Concluding remarks
2. Miriam the prophetess – A bold and enthusiastic worshipper of God
We don't hear anything about Miriam then until Exodus 15 and the amazing crossing of the Red Sea. Long, long years pass. After 40 years Moses thinks his people will realise that God is going to use him to rescue them, but they did not and so another 40 years go by while God further prepares his servant away from Egypt in Midian. Then at last after 80 years Moses returns and it all begins to kick off. Miriam must have been around 90 by this time. Granted that people often lived longer and were often stronger and more healthy at such an age it is still along time to wait for a saviour. Did Miriam think salvation was never going to come? If she did we are not told that. What we are told though is how she greatly rejoiced following their passing through the Red Sea and the overthrown of their Egyptian enemies.
In Exodus 15:19-21 we read When Pharaoh's horses, chariots and horsemen went into the sea, the LORD brought the waters of the sea back over them, but the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground. 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. The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea.
Oh that bold woman was very bold that day – bold and enthusiastic in her worship of God. How thankful she was for such a great salvation and for such a great judgement. Again, she is an example for us. Delivered from slavery and drudgery after all these years, how thankful she was, how full of rejoicing.
2. Miriam the prophetess – A bold and enthusiastic worshipper of God
We don't hear anything about Miriam then until Exodus 15 and the amazing crossing of the Red Sea. Long, long years pass. After 40 years Moses thinks his people will realise that God is going to use him to rescue them, but they did not and so another 40 years go by while God further prepares his servant away from Egypt in Midian. Then at last after 80 years Moses returns and it all begins to kick off. Miriam must have been around 90 by this time. Granted that people often lived longer and were often stronger and more healthy at such an age it is still along time to wait for a saviour. Did Miriam think salvation was never going to come? If she did we are not told that. What we are told though is how she greatly rejoiced following their passing through the Red Sea and the overthrown of their Egyptian enemies.
In Exodus 15:19-21 we read When Pharaoh's horses, chariots and horsemen went into the sea, the LORD brought the waters of the sea back over them, but the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground. 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. The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea.
Oh that bold woman was very bold that day – bold and enthusiastic in her worship of God. How thankful she was for such a great salvation and for such a great judgement. Again, she is an example for us. Delivered from slavery and drudgery after all these years, how thankful she was, how full of rejoicing.
What about you? Has God saved you from the slavery of sin? Is Jesus your Saviour? Then are you rejoicing? Are you glad about the victory he has won over the devil and the deliverance he has made for you? Here is reason to sing and to shout!
3. Miriam the rebel – A too bold and defiant critic
The next time we hear of Miriam they are still in the desert. It is found in Numbers 12 and sadly this time we don't see her in a very good light. We are told in Numbers 12:1 that Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite. We do not know why they objected. This was Moses' second wife. Presumably his first wife Zipporah had died. Perhaps they felt he was too old to remarry. It may have been the fact that this woman was dark skinned. We simply don't know – but they weren't happy and instead of keeping it to themselves or discussing it with Moses in a submissive way they began to rebel. Has the LORD spoken only through Moses? they asked (2) Hasn't he also spoken through us? There was perhaps some truth in this but the tone was all wrong. This bold woman was being too bold by far. We read And the LORD heard this. It is added in 3 (Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.) Boldness has its place nut meekness is important too.
So what happens is that God calls the three of them out to the Tent of Meeting, where the LORD came down to them in a pillar of cloud. First he stood at the entrance to the Tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam. He then spoke to them and said (6-9) When a prophet of the LORD is among you, I reveal myself to him in visions, I speak to him in dreams. But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house. With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; (it was like reading the Bible) he sees the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? They had failed to see just how very special Moses was indeed. They had known blessings and had been used by God but Moses was in a different league. And so (9-12) The anger of the LORD burned against them, and he left them. When the cloud lifted from above the Tent, there stood Miriam - leprous, like snow. Aaron turned toward her and saw that she had leprosy; and he said to Moses, Please, my lord, do not hold against us the sin we have so foolishly committed. Do not let her be like a stillborn infant coming from its mother's womb with its flesh half eaten away.
