Miriam
There are really three significant parts to Miriam’s story
- The saving of her brother Moses
- The leading worship having passed through the red sea
- The incident where she gets a bit opinionated about Moses’ choice of wife.
Each part tells us of a resourceful and spirited woman, remembered as a prophet to this day by the Jewish people. She uses her voice to save her brother and by proxy her people, she leads the others in worship, isn’t shy to express her joy and wonder at the works of God, and then something shifts, she becomes critical despite having seen the way God works through her little brother.
But first, let’s look at Miriam before spending years trudging through the desert. They, as a people, have stood on the banks of a river, facing death in an oncoming Egyptian army coming via the only road of escape. Just when there appeared no answers, God parts the sea, and with his guiding pillar behind them, he walks them dry shod to the other side. They turn to see the banks of water crash over and kill the pursuers. Just like our own baptism, they are now safe from the enemy no more looking over their shoulder– the enemy without banished, yes, but still facing the enormous task of overcoming those battles we have with ourselves within.
It’s in this moment Miriam bursts into song, leading the other women likewise. They look up to her, respect her, she is the older sister of Moses the one leading them to freedom. So she has a great responsibility.
It’s quite some time on that Moses marries a Cushite woman. Miriam isn’t happy. Is it one rule for him and one for us ? she’s thinking. We don’t hear that Miriam was married; the midrash and Hebrew traditions don’t like the idea of that and marry her off to Hur, we arent told for sure in scripture.
“Doesn’t God speak through us too.. ?” she asks Aaron. There’s an uncomfortable need to challenge the authority given by God. There will be a root to that. Maybe Jealousy for her brother’s attention, Fear that he will take his eye off the ball, maybe feeling unseen, maybe pride that she could do it better.
That is a weakness that often comes to the fore in us all, at home, at work and definitely in the church… in fact, wherever a man is doing a job that we women ourselves could do. There’s a little niggle, it starts with an irritation, builds into a gripe and ultimately finds us either doing it ourselves or explaining why we should. God doesn’t like it when we do that on our own.
The moaning at Moses (Num 17). The Ephraimites with Gideon in Judges 8 are some of the examples where he calls people out for such things. We may think we know better – but often what we are saying is that we know better than God. We push Him and His decisions off the throne and sit ourselves right there on that plump cushion.
A critical spirit is the desire to take down another;,, it it’s something that can creep up on us, with our husbands, our bosses, the church leadership and even with each other. If not addressed It can become a default, a disposition. I know I’ve fallen into that trap and needed God’s grace to prise open it’s jaws to allow me back out of it more than once. Whilst we are busy looking at and naming faults in each other we aren’t seeing Christ. There’s something God has taught me and has to re-teach me, that just because I can doesn’t mean I should. We can step up but often there is something God wishes to do through or for the person he has actually asked. Our apparent generosity can hinder, not help, God’s plan.
I think Miriam has this edge of a critical spirit building in her, and the Lord has to stamp it out. She is given leprosy and sent outside the camp because she is infectious. Her voice gets shut down from here, at least in scripture. Through the intercession of her brothers, she’s healed and allowed back into the camp after a week of the biblical version of the naughty step. I’m reminded of the phrase that “even a fish wouldn’t get caught if it kept its mouth shut”
It must have been very humbling for Miriam; everyone held up from moving towards the promised land, waiting for you/her to learn a lesson. Because here’s the thing, it’s not just the person criticised that’s wounded by a vicious tongue, it’s the whole community that is affected, tainted, held back by it. Gossip and a critical spirit are as contagious as leprosy; God had to isolate her.
So why not Aaron? Perhaps God expected more from Miriam; she had been given a prophetic voice, as a rare gift, especially for a woman in these times. Perhaps she started to infect Aaron with her critical spirit?
“To whom much has been given much will be asked.” Luke 12:48.
Discipline refines us, as much as we may hate it. It doesn’t cancel us, it corrects us and puts us back on course.
Miriam dies in Kadesh in the Wilderness of Sin, a year before they enter the promised land. As part of the Golden calf fiasco, she too doesn’t get to enter (Num 20). She is buried and mourned greatly. We are told that the water dries up immediately after her death. This leads to the legend that there was a Well that followed the Israelites through the desert that died when she did… I’ll leave you to ponder if you feel that’s a coincidence.
She remains highly respected and revered, in Micah she is named with her siblings as a Prophet. I wonder if this was more so as a fruit from the humbling and disciplining than from anything that came before.
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