MIRIAM, THE SINGING PROPHETESS

Posted by Pastor Greg Allen on May 9, 2021 under 2021 |

Bethany Bible Church Mother’s Day Sunday Message; May 9, 2021 from various passages

Theme: Miriam’s story teaches us to rejoice in God’s call upon our life … and not covet the calling of someone else.

(All Scripture is taken from The New King James Version, unless otherwise indicated).

Click HERE for the live-stream archive of this sermon (two parts):

Part 1 | Part 2

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For almost thirty Mother’s Days now, I’ve shared a message from God’s word about one of the Bible’s great women of faith. It’s been a rewarding tradition. Not only have I found a different heroine of faith to talk about each time; but I often find myself saying, “Why haven’t we talked about her before?”

And that’s true of the woman of God that we’ll be considering this morning. She is of great significance to the story of God’s work in and through His chosen people Israel. God Himself placed tremendous importance upon her. When He was speaking to His disobedient people in the Book of Micah, He made His appeal to them by showing them how gracious and good He had been to them. And in Micah 6:4, He said;

“For I brought you up from the land of Egypt,
I redeemed you from the house of bondage;
And I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam” (Micah 6:4).

This morning, let’s shine the spotlight on this great woman Miriam—a woman that God Himself said was His gift of grace to the people of Israel—the sister of Moses and Aaron—’Israel’s Singing Prophetess’ of the Exodus.

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Now; in comparison to her two brothers, the Bible tells us only a little about her. We put her story together from only a few passages here and there in the Scriptures. But when we search her story out, we discover a woman of resourcefulness and energy. But we also find a woman who was very human. Among the many great qualities we find in her, there was also one serious flaw. She failed to be completely content with the unique calling that God had placed on her … and she stumbled badly when she sought to take the calling of someone else.

That’s a very important lesson for us to learn from, dear brothers and sisters. In our life together through the Lord Jesus—in our ministry to one another in and through His church family—we have each been called to a particular calling and have been gifted in particular ways by Him for His service. And we please Him greatly—and experience the blessedness of His service—when we cultivate a sense of confidence in His calling, and seek to flourish in it joyfully by the enabling power of the Holy Spirit. But when we become jealous of God’s call on someone else—when we become so envious of the gifts and calling and place of ministry that He gave to another that we desire to take their place—then we bring harm to ourselves and to the body of Christ that God desires us to serve.

There are many interesting lessons we can learn from Miriam. But perhaps the most important of them is that we learn to rejoice contentedly in the calling that God has placed on our life—and beware of the danger of coveting the call that He gave to someone else.

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So; let’s begin our study of Miriam’s fascinating life by considering …

1. HER BIRTH AND BACKGROUND.

Her story begins—just as you might expect—with the story of her parents. She was born in a very important and honored lineage. Exodus 2:1 tells us about her mother and father:

And a man of the house of Levi went and took as wife a daughter of Levi (Exodus 2:1).

Miriam was born of the tribe of Levi—both parents being from the tribe that would eventually be set apart by God as the priestly tribe of Israel. In fact, her father’s family were of the portion of the tribe of Levi known as the Kohathites; and later on, that family line would be given the honored task of carrying the articles of the Tabernacle upon their shoulders during the journey to the promised land.

As we read on in the Scriptures, we find that her father’s name was Amram. Exodus 6:20 tells us;

Now Amram took for himself Jochebed, his father’s sister, as wife … (Exodus 6:20).

In those days, the law of God had not yet been given to the people of Israel that would prohibit a man from marrying his own aunt. But that’s what Amram did. And as that verse goes on to say, “and she bore him Aaron and Moses.” Miriam’s name is often mentioned in the Bible with her two brothers. But even though her name is often mentioned last, she herself wasn’t the last child. If we look ahead to Exodus 7—and to the story of how Moses and Aaron were demanding that Pharaoh set their people free from their bondage in Egypt—we’re told;

And Moses was eighty years old and Aaron eighty-three years old when they spoke to Pharaoh (Exodus 7:7).

This would mean that Aaron was three years older than his brother Moses. But as we read on in their story of Miriam—and hear of the things that she did—we find that she would have had to be older than either of the other two. When Moses was a baby, she was referred to as ‘a maiden’. She was their big sister. And clearly, God providentially placed her in their lives to help protect and care for them during some very hard times.

Her name—in the original language—is the same as that of Mary, the mother of our Lord. According to some scholars, her name could have meant “bitterness”; and some Jewish scholars say her name could mean “rebellion”. But still others say her name could mean “water”. There’s a sense in which any of these possibilities are reflected in the ways—in the providential care of God—that her life story unfolded.

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And that leads us to the first great adventure we read about in her life story …

2. HER INTERVENTION FOR INFANT MOSES.

Miriam grew up in troubled times. They weren’t quite so troubled when she and Aaron were born. But by the time that Moses was born, they had become very troubling indeed.

