Miriam was a weaver of unique variety
Miriam is the older sister of Moses and Aaron. Her name is not mentioned until Exodus 15:20.
But she appears in Exodus 2:7 when her mother leaves him beside the river and the pharaoh's
daughter saw him and Miriam then asks the Pharaoh’s daughter if she should get a Hebrew nurse
to take care of him who is his mother. Miriam helps her mother to be reunited with Moses, her
brother. Miriam is character that is very popular among Judaic religion. Miriam is regarded as a
leader of her people. She is among the five named prophetess in the Hebrew bible and the only
one in the Torah/Pentateuch. Even with a little information about Miriam there is a lot to say
about who she was and how she contributed to shape the modern Judaic religion. She was an
educator for the women and children; she gave little children the knowledge of god and Judaism.
Miriam then appears in Exodus 15:20-21, Numbers 12, Numbers 20:1, Numbers 27:59
Deuteronomy 24:9, 1 Chronicles 5:17, 1 Chronicles 6:3, and Michah 7:4. Most of her presence is
in Exodus 15:20-21 and Numbers 12. The rest of the times she appears in the bible is in the form
of genealogy. She is character in mainly the Pentateuch and appeared later in other books of the
Hebrew Bible as in genealogy. She is character popular among Judaic Beliefs. The historical
context in the biblical narrative would be that oppressed Israelites in Egypt under Pharaoh’s
reign are escaping Egypt to get to mountain in Sinai where there is god’s deed. Moses is the
servant to God Yahweh and a prophet. When the Israelites were about cross the Red Sea God
Yahweh and angel god gives moses the power to raise his staff and divide the river in half so the
Israelites could cross the Red Sea and once the Israelites crossed over, he lowers the staff and the
waters comes back and the Egyptians die in the Red Sea. Once they cross the Red Sea moses
sings a song to Lord Yahweh with rest of the people. Following this event is when Miriam first
appears.
This paper uses historical-criticism lens. Historical criticism analyzes a text in its historical
context. Any analysis through historical criticism answers who wrote the text and why was it
written, to whom was it written and what is it purpose. Historical criticism can use archeological
evidence to support to critique your argument. For Miriam historical criticism would delve in to
role of women in ancient Israel. What can we tell about Miriam that differs from other women?
Using historical lens Miriam’s role as prophetess and her contributions to modern Judaism would
be argued in this paper. Historical lens is a best way to approach Miriam as she appears very
beginning in the bible and she is part of an important event that took place in Jewish History.
Miriam was also punished for speaking up and for which god Yahweh forgave her, but she later
dies. What might have that meant as she opposed her brother who was god’s servant? What is the
purpose of including the part in the bible for which she is punished? These questions can be
answered using historical lens as we will use archeological, historical or any sort of textual
evidence to come to an argument primarily based on historical context.
In Exodus 15:20-21 she is mentioned as a prophet who sings the song to the Lord Yahweh with
her timbrel and other women followed her and danced. This verse in mentioned right after when
Moses led the people of Israel to cross the red sea and he sang a song of victory. The text follows
as “Then the prophet Miriam, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women
went out after her with tambourines and with dancing. ²¹ And Miriam sang to them: “Sing to the
Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.” (Exodus
15:20-21)
From the text we can regard Miriam as the leader of the women as they followed Miriam and
danced. Scholars have argued who seconded whom, was it Miriam who followed Moses or the
other way round. Because there is repetition in the poetic writing in the Exodus 15:1 and
similarly in Exodus 15:21 highlighted by J. Gerald Janzen.1 Janzen also notes that “Miriam sang
to them” and “Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the lord” (Exodus 15:1). There is a
distinction between what Miriam is doing compared to Moses. Moses serves as the servant of
god and he has been given the power to make a path for Israelites to cross the red sea by lifting
his staff to separate the waters and once all Israelites crossed the river, he closes the path so the
Egyptians couldn’t get to the other side of the river. On that occasion he sings to the lord, but it is
not just him who sings but all the Israelites. Moses and the Israelites are thanking God for letting
them cross over. Whereas Miriam follows him right after they finished singing and when she
played her timbrels the women started dancing with timbrels. From the NSRV translation
Miriam sang to them, people were listening to the song sung by Miriam.
Rita Burns calls Miriam’s celebration as Cultic (Burns 29). Cultic in biblical context refers to
practices and rituals of an organized religion. Miriam’s dancing and singing is considered cultic
as Burns has more evidence on when other women danced and sang with timbrels in the bible.
She mentioned the story about Jephthah when he returned from battle his daughters danced
(Judges 11:34), similarly in Samuel 1 as women were dancing when David returned from
Phillistine. If we accept Miriam’s dancing and singing at Cultic (a celebration ritual performed
by women to dance and sing on victory). Then Miriam was just performing a ritual. Now this
brings to question what was Moses doing? Were Moses’s actions also cultic? In Deuteronomy
34:10 moses is mentioned as a prophet, so this tells us that Moses has divine knowledge. Is
Moses’s singing to the god a ritual? In 2 Samuel 22 David sang a victory song to the God
Yahweh, this is the second instance of a man singing a victory song.
