstanding leaders
Miriam his sister, a competent and self-possessed girl who followed and watched over him, shaping his future
the daughter of Pharaoh, who pitied the baby and defied her father’s edict. She probably guessed that Jochebed was the baby’s mother.
One way or another, the women in this story are all givers of life.
THE SONG OF MIRIAM
Exodus 15:19-21
Miriam’s role as a leader of the Hebrew women was obviously more extensive than is shown in the biblical text. Despite her personal charisma and power, her story has to a large extent been subsumed into the story of her brother Moses.
Rulers in the ancient world led through force of arms and military might. Miriam and Moses proposed a different model of leadership. They
led by example
served their people rather than ruled them
did what they believed God wanted rather than serving their own ends.
When the Hebrews were escaping from the Egyptians, they crossed what was probably a large papyrus marsh, called the Red Sea in the biblical text. They were led by Moses, Miriam, and her second brother Aaron.
The Egyptians had commanded that Hebrew babies be drowned. Now it was the Egyptians who were drowned, as the soggy ground of the marshland gave way under the hoofs of the horses and the wheels of their chariots. When this happened, the Hebrews expressed their jubilation by composing songs of victory. A remnant of the song composed by Miriam appears in Exodus 15:20-21. As a leader of the Hebrew women, Miriam led them in ritual singing and dancing.
‘Then the prophet Miriam, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dancing. And Miriam sang to them:
“Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;
Horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.”’
Ritual singing by women was common in ancient Israel. Women sang particularly at victory celebrations, going out to meet returning warriors and greeting them with songs which expressed their relief, joy, and jubilation at the defeat of enemies. The particular song that Miriam and the women sang may well have been a back-and-forth chant between the men and the women.
Philo of Alexandria (On A Contemplative Life), described Jewish women standing in rows, swaying and moving their arms and bodies in harmony, chanting rhythmical songs together. They accompanied their swaying movements with the metallic jingle of tambourines. Other musical instruments used at the time were gongs, harps, pipes and flutes, shofars (made from a ram’s horn), trumpets, lutes and lyres.
MIRIAM’S ORDEAL
Numbers 12
This part of Miriam’s story described an incident at Hazeroth, as the Hebrew people wandered in search of their promised land.
Going to Moses, Miriam and Aaron raised two points that were troubling them:
1. They questioned his marriage to the Cushite (Ethiopian or Midianite) woman, not because of any personal rivalry, but because Hebrews condemned marriage with a foreigner
2. They questioned Moses’ authority over them, since Moses was the youngest of the three siblings. God had communicated with all three of them. Why then should Moses dominate the other two?
‘”Has the Lord spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also? And the Lord heard it…. And said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam “Come out, you three, to the tent of meeting”.’
Read Numbers 12:1-9
Miriam’s question ‘has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses?’ was a profound one. It asked
How do we know what God wants?
What ways does God speak to us?
Who has authority over us?
These questions are universal, asked by people of every place and era.
A foot that has been affected with leprosy
As leader of the women and sister of Moses, Miriam had an unusually influential position in the community. This made her words and ideas important, because they were listened to, and they affected many people. This seems to be why her questioning of Moses was followed immediately by what the text calls leprosy, shocking to all who witnessed it.
‘When the cloud went away from over the tent, Miriam had become leprous, as white as snow.’ Her skin was likened to that of a stillborn foetus when it comes out of its mother’s womb. In fact, the term ‘leprosy’ was used for a wide variety of skin diseases at that time; some of them were curable, some were not. Leviticus 13 and 14 give precise details of symptoms and treatments, both spiritual and medical. But in whatever guise it appeared, leprosy was seen as a punishment from God for some wrong-doing. That being so, it was necessary to repent and reform - which Miriam must do. She suffers the punishment of God, and atones for her challenge to Moses' authority.
Miriam’s leprosy was interpreted by the people as a dramatic sign that Moses was God’s chosen leader, and that Miriam’s and Aaron’s authority, while still important, was less than Moses’.