Before that time, the people of Israel had grown in the land of Egypt and multiplied greatly. And so, out of fear of them, Pharaoh—at one point—brutally instructed that the male children who were born into each Jewish household be put to death by being cast into the Nile River. And that was the situation into which Moses was born. Exodus 2 tells us;

And a man of the house of Levi went and took as wife a daughter of Levi. So the woman conceived and bore a son. And when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him for three months. But when she could no longer hide him, she took an ark of bulrushes for him, daubed it with asphalt and pitch, put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river’s bank (Exodus 2:1-3).

The king of the land had issued a wicked and brutal decree. But Amram and Jochebed refused to obey it. What a brave and innovative woman Miriam’s mother was! No wonder Miriam grew up to be a remarkable woman herself! And we might think that it was simply out of parental love that they risked their own lives in order to save Moses. That, of course, must have been a part of the motive. But there was much more to it. In Hebrews 11:23, we’re told;

By faith Moses, when he was born, was hidden three months by his parents, because they saw he was a beautiful child; and they were not afraid of the king’s command (Hebrews 11:23).

They acted from out of more than parental love. They acted by faith in God. And when we’re told that they saw that he was “a beautiful child”, it meant more than that he was a good-looking baby. His ‘beauty’ was a way of expressing that there was something of the gracious hand of God upon him. Acts 7 tells us the story of Pharaoh’s wicked decree; saying,

This man dealt treacherously with our people, and oppressed our forefathers, making them expose their babies, so that they might not live. At this time Moses was born, and was well pleasing to God; and he was brought up in his father’s house for three months (Acts 7:19-20).

God’s hand seemed to be uniquely upon this baby boy. Even from the time he was born, his parents could tell that he was ‘well pleasing to God’. No wonder his mother and father and elder sister sought so bravely to save his life. And so, Jochebed made a floating cradle for him and placed him in the Nile River. How terrifying that must have been for her—to place her baby at risk of drowning or of being eaten by crocodiles. But she had no choice. She did what she could—and trusted God for him.

And among the things that she could also do was to send Moses’ older sister Miriam off to watch for him. Exodus 2 goes on to tell us;

And his sister stood afar off, to know what would be done to him.

Then the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river. And her maidens walked along the riverside; and when she saw the ark among the reeds, she sent her maid to get it. And when she opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby wept. So she had compassion on him, and said, “This is one of the Hebrews’ children” (Exodus 2:4-6).

Isn’t the providence of God amazing?—not only to cause the baby Moses to drift safely right in front of the daughter of the Pharaoh, but also to make Moses cry at just the right time to melt her heart? And the providence of God was shown in the fact that Miriam was there at the right time too. Just consider how calm and careful she was—and also how wise and resourceful!

Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?” And Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Go.” So the maiden went and called the child’s mother. Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed him. And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. So she called his name Moses, saying, “Because I drew him out of the water.” (Exodus 2:7-10.)

Miriam knew just the right woman to call to nurse the baby! Just think of how the family all laughed at the amazing circumstances—and cried tears of thankfulness—as Jochebed cared for her own rescued baby under the protection and payment of the pharaoh’s own daughter!

What a great God! And what a clever, quick-thinking and brave young girl Miriam was!

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Now; we’re not told anything else about her life for another eighty years. For almost all of that time, her brother Moses would have been gone from her. But when God called Moses and Aaron to lead His people out of bondage and into the promised land, she was there—back in the picture. And this is where we see …

3. HER ROLE AS PROPHETESS.

After God gave a mighty victory to His people over the Egyptians—bringing the people of Israel safely through the Red Sea, and closing it up upon their Egyptian pursuers—Moses wrote a song to commemorate the event. We find it in Exodus 15:

Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the Lord, and spoke, saying:
“I will sing to the Lord,
For He has triumphed gloriously!
The horse and its rider
He has thrown into the sea!” (Exodus 15:1).

What follows is a wonderful song of victory—praising God for His mighty deliverance. But it’s then that we hear from Miriam. She would have been an elderly woman at this point. And yet, she must have had a lot of energy; and she too rejoiced at the victory that God brought about. She even led the women of Israel to take up the song. Verses 20-21 tell us;

Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took the timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances. And Miriam answered them:

“Sing to the Lord,
For He has triumphed gloriously!
The horse and its rider
He has thrown into the sea!” (vv. 20-21).

Now; there may have been other prophetic messages that she gave—or even that she sang. But we don’t have any account of them. We only have this one event before us. And in this case, her message from God did not originate from her. The prophetic message that she musically proclaimed was the same message from God that had already been given to Moses—which was almost word-for-word, in the original language, what it says in verse 1.

By the way; that’s what the prophetic office is. It’s the office of faithfully declaring to God’s people exactly what God has said. A true prophet from God doesn’t make up a message to give to people. A true prophet is given that message from God—and he or she must be faithful to declare it just as it was given. God gave that message to Moses; and as God’s mouthpiece, he uttered it and wrote it down faithfully; and as a true prophetess of God, Miriam proclaimed it and urged others to rejoice in it.

Again, what a remarkable woman this woman Miriam was.

