Vol.10 No.2

Miriam
Exalted by God as a co-leader with her brothers Aaron and Moses,
the prophetess Miriam nearly lost her life to jealousy, racism and slander.
By Laci Kovacs

Miriam enters the Bible in quick brush strokes—a little girl guarding the floating cradle of her baby brother, Moses. God used her alert mind to save the life of the greatest legislator of all times. Unaware of God’s plan for Moses, we can imagine the fear that crept into her heart as Pharaoh’s daughter and her attendants approached his little ark.  But as the Egyptian princess reached for the crying baby inside, Miriam noted her sympathy and came running with the wise suggestion: “Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee?”¹  In those brief strokes we capture a glimpse of the little girl who, one day, will become a leader in Israel.

For the next eighty years the Scriptures are silent regarding Miriam. Instead, they highlight Moses’ growth into manhood, his membership in the world’s most powerful family, his ultimate refusal to forsake his people by accepting the throne of Egypt, and his impulsive act of murder in their defense after which he exiled himself for forty years to the land of Midian. Then at God’s command, Moses returns to Egypt to lead the Hebrews out of Egyptian bondage and through the Red Sea, in which Pharaoh and his pursuing army perish.

This is the moment when the personality and leadership abilities of Miriam emerge once more. Moses leads the men of Israel in a anthem of deliverance, “I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea,”² Miriam,with a timbrel in hand, leads the women in a great response, “Sing ye to Jehovah, for He hath triumphed gloriously.”³

Miriam is a respected and acknowledged ninety-year old prophetess. Her vitality and initiative shines as she leads the women of Israel. Some have used Miriam’s activity to endorse modern dancing. But in his book, The Victors, Leslie Hardinge writes, “I like to imagine Miriam advancing before the hosts of God as they began their march to Sinai, ‘with timbrel and dance,’ not with twirling baton, prancing, vulgar step, and suggestive gesture, but in solemn joy and heartfelt praise for a victory wholly provided by God.”⁴

THE PROPHETESS IS TESTED

Both Moses’ brother and sister occupied a position of high honor and leadership in Israel. They received the prophetic gift and helped Moses in the deliverance of the Hebrews. We are not told the circumstances that led Miriam to join her brothers in the government of Israel. The Bible only records the Lord as saying: “I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.”⁵ A great future of service for God lay before this woman. Had it not been for her resentment over the marriage of Moses, Miriam would have been a sovereign woman in Israel to the day of her death.⁶

During the forty years of exile Moses had married a Midianite, “. . .a descendant of Abraham. In personal appearance she differed from the Hebrews in being of a somewhat darker complexion. Though not an Israelite, Zipporah was a worshiper of the true God. She was of a timid, retiring disposition, gentle and affectionate, and greatly distressed at the sight of suffering; and it was this reason that Moses, when on the way to Egypt, had consented to her return to Midian. He desired to spare her the pain of witnessing the judgments that were to fall on the Egyptians.”⁷

Before Zipporah’s arrival in the camp, Miriam stood as one of Moses’ trusted confidants. The three siblings made decisions in the most important matters. But as Israel approached Sinai, Moses asked his father-in-law to bring Zipporah and their two sons to the camp.

This is the moment when Miriam is severely tried. God knew that something in her character needed to be changed and He chose to do it through Zipporah and her father, Jethro. Arriving in camp, the old Midianite immediately noticed that Moses was trying to accomplish the impossible. He advised his son-in-law to divide his many responsibilities of leadership with capable and trusted men of the twelve tribes. Moses accepted this wise counsel without consulting his brother and sister.⁸

Immediately, jealousy began its insidious work in the heart of Miriam. Her position had been threatened and she attributed this to the direct influence of Zipporah upon Moses. That a Midianite woman could stand between her and her beloved brother, whom she had watched as a baby on the banks of the Nile, stung her. She shared her feelings of prejudice with Aaron who also found Moses’ marriage to a non-Hebrew offensive. Soon they were murmuring against Moses, as well. “Did he think he was more holy than they?” Talents, poetry, music, charisma, the prophetic gift, humor, tact, and strength of character were sacrificed on the altar of envy by the sword of her jealous tongue. Unstopped, this undermining of Moses’ role would spread to the whole camp.

GOD INTERVENES

During this crisis, while Miriam and Aaron were full of resentment, envy and racism, the Lord summoned the three siblings to the tabernacle. He denounced Miriam and Aaron for talking against His appointed leader, Moses. “And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them; and He departed.” As the cloud disappeared from the encampment, God revealed greater evidence of His displeasure. The whole congregation of Israel looked with terror as Miriam “became leprous, white as snow.” God’s judgment of Miriam illustrated His disapproval of the sins of jealousy, pride, slander and calumny, especially in the experience of those who stand as leaders to His people.

Moses pled with the Lord on her behalf and the Lord healed Miriam; but a sentence was still pronounced. She must remain outside the camp in isolation for one week. “What an incredible week that must have been for the hosts of Israel! Millions of men and women, on their way to the promised Land, halted in their tracks by the results of the attitude and words of one envy-wrecked woman!”⁹

At the end of the week, Miriam returned to camp humbled, no longer a “seditious whisperer.”

Because Miriam repented, God, in His great mercy forgave her. And the people of Israel learned a great lesson from her experience. God cannot condone any sinful behavior—even sinful words and attitudes. Yet God had also revealed His mercy by harkening to the intercession of Moses in behalf of his sister.

What a wonderful lesson. Forgiven by the mercy of God, Miriam’s victory with envy and resentment calls to us across the centuries: “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled.”¹⁰

References:

1. Exodus 2:7.
2. See Exodus 15:1-18.
3. White, E.G., Patriarchs and Prophets, pp. 288, 289.
4. Harding, Leslie,  The Victors, p. 96, Pacific Press, 1982.
5. Micah 6:4.
6. Harding, Leslie,  The Victors, p. 96, Pacific Press, 1982.
7. White, E.G., Patriarchs and Prophets, pp. 383, 384.
8. Exodus 18:13-26.
9. Harding, Leslie, The Victors, p. 99, Pacific Press, 1982.
10. Hebrews 12:14, 15