Miriam
The prophetess, sister of Moses and Aaron, who watched over the infant Moses in the Nile, led Israel's women in the victory song at the Red Sea, and who suffered and repented when she challenged her brother's authority.
The Prophetess Who Sang
Scripture: Exodus 2; 15; Numbers 12; 20
The Biblical Record
Miriam appears first as a watchful older sister, standing at a distance to see what would happen to the reed basket in the Nile. She offered to find a Hebrew nurse for the child the Pharaoh's daughter had drawn from the water — and brought Moses back to his own mother. She appears next with a tambourine in her hand, after the Egyptians had drowned in the Red Sea, leading the women of Israel in a song: Sing to the LORD, for he is highly exalted. The horse and rider he has hurled into the sea. Her voice then — and her silence later — frame a life of gifts used faithfully and badly.
Miriam in the Sanctum
Miriam is the figure of the gifted woman whose greatest moments and greatest failures are both recorded. She is a prophetess; the New Testament includes her in the tradition. She is also a woman who challenged her brother's authority and suffered for it, repented, and was restored. The Sanctum holds both without resolving the tension.
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