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But then comes a sad turn in her story. If we look to Numbers 12, we find …

4. HER STUMBLE INTO SIN.

We’re not told the circumstances behind it all. It may be that Moses’ first wife Zipporah had died. But however it came about—somewhere along the way—Moses had taken another wife. And Miriam and Aaron were not happy about his choice of a bride. We’re told;

Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married; for he had married an Ethiopian woman (Numbers 12:1).

It seems that Miriam and Aaron had a problem with Moses getting married to a woman from the land of Cush. Could it be that they had some prejudiced attitudes against her ethnicity? Perhaps so. But as we read on, it seems pretty clear that there was much more to it all—and that perhaps Moses’ new wife simply provided the opportunity to voice another and more deep-seated complaint. Verse 2 says;

So they said, “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also?” (v. 2a).

In other words, they weren’t happy about the fact that Moses was considered God’s spokesman. They both had honored positions. They both had callings from God. But they weren’t content with the thing that God had called them to do. They coveted the unique position that God had given to Moses.

And the Lord heard it. (Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth.) (vv. 2b-3).

Moses wrote those words. Does it sound like he was tooting his own horn a bit?—saying that he was more humble than all men on the face of the earth? Not really. Given the unique position he had been given as God’s spokesman, it would be true that he really was the humblest of men. And there are also lots of times when this same Moses went on to tell us the truth about his many faults—sometimes in ways that no other human leader would tell of themselves. So; in saying this, Moses was saying that he restrained himself in this challenge to his calling.

But God did not restrain Himself at all.

Suddenly the Lord said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, “Come out, you three, to the tabernacle of meeting!” So the three came out. Then the Lord came down in the pillar of cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam. And they both went forward. Then He said,

“Hear now My words:
If there is a prophet among you,
I, the Lord, make Myself known to him in a vision;
I speak to him in a dream.
Not so with My servant Moses;
He is faithful in all My house.
I speak with him face to face,
Even plainly, and not in dark sayings;
And he sees the form of the Lord.
Why then were you not afraid
To speak against My servant Moses?”

So the anger of the Lord was aroused against them, and He departed. And when the cloud departed from above the tabernacle, suddenly Miriam became leprous, as white as snow. Then Aaron turned toward Miriam, and there she was, a leper. So Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord! Please do not lay this sin on us, in which we have done foolishly and in which we have sinned. Please do not let her be as one dead, whose flesh is half consumed when he comes out of his mother’s womb!” (vv. 4-12).

What a horrifying thing it must have been for Aaron and Moses to see their beloved sister suddenly white with leprosy—looking almost like the walking dead—because of the judgment of God upon her. Perhaps she alone was affected in this way—and not Aaron—because she had been the one who had taken the lead in this challenge to Moses’ calling.

And this is where we truly see the humbleness of Moses.

So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “Please heal her, O God, I pray!” Then the Lord said to Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, would she not be shamed seven days? Let her be shut out of the camp seven days, and afterward she may be received again.” So Miriam was shut out of the camp seven days, and the people did not journey till Miriam was brought in again. And afterward the people moved from Hazeroth and camped in the Wilderness of Paran (vv. 13-16).

She had wanted to be a leader of the people like Moses. She was not content with the calling God gave her; and she coveted the calling of someone else. And not only did she not become the leader of the people that she desired to be; but she had to be separated from the people for a week’s time—until her horrible leprosy was taken from her, and that she was declared clean. It may be that she bore the scars of this disease upon her body for the rest of her life. But she was pardoned and was able to rejoin her people.

But what a lesson she learned! Dear brothers and sisters; it’s always good to grow in our calling—and it’s even good to move into another and greater calling if God chooses to give it to us. But it is a very dangerous thing to become discontent with our calling and to end up coveting the calling of someone else. It creates a bitterness in us, and a resentment toward others, that prevents us from serving as we should. It prompts God to take His hand of blessing from us. It may even make it necessary for Him to set us aside for a time until we humble down and repent.

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Now; it seems that Miriam learned her lesson and repented. We can draw this conclusion from what the Bible tells us about …

5. HER DEATH ALONG THE WAY.

We read about this in Numbers 20:1; where we’re told,

Then the children of Israel, the whole congregation, came into the Wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh; and Miriam died there and was buried there (Numbers 20:1).

This was the first month of the fortieth year of the journey of the people of Israel—just before the people of Israel were about to be led into the promised land by Joshua. So, this means that Miriam was with her people that whole forty-year long journey.

And perhaps she remained the singing prophetess to her people even to the very end.

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There’s much to learn from this great woman of God. And perhaps the most important lesson we can learn is one that was later expressed by the apostle Paul in Romans 12:3-8;

For I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith. For as we have many members in one body, but all the members do not have the same function, so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and individually members of one another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, let us prophesy in proportion to our faith; or ministry, let us use it in our ministering; he who teaches, in teaching; he who exhorts, in exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness (Romans 12:3-8).

When our Lord has called us to a place of service—and when He has gifted us and positioned us uniquely in that calling within His church—let’s rejoice in it and flourish in it. Let’s yield ourselves fully to Him in that calling and give our all to it. But let’s beware of ever coveting the calling and gifting and place of service that He has given to someone else.

I suspect that Miriam would sing a hearty ‘amen’ to that.

EA