Carol Ochs argued that Miriam was a key figure during that period to pass on religious aspects of
Judaism. She said in Judaism the religion is passed through the women on to their children. Why
might it be that women were active educators of Judaism? We certainly do know that there were
Prophetess in the Hebrew bible like Miriam, Deborah, Unnamed wife of Prophet Isaiah, Hulda,
and Noadiah (Ackerman 48-49). If Miriam was regarded as one of the prophets, then it means
she has significant divine knowledge. It can be thus argued that Miriam passed on her divine
knowledge of children and women.
Carol Meyers said “There can be no doubt that women play a unique and critical role in the
socializing process, broadly conceived. They not only bear the children who represent the future
of the household and society but are also the primary caretakers of the young and as such
introduce them, especially in a household-centered society, to a sizeable proportion of the tasks,
modes of behavior, cultural forms, and norms and values of their society (Meyers 149). From
this statement by Meyers, it can be said that Miriam did share her wisdom and knowledge with
other women and possibly with their children.
Miriam’s role in educating other women is not questioned, but rather why does the bible mention
Miriam as a leader but her brother as a servant of god? However, when Miriam spoke against
Moses’s marriage to a Cushite woman she is punished with leprous. Moses is not regarded as a
prophet but rather a servant whereas Miriam is a prophet. The Lord then recovers her from
leprous on Moses’s request, but she later dies of unknown cause. But when she dies there is no
water left and the wells are empty. So, Miriam’s presence was a lifeline for jews. With her
passing the jews lost their lifeline (access to water).
It looks like god punishes Miriam for questioning god as god is on earth in the form of Moses.
Miriam is being rebellious which god disapproves of and punishes her. Moses steps right away
and fights for his sister Miriam. Later in Deuteronomy 24:8-9 there is warning to follow priest’s
instruction, or the God would punish with leprous just like how he did to Miriam. There is
significant evidence on punishment for not following the law specially Leviticus 24:16 says
“One who blasphemes the name of the Lord shall be put to death; the whole congregation shall
stone the blasphemer. Aliens as well as citizens, when they blaspheme the Name, shall be put to
death.” It can be interpreted as Miriam blasphemes God by speaking against Moses who is
chosen servant of god, so she is criticizing god. This shows how serious god takes when
someone speaks against God. When Miriam dies, she takes away all the water from the Israelites.
This signifies Miriam’s importance amongst the Israelites. It can be seen as a sign of honor for
Miriam. She takes away a significant commodity with her death. When there is no water left
Moses asks God for water and he commands him to take his staff and command the rock before
its eyes to give water, but instead moses calls them rebels and strikes his staff on the rock and the
water comes forth. The lord punishes Moses and Aaron for not following his command. Aaron
soon dies on Mount Hor and Moses isn’t allowed to go to the promised land mentioned in
Deuteronomy 3:17 “Look well, for you shall not cross over this Jordan.” Because there was no
water left, Moses struck the rock twice and it caused Aaron’s death because he didn’t oppose
Moses and it also caused Moses from crossing over to the Promised Land.
If Miriam hadn’t died or the water wasn’t gone with her passing Aaron and Moses both would
have made it to the Promised Land. Miriam’s death takes away both Aaron and Moses. This
shows that they are family and each of their actions reflects on each other. God has listened to
Moses so many times when he called out his name, God Yahweh saved moses and his people at
red sea from the Pharaohs, God saved his people when there was no water left. It is punishment
received for disobeying god by Moses and Miriam. So, this reconfirms that disobeying to god
and is punishable and taken very seriously. The loss of Miriam feels like a loss of a leader she
did not only just take away a lifeline with her but her brother Aaron and later Moses. Her loss
came with struggle for Israelites and a thirty-day mourning period for her brother Aaron. This
might suggest how a society looks after the death of their leader. Furthermore, Burns argues that
Miriam is an overall a leader of her people in wilderness in the Biblical context.
Bibliography
1. JANZEN, J. GERALD. “Song of Moses, Song of Miriam: Who Is Seconding
Whom?” The Catholic Biblical Quarterly, vol. 54, no. 2, 1992, pp. 211–20. JSTOR,
http://www.jstor.org/stable/43721053. Accessed 24 Nov. 2025.
2. BURNS, R. J. (1980). "Has The Lord Indeed Spoken Only Through Moses?" A Study Of
The Biblical Portrait Of Miriam (Order No. 8104800). Available from ProQuest
Dissertations & Theses Global. (303005913). https://www.proquest.com/dissertationstheses/has-lord-indeed-spoken-only-through-moses-study/docview/303005913/se-2
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