As you well know, I cannot resist the opportunity to tell a woman’s story when it comes up in the biblical narrative. I feel called and compelled to share their stories and lift their voices because for so long their stories have been hidden or ignored. The verse from Exodus that I read today is known as the Song of Miriam and it is the song she sang as she led the Israelites in worship following their Exodus from Egypt. With a song and a tambourine, Miriam led worship. Not Moses. Not Aaron. A woman with a song.
Miriam's story begins as a protector. When her baby brother Moses faced the threat of Pharaoh's decree, she showed courage by watching over him in a time of great danger. The story of Moses being placed in a basket includes Miriam’s story- she watched over him and kept him safe. When Pharoah’s daughter pulled Moses from the river, it was Miriam who brought their mother to be the wetnurse for the baby. Miriam was there watching over her brother and helping keep her family together in the face of Pharo’s murderous decree.
“It’s important to note that throughout this episode, Miriam, like her mother, is not given a name; she is merely the sister of the boy in the basket. Yet she is part of a core group of female characters, named or not, who drive the narrative at the beginning of Exodus. The midwives, Shifra and Puah, refuse to kill the male Hebrew infants at birth despite the pharaoh’s order; Moses’s mother, who ensures the survival of her child; even Pharaoh’s daughter, who takes Moses in—all, along with Miriam, are the active figures in the story, the proto-saviors of the Israelite people in Egypt, all concentrated within a mere eighteen verses spanning Exodus 1 and 2.” (Baden)
Eventually, Miriam is finally named in the story. But that doesn’t happen until the Exodus.
The Exodus itself is a huge event, and we’ve come in at the culmination of the Israelite’s escape from Egypt. “What happens at the water’s edge is preceded by the last of the ten plagues, which takes the lives of the firstborn of Egypt, while sparing the firstborn of Israel. At first, Pharaoh gives in to Moses, but then regrets the decision. Thus, he pursues the Israelites to the edge of the sea. When the people of Israel see the Egyptian army closing in on them, they become frightened and cry out in anger. Had Moses led them out into the desert only to be slaughtered by Pharaoh’s army? While they aren’t sure what will happen to them, it is here that deliverance/liberation takes place. God intervenes on their behalf, promising to fight for Israel.”(Cornwall).
One year during vacation bible school, we were focused on this story from Exodus. On one particular day, we were talking about how Pharoah consistently said no to Moses. I’ll never forget little Hannah- she burst into tears and said “Why is Pharoah so mean?” She was inconsolable until we told her, “God will win on Thursday, we promise.” Now, of course, we meant that very literally- that on Thursday of VBS, we’d get to the part of the story where God and the Israelites prevail over Pharoah. But for Hannah, that was all it took. And that became her battle cry. “God wins on Thursday!!” So, here we are on “Thursday” and the Israelites are standing on the edge of the water.
So what happens? Moses stretches out his hand over the sea. God drives the sea back by a strong east wind all night and turns the sea into dry land, and the waters are divided.
The Israelites stepped into the sea on dry ground, the waters forming a wall for them on their right and on their left. They cross safely and then Pharoah’s army steps onto the same dry land, and Moses again stretches his hand and the water crashes back down, drowning them. And then the Israelites got to watch the dead bodies float back to the other side of the river. It’s graphic and gory, but they are safe.
And what do you do after a huge event like that? A war, a battle, a victory? You celebrate.
The Israelites celebrated their freedom and their victory. And from this celebration, Miriam, tambourine in hand transformed the party into worship. She led the women in praise to God for what had occurred. The verse says- 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. And Miriam sang to them: "Sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; horse and rider he has thrown into the sea."
The PROPHET Miriam. Miriam is the first woman in the biblical narrative be namned a prophet. Six others have been given the title in Jewish tradition over time- Sarah, Esther, Hannah, Abigail, Deborah, and Huldah. But the first time in the actual text that the word “prophet” is used for a woman is right here.
Miriam sang a song of worship. She led the women in song and dance and praise. And what commenced was the first recorded congregational worship experience in Scripture!. The FIRST Instance of congregational worship with prayer and song was led by a woman.
Miriam is one of my favorite stories to bring up when people try to use the Bible to tell me that women shouldn’t be ministers. Miriam responded to the events of the Red Sea with praise. She drew the songs out of her sisters. She inspired others to sing. She empowered others to sing their own songs. She ministered to them. She was the first woman minister in the Bible. But she was definitely not the last.
The biblical heritage of women in ministry continued from that moment. Women in the First Testament ministered on a daily basis. They taught the faith to the children in their homes, led worship in domestic shrines, and held vital roles in the faith community.
The contribution of women continued during the Exile when women took on important roles. One such woman was Huldah, who during the reforms of Josiah authenticated the document that led to the reforms. She “verified the authenticity of the ‘Book of the Law of the Lord given through Moses’ and triggered a religious renewal”(Robinson) Huldah was chosen for this job instead of the prophet Jeremiah, so she must have been an important prophetess in her own right. Women were also important in funeral rights where they recited (and possibly composed) funeral rites, as evidenced in Chronicles and Jeremiah. Deborah served as a judge of Israel. Women led in festival settings as well as described in Exodus, Judges, and 1 Samuel (Davison).
The ministerial role of women continued into the New Testament and the early church. And despite efforts to suppress the role of women in the church over time, women have been ordained formally in “modern” denominations since 1852 and in my own denomination since the 1890s. But I think it’s extremely valuable to remember that the tradition of women ministering goes back much further than 130 years or so. It goes ALL the way back to the Exodus. To Miriam,. To a woman raising her voice in song and dancing on the shores of the Red Sea.
But, Miriam’s status as a leader, established at the Sea of Reeds, becomes a source of some complication as the Israelites move through the wilderness. Ultimately, she challenges Moses’ authority and God’s relationship with Moses and she is struck with leprosy for seven days. And that story- the story of her being punished for some sort of “Insubordination” to God and Moses is the last we hear of her in the Biblical Narrative until her death- which is recorded later in Numbers. But despite her not getting a lot of “screen time” in this story, She is an essential part of the Israelite’s history and an important person in the great lineage of women ministers in the bible. She challenges blind faithfulness in leadership, and celebrates communally- when she sings, she says “We praise God” rather than “I praise” like Moses did. She lifts her voice, and in doing so, lifts the voices of the women on the shoreline with her, and the women who followed her in history.
She is a woman worth remembering.
Amen.