Why Miriam's Song is Important

A Woman's Touch: Why Miriam's Song is Important

 

 

    I confess that I have surprised myself with this particular blog. I read and re-read Exodus, wracking my brain for something to blog about. I asked other people, including my campus minister. What my brain eventually fell upon was something it must have overlooked some few dozen times: Miriam. Was I guilty of skipping over her just because she's a woman who, at first glance, seems to have little impact on the overall story of Moses and his people's subsequent mass exodus? I think, truthfully, the answer to that question is a reluctant "yes." Moreover, I'm going to go ahead and make the assumption that many others have been guilty of doing exactly the same thing. Why? What have we been missing by skipping over this woman's song and the dance she led?

     My first point is about as simple as it gets: the verses about Miriam's song exists: "Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing. And Miriam sang to them:
 “Sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously;
 the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.”
(Exodus 15:20-21 ESV)

The simple fact that these two verses appear in Exodus gives us a reason to appreciate Miriam's import. In a book where it seems the only women who are discussed are those of great renown or infamy, the writer of Exodus takes the time to tell us of one woman, Aaron's sister, who picked up an instrument and led the other women in a triumphant dance.

    

 

     The reason, I believe, that many people skip over Miriam altogether, is that she makes many "conservative" Christians sort of uncomfortable; they're made uncomfortable because she's referred to as "a prophetess." Rather than look more closely at this passage, I think it's pretty common for them to skip over it, thus avoiding the possible "sticky" questions it could lead to.

     So why is it important that we're told Miriam and the other women band together and sing a song consisting of nearly the exact same words found in Moses' song earlier in the chapter? Robert Van Kooten has, in my opinion, an excellent answer for that question: the Israelites have just truly earned their freedom! Though their suffering has been great and, we learn a little later, is by no means over, they are slaves no more. The protagonist has set the events in motion that would lead them out. All of these events can sort of be tracked by the life of Miriam herself. Years before, she had stood on the banks of the Nile watched Moses floating off in his tiny basket. She has then had to live through her people's extreme oppression then, with overflowing joy, once again stands on a bank beside water, but this time it's the banks of the Red Sea and she is exalting her God for leading His people out of Egypt. The Israelites' plight, hope, and salvation, as it were, can all by mirrored by Miriam's own life.

     Miriam's very name means "bitterness." She has suffered through some of the worst times in the Israelites' enslavement. It's partly through her keeping an eye on Moses and taking a stake in what would become of him that hope for her people even exists and eventually is realized.

     It's also through Miriam that we are reminded that the men were not alone in their sufferings, their endeavors, or their redemption in breaking out of their bondage. An entire nation of women were present for all these things too and, if we're being honest, the reason they're not mentioned as often in Exodus is likely that they didn't complain nearly as much.


http://www.chabad.org/parshah/article_cdo/aid/2744/jewish/Miriams-Song.htm
http://www.kerux.com/documents/keruxv16n3a4.htm
http://www.jewishgiftplace.com/Miriams-Cup.html