Miriam

Any time I see stories about sisters or siblings in the Bible all my mom-senses go off. I have 1 brother and he is 7 years older than I am. We always got along fine but he left home when I was a 5th grader and because of our age difference I didn't grow up having siblings for playmates. I never had to share a bedroom, babysit for my parents - in a lot of ways I was an only child. Now, I have 4 children of my own and sometimes it's hard for me that I don't have anything from my own childhood to draw from in how I raise them. I grew up going to public school in Montana. Now I'm homeschooling 4 kids, close together in age in California. Very different. But, God is so faithful. He did not give me 4 kids and leave me totally on my own. He has given me Godly people I can emulate, He's surrounded me by large families, homeschooling families and most importantly, He's given me His word. I love that the Bible that was written thousands of years ago and was applicable for them is also applicable for us today. There are things I can learn about being a mom from these stories.

Miriam is one of those Bible sisters that I've loved to study and the first time we see her is in Exodus 2. The Israelites were slaves in Egypt and their population had grown so much that pharoah was starting to get worried. He ordered the midwives to kill all the baby boys as they were born. That didn't work, the Israelites continued to multiply and so he ordered that ll the baby boys be thrown into the Nile. Then is says:

"2 The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months. 3 When she could hide him no longer, she took for him a basket made of bulrushes and daubed it with bitumen and pitch. She put the child in it and placed it among the reeds by the river bank. 4 And his sister stood at a distance to know what would be done to him. 5 Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her young women walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her servant woman, and she took it. 6 When she opened it, she saw the child, and behold the baby was crying. She took pity on him and said, "This is one of the Hebrews' children." 7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, "Shall I go and call you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?" 8 And Pharaoh's daughter said to her "Go." So the girl went and called for child's mother. 9 And 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. 10 When the child few older she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he because her son. She named him Moses, "Because," she said, "I drew him out of the water."

This the first glimpse we get of Miriam. She isn't named Miriam here, but in Number 26:59 it lists her as Miriam. 59 The name of Amram's wife was Jochebed the daughter of Levi, who was born to Levi in Egypt. And she bore to Amram Aaron and Moses and Miriam their sister.

We see here that she is a big sister.  She was the oldest in the family and was probably between 7 and 12.  She would’ve been trained in how to take care of a home and would’ve been a helper to her mother.  She probably took care of her brother Aaron and then also Moses when he was born. And in this little story we see a few things about her personality.  She was brave. For a Hebrew slave girl to approach an Egyptian princess took bravery - she could’ve gotten in trouble for this. Being brave doesn’t mean you’re not scared.  It means you might be scared but you do it anyways. We don’t know if her mother told her to stay and watch out for the baby but she did, so she cared what happened to him. She was big sistery.  She was a quick thinker in suggesting that her mother could help nurse him, and because of this her family was blessed. They were able to keep him for longer and her mother was paid to take care of him.  God could have chosen any way He wanted to save Moses life, but He chose to use his sister to do it.

The next time we see Miriam is in Exodus chapter 15.  About 80 years have passed. The Israelites had just escaped from Egypt.  They crossed the red sea, the Egyptian soldiers tried to follow behind them and were killed in the sea and then Moses sings a song of praise.  After Moses leads the people in singing it says  “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. 21 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.”

This verse tells us that Miriam was a prophetess and that was a big deal.  She’s the first one mentioned in the Bible and there are only a few prophetesses mentioned at all.  “A prophetess is a woman who acts as a mouthpiece for God receiving a message from Him and proclaiming it in accordance with His commands.”  So, Miriam was a leader among women and I love that we see here, that Moses, Miriam, and Aaron worked in ministry together. The 3 of them worked together to lead the Israelites.  In Micah 6:4 God says “I brought you up out of Egypt and redeemed you from the land of slavery.  I sent Moses to lead you, also Aaron and Miriam.”

The third time Miriam is mentioned is in Numbers 12 and lists a regrettable incident that happened.  Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman.2 And they said, “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?” And the Lord heard it. 3 Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth. 4 And suddenly the Lord said to Moses and to Aaron and Miriam, “Come out, you three, to the tent of meeting.” And the three of them came out. 5 And the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the tent and called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forward. 6 And he said, “Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream. 7 Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. 8 With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” 9 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and he departed. 10 When the cloud removed from over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous,[a] like snow. And Aaron turned toward Miriam, and behold, she was leprous. 11 And Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord, do not punish us[b] because we have done foolishly and have sinned. 12 Let her not be as one dead, whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes out of his mother's womb.” 13 And Moses cried to the Lord, “O God, please heal her—please.” 14 But the Lord said to Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be shamed seven days? Let her be shut outside the camp seven days, and after that she may be brought in again.” 15 So Miriam was shut outside the camp seven days, and the people did not set out on the march till Miriam was brought in again. 16 After that the people set out from Hazeroth, and camped in the wilderness of Paran.

