Miriam or Maryam was the name of the mother of the Lord Jesus and of several other women in the New Testament. We usually refer to these women in English as Mary. We keep the name Miriam for the Old Testament woman who is best known for being Moses and Aaron's older sister, the daughter of Amram and Jochebed from the tribe of Levi.
She is not mentioned in the New Testament and there are not many references to her in the Old. There we glimpse her once as a young girl, twice in later life and then at her death in the desert. That in itself is reminds us how quickly life passes and how insignificant even the lives of significant people are.
She is the subject of this adn we are using the title “Miriam - a bold woman”. I think that's as good a title as any. I want to say four things to under that heading. Before I do so I want to just set the scene by reminding you of the times in which Miriam lived. We can think of three phases.
She is not mentioned in the New Testament and there are not many references to her in the Old. There we glimpse her once as a young girl, twice in later life and then at her death in the desert. That in itself is reminds us how quickly life passes and how insignificant even the lives of significant people are.
She is the subject of this adn we are using the title “Miriam - a bold woman”. I think that's as good a title as any. I want to say four things to under that heading. Before I do so I want to just set the scene by reminding you of the times in which Miriam lived. We can think of three phases.
1. Slavery. Miriam was born in Egypt. She grew up and indeed for a very large part of her life was a slave there. When the Israelites had gone down to Egypt hundreds of years before in Joseph's time, they had been welcome guests and they really prospered. Over the years things changed and a new Pharaoh came to power. Slowly but surely Israel's fortunes sank to the level first of second class citizens, then of slaves. It even became government policy to try and destroy them. It was eventually decreed that any new born Hebrew male was to be put to death. We do not know if it was ever done but that was certainly the policy. See the end of Exodus 1.
2. Redemption. The great hope of God's people was that God would rescue them as he had promised so long ago. At first this didn't seem to be happening but eventually after a long time God raised up Miriam's own brother Moses to lead the people out of Egypt. This exodus didn't come without a titanic struggle, however, and even when they finally escaped Egypt, Pharaoh and his army came running after them. Already humiliated in the 10 plagues culminating in the death of the first born throughout Egypt, Pharaoh and his army suffered one final and ignominious defeat in the cold waters of the Red Sea, the very waters that God had just safely brought his people through.
3. Glory. On the other side of the Red Sea God brought his people safely to Sinai, where he gave the people his holy law. The time in the desert was not easy and neither Moses, Aaron nor Miriam herself lived to see the Promised Land itself. However, she and they knew that was where the people of God were bound and where one day the Messiah would be born. Miriam did not receive the things promised. Like others she only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. Like all the Old Testament saints, she was woman of faith, a bold faith that we ought to know about and that we would be wise to copy.
So four snapshots of a bold woman – Miriam.
(To be continued)
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