Why it was Miriam who was struck and not Aaron it does not say. Neither of them was happy about it. It was only when Moses cried out to the LORD on her behalf that relief was found. Even then she had to remain outside the camp for a whole seven days marking her uncleanness. 15 So Miriam was confined outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on till she was brought back. They then moved on with her – no doubt very chastened. She knew she had made a mistake. It was not one that she repeated. She had learned her lesson.
One of the dangers for the bold, especially perhaps bold women, is that they can overstep the mark. Sometimes we can become impatient and frustrated and we speak out in unhelpful ways. We must be very careful when we attack a servant of God or say anything against the Bible. We probably won't be struck with leprosy but God does judge rebels and we ought not to forget it. Boldness yes – but humility too. That's the combination.
The next time we hear of Miriam they are still in the desert. It is found in Numbers 12 and sadly this time we don't see her in a very good light. We are told in Numbers 12:1 that Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite. We do not know why they objected. This was Moses' second wife. Presumably his first wife Zipporah had died. Perhaps they felt he was too old to remarry. It may have been the fact that this woman was dark skinned. We simply don't know – but they weren't happy and instead of keeping it to themselves or discussing it with Moses in a submissive way they began to rebel. Has the LORD spoken only through Moses? they asked (2) Hasn't he also spoken through us? There was perhaps some truth in this but the tone was all wrong. This bold woman was being too bold by far. We read And the LORD heard this. It is added in 3 (Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.) Boldness has its place nut meekness is important too.
So what happens is that God calls the three of them out to the Tent of Meeting, where the LORD came down to them in a pillar of cloud. First he stood at the entrance to the Tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam. He then spoke to them and said (6-9) When a prophet of the LORD is among you, I reveal myself to him in visions, I speak to him in dreams. But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house. With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; (it was like reading the Bible) he sees the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? They had failed to see just how very special Moses was indeed. They had known blessings and had been used by God but Moses was in a different league. And so (9-12) The anger of the LORD burned against them, and he left them. When the cloud lifted from above the Tent, there stood Miriam - leprous, like snow. Aaron turned toward her and saw that she had leprosy; and he said to Moses, Please, my lord, do not hold against us the sin we have so foolishly committed. Do not let her be like a stillborn infant coming from its mother's womb with its flesh half eaten away.
Why it was Miriam who was struck and not Aaron it does not say. Neither of them was happy about it. It was only when Moses cried out to the LORD on her behalf that relief was found. Even then she had to remain outside the camp for a whole seven days marking her uncleanness. 15 So Miriam was confined outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on till she was brought back. They then moved on with her – no doubt very chastened. She knew she had made a mistake. It was not one that she repeated. She had learned her lesson.
One of the dangers for the bold, especially perhaps bold women, is that they can overstep the mark. Sometimes we can become impatient and frustrated and we speak out in unhelpful ways. We must be very careful when we attack a servant of God or say anything against the Bible. We probably won't be struck with leprosy but God does judge rebels and we ought not to forget it. Boldness yes – but humility too. That's the combination.
4. Miriam the leader – A bold and saved believer
The last reference to Miriam in the books of Moses is in Numbers 20:1. It says In the first month the whole Israelite community arrived at the Desert of Zin, and they stayed at Kadesh. There Miriam died and was buried. She dies shortly before the death of her brother Aaron and eventually her brother Moses too. There is also a final reference in Micah 6:4 I brought you up out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. I sent Moses to lead you, also Aaron and Miriam.
The Bible is quite patriarchal as you know but there is also what we might call a subversive subtext throughout and here it surfaces again with the reference to Miriam as well as to Moses and Aaron as a leader. She is not mentioned in Hebrews 11 but she was clearly a believer and died in faith – a woman used by God and one we should remember with thankfulness.
The last reference to Miriam in the books of Moses is in Numbers 20:1. It says In the first month the whole Israelite community arrived at the Desert of Zin, and they stayed at Kadesh. There Miriam died and was buried. She dies shortly before the death of her brother Aaron and eventually her brother Moses too. There is also a final reference in Micah 6:4 I brought you up out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery. I sent Moses to lead you, also Aaron and Miriam.
The Bible is quite patriarchal as you know but there is also what we might call a subversive subtext throughout and here it surfaces again with the reference to Miriam as well as to Moses and Aaron as a leader. She is not mentioned in Hebrews 11 but she was clearly a believer and died in faith – a woman used by God and one we should remember with thankfulness.
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