Miriam makes the mistake of criticizing her brother Moses to Aaron.  We don’t know exactly why. She lands on the issue of his wife but more of the things I read and listened to said that wasn’t the full reason she was upset.  She could have been displaying some jealousy or pride. She was definitely challenging his authority. In Matthew it says that the mouth speaks what the heart is full of and we can see her heart here.   God tells us in His word that the tongue has incredible power.  So the words we say are important. To back up from that, the things we think also hold incredible power.  Miriam did not just sin against Moses with her words out of the blue. She had sinful thoughts against him first

A godly woman in my church spoke at our women's study this year and gave us these words of encouragement.  She said “Mamas believe what the Bible says about your children.” Psalm 127:3 says children are a blessing from the Lord.  They are a gift from God and we need to believe that and treat them this way. Girls need to believe this about their siblings too.  Each one is precious to God. Our daughters may need reminded that they need to believe that and treat them this way. Another thing she said is that as moms, we need to take every thought captive regarding our children.  You do not get to entertain negative thoughts and not pay consequences for that. This applies to your girls too. Each of us are responsible for the things we think and we have control over our thoughts.  Every sin starts as a thought and, if you’re thinking sinful thoughts towards your kids or your siblings, it’s going to affect how you treat them and the tone of your home. Even young people have a big responsibility for the influence they have in the home.  Philippians 4:8 says:  Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.  Every thought that you have should be measured by this standard because as believers our thought life is so important.  In an article I read by John Piper recently he said that we have 5 seconds to respond a sinful thought before it starts to take hold.  I love how specific that is. We have 5 seconds. Miriam sinned against Moses in her speech but that did not just happen. She had thoughts about it first.  Every sin starts as a thought, so learn to take every thought captive and measure it against the Bible. Is what you’re thinking true? Is it honorable?  Is it just or pure? Is it lovely or commendable? Is it worthy of praise? How do you change negative thoughts about your siblings? You can start by praying for them.  Thank God for them. And think about what you’re thinking about.

You have no idea what God has planned for each of the siblings in your home but each one was created by Him and you can influence each of their lives toward Him. Hudson Taylor was a missionary to China in the 1800s and he had a sister named Amelia that he was very close to. Before he became a missionary, there was a point that Amelia could see Hudson was struggling in his spiritual life and she committed to pray for him 3 times a day.  She didn’t tell him this, and was 13 years old when she did this. He found out about it later and between Amelia’s prayers and his mothers’ prayers, Hudson strongly felt that it changed the course of his life. Your girls are not too young to be praying for their siblings and those prayers could change their life.  I’ve heard the quote, “If mother doesn’t drop to her knees to pray for her kids, who will do it?” That was so convicting to me as a mom but I think it can be applied to sisters as well. Girls, there are few people who know your siblings as well as you do. You know what things they’re good at or what they love. You know what they struggle with.  Pray for them. Pray that they would have wisdom. Pray that they would love God’s word. Pray for their future spouse. Pray that they would be teachable.

Moving on from that, I think we can be reminded from Miriam’s mistake that there are consequences to sin.  Sin affected her relationship with her brothers and her relationship with God. We know sins have consequences but I think when we read the Old Testament we are reminded of that when we see how swiftly and severely God disciplines for it.  As we’re busy going about living our day to day lives with our family it’s easy to forget that some things are even sins. If we mistreat someone at school, or gossip about a neighbor I think sometimes our conscience twinges a bit more than if we do these things against one of our own family members.  

When my kids were little, they went to a birthday party and the princess Snow White was there.  She was talking to my girls and said “And who is this little prince?” about my son and one of his sisters said “He’s not a prince, he’s just a brother.”  That gave us a laugh at the time but also is so telling of how we feel sometimes. That’s just my brother or she’s just my sister. We spend so much time with these people we can forget how we’re supposed to treat them.  Sometimes it’s good to be reminded that each one is precious to Him, and that we need to treat them that way. God is sovereign and the one who placed you in your family - either as the oldest, the youngest, the middle child.  It does not matter how old you are, your role in your family is important. God not only gave you to your parents, He planned the siblings that you would have so the way that you treat them matters.

That leads us to another takeaway from Miriam’s life, and that is that we can learn from our siblings.  Aaron did not get the same punishment that Miriam did but I bet he learned from it. If you see one of your siblings get in trouble for something you can learn from it so you don’t have to make those same mistakes.  Mamas, pray for your kids to have teachable hearts. It would be really wonderful if the kids in our home did not all have to make the same mistakes but could learn from others. Also pray that they get caught when they sin.  Miriam was reprimanded by God immediately. Pray that you catch your children when they sin so you can discipline for it right away. This is a scary thing to pray, it’s like praying for patience. Not fun. But the more your children can learn when they’re young the better.  The older we are, the harder the consequences of sin get, so pray that your children learn these lessons while they’re young.

So, God is probably not going to ask you to approach an Egyptian princess or help lead a nation of people, like Miriam did.  He does have a plan for you though and He is going to ask you to do things that feel scary. Be brave. If God asks you to do something, He will help you to do it and you’re not alone. Miriam was important in her own family unit and God used her to save her brothers life. God could have chosen any number of ways to do this but He used Moses sister.  Sisters are important and each one of you is so important to your family unit as well. Just like Miriam, and like the verse in Esther says, you were created for such a time as this. Each one of you was created for exactly where God has you right now.  How can you use this for Him?