1. Miriam the babysitter - A bold and wise young woman
Miriam is first mentioned in Exodus 2. We're told how Moses' mother gave birth to a boy and saw he was a fine child - he was healthy. Because of the situation at the time and not wanting him to be killed she hid him for 3 months. As time went by it got more and more difficult to conceal his presence so (3) when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket (a miniature Noah's ark) for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. In 4 we're told that His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him. Her name is not given because the focus is on the baby – on Moses. Aaron would be three by this time (things had been easier when he was born). We don't know how old Miriam was. One assumes she was around 10 or 12.
Anyway what happens is that Pharaoh's daughter comes down to the Nile to bathe and she sees the basket among the reeds and sends her slave girl on the bank to get it. The princess opens the basket and sees the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. This is one of the Hebrew babies, she said. We don't know if she could tell by his looks, the fact he was circumcised or if she simply worked it out from the circumstances.
Anyway, at this point Miriam speaks up and on this sentence (as at other points in history too - see Esther) turns the whole of history. In a bold stroke of genius she says to Pharaoh's daughter (7) Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you? The princess immediately agrees and Miriam gets Jochebed, Moses' mother. Then comes wonderful verse 9 Pharaoh's daughter says Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you. So the woman took the baby and nursed him. It had been a dangerous moment but now in one stroke not only is Moses safe but his mother is being paid to look after him! And all thanks to Miriam. Later, and this would be important too, (10) When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh's daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, I drew him out of the water.
We've spoken to you about how God's people were slaves and how they were redeemed. It all happened under Moses and the truth is that if it were not for Miriam there may never have been a Moses. If she'd panicked and either run away or confessed who the baby's mother was, things would have been very different. No doubt Moses would have survived but he would not have been brought up by his mother in those crucial early years. He might never have even known he was a Hebrew and so would not have become the saviour of his people that he did become. Obviously God gave her the words to say but Miriam was a bold and wise girl who'd learned well from her mother. Her secret, perhaps, was that she was seeking not only to help her little brother but she was looking too for a saviour. No doubt her mother had said to her about this child -may be he will be the one to save us from slavery, to lead us out of Egypt. If she did she was right.
Miriam is first mentioned in Exodus 2. We're told how Moses' mother gave birth to a boy and saw he was a fine child - he was healthy. Because of the situation at the time and not wanting him to be killed she hid him for 3 months. As time went by it got more and more difficult to conceal his presence so (3) when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket (a miniature Noah's ark) for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. In 4 we're told that His sister stood at a distance to see what would happen to him. Her name is not given because the focus is on the baby – on Moses. Aaron would be three by this time (things had been easier when he was born). We don't know how old Miriam was. One assumes she was around 10 or 12.
Anyway what happens is that Pharaoh's daughter comes down to the Nile to bathe and she sees the basket among the reeds and sends her slave girl on the bank to get it. The princess opens the basket and sees the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. This is one of the Hebrew babies, she said. We don't know if she could tell by his looks, the fact he was circumcised or if she simply worked it out from the circumstances.
Anyway, at this point Miriam speaks up and on this sentence (as at other points in history too - see Esther) turns the whole of history. In a bold stroke of genius she says to Pharaoh's daughter (7) Shall I go and get one of the Hebrew women to nurse the baby for you? The princess immediately agrees and Miriam gets Jochebed, Moses' mother. Then comes wonderful verse 9 Pharaoh's daughter says Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you. So the woman took the baby and nursed him. It had been a dangerous moment but now in one stroke not only is Moses safe but his mother is being paid to look after him! And all thanks to Miriam. Later, and this would be important too, (10) When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh's daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, I drew him out of the water.
We've spoken to you about how God's people were slaves and how they were redeemed. It all happened under Moses and the truth is that if it were not for Miriam there may never have been a Moses. If she'd panicked and either run away or confessed who the baby's mother was, things would have been very different. No doubt Moses would have survived but he would not have been brought up by his mother in those crucial early years. He might never have even known he was a Hebrew and so would not have become the saviour of his people that he did become. Obviously God gave her the words to say but Miriam was a bold and wise girl who'd learned well from her mother. Her secret, perhaps, was that she was seeking not only to help her little brother but she was looking too for a saviour. No doubt her mother had said to her about this child -may be he will be the one to save us from slavery, to lead us out of Egypt. If she did she was right.
Wouldn't you like to have been smart like that as a girl? Perhaps you were! How can children be taught to be like that? They need to be taught not to be afraid to speak up, no doubt, but they must learn not to blab out everything. What care needs to be taken when speaking especially to strangers. We inevitably think of that later Miriam – Mary the mother of Jesus. She too was the means of bringing a Saviour into the world and keeping him safe from harm. What an impact even quite young girls can have under God.
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