MIRIAM’S DEATH
Numbers 20:1-2 
Miriam, with her brothers Moses and Aaron, led the Hebrew people throughout the forty years when they reverted to the nomadic life, searching meanwhile for a land where they could settle. The life they led was hard, and they must often have yearned for the stability and settled life they had left back in Egypt. Water was always scarce, the food supply was unreliable, and the physical living conditions were rigorous. Eventually these conditions took their toll on Miriam, and she died.
‘The Israelites, the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh. Miriam died there, and was buried there.’
Read Numbers 20:1-2
Water, the symbol of life, had played quite a large part in Miriam's life. She saved her brother from the water; she led the song of victory after the parting of the Red Sea; she died in a waterless place. Immediately after her death, God gave abundant water to the people, in the form of a spring.
Miriam’s life had been one of service and leadership. She expressed all the robust qualities that are best: courage and ingenuity in a dangerous situation, loyalty to her family, a love of music, story-telling and dance, and intellectual enquiry into questions about authority and social responsibility. She remains a model for women and men today.
THE HISTORICAL SETTING OF THIS STORY
As the Hebrew population in Canaan increased, they began to split into offshoot clans. Eventually after a terrible famine a large number migrated to Egypt, where the grain supply was more reliable. There they became workers on the state projects of the Pharaohs.
Even though these migrants were living in the sophisticated cultural atmosphere of Egypt, the people tenaciously held on to their own identity as Hebrews. This was largely due to the women, who were responsible for maintaining Jewish identity.
Eventually, the living conditions of the Hebrews in ancient Egypt became intolerable, and they decided to leave. They gathered around a leader called Moses, and his sister Miriam and brother Aaron. The saga of their long journey from Egypt to Canaan, from slavery to freedom, is contained in the Book of Exodus.
It was during this period of Israelite history that the tribes developed their unique identity and began to see themselves as separate from the kingdoms that surrounded them. Their main identifying difference was worship of Yahweh, a spirit-god who combined the power of all the gods of other tribes but had a special relationship with the Hebrew people. This relationship was embodied in the concept of the covenant, a mutual promise of protection and allegiance made between Yahweh and themselves.
It was probably in this period that women enjoyed greatest freedom and prestige. The stories in Genesis and Exodus show them as independent and strong, smart and tough. They displayed leadership and initiative and almost always got their way when they wanted something.
This was probably because women were necessary for the survival of the tribe, and they knew it. They performed a wide range of tasks without which the clan or family simply could not have managed. They moved freely in society, and were not confined within the home. The Bible stories show that they spoke and acted confidently.
Their contribution to the culture of the time was significant. The stories in the Bible were edited much later by male priests, but there are hints that women had a thriving cultural tradition of their own, with stories about things that mattered to women: families, children, food supplies, security/safety and home-places. All these stories related to women’s spheres of influence, and some scholars suggest that many of the stories of Genesis were originally women’s stories, preserved by women in the clan.
As well, women played an active role in religious matters. The concept of monotheism was just beginning to develop, but many people also probably worshipped a fertility goddess, the Great Mother, source of plant, animal and human life. Ancient Near Eastern religions certainly had fertility of the soil and animal life as one of their main focuses, with priestesses who served the forces of Nature (the power of river and rain water, abundance of crops and animals, etc.) This diversity is illustrated in the story of the Golden Calf/Cow, cows being ancient symbols of the goddess of fertility.
As well, women played an active role in religious matters. The concept of monotheism was just beginning to develop, but many people also probably worshipped a fertility goddess, the Great Mother, source of plant, animal and human life. Ancient Near Eastern religions certainly had fertility of the soil and animal life as one of their main focuses, with priestesses who served the forces of Nature (the power of river and rain water, abundance of crops and animals, etc.) This diversity is illustrated in the story of the Golden Calf/Cow, cows being ancient symbols of the goddess of fertility.
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