Difference between revisions of "Miriam"

<p> The Old [[Testament]] [[Hebrew]] equates to [[Mary]] in New Testament and Mariamne, Herod's wife and victim. </p> <p> '''1.''' [[Sister]] of [[Aaron]] and Moses, oldest child of [[Amram]] and Jochebed. At least 12 or 13 at Moses' birth, for she is called (&nbsp;Exodus 2:8) "the maid," halmah , implying one of marriageable age. Aaron being three years older than [[Moses]] was nine years younger than her. She watched her infant brother in the ark on the Nile, and suggested to Pharaoh's daughter the mother as a nurse. In &nbsp;Micah 6:4 God mentions among benefits conferred on Israel, "I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam," [[Miriam]] as the leader of and pattern to Israel's women. She as "the prophetess, the sister of Aaron," with timbrel in hand, led the female choir who, with timbrels (round tambourines, an [[Egyptian]] word) and dances following her, sang the song of triumph at the Red Sea; they responsively took up the first strophe of the men's song (&nbsp;Exodus 15:1-20-21; so &nbsp;Judges 11:34; &nbsp;1 Samuel 18:6). </p> <p> Her prophetic gift was perverted into a ground of jealousy of Moses, whose foreign [[Ethiopian]] wife, just espoused, to Miriam's disappointment had supplanted her from the influence which she had with Moses after Zipporah's death. "Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married (Numbers 12) ... Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? Hath He not spoken also by us?" But the phrase "sister of Aaron" (a phrase not likely to have been applied to Miriam by a later writer than Moses) marks her as ranking, not with Moses but with Aaron, and like him subordinate to Moses, the mediator of the Old Testament, and standing to Aaron "instead of God" (&nbsp;Exodus 4:16). God's reply implies that, though receiving prophetical revelations, she did not receive them "mouth to mouth apparently" and immediately as Moses, who "beheld the similitude of the Lord," whereas she and others saw only in a "vision" or "dream." </p> <p> In wrath God withdrew the cloud from off the tabernacle, and behold the proud prophetess had the most humiliating of diseases, leprosy white as snow. Miriam was the instigator, therefore on her alone fell the punishment. Aaron was influenced to evil by his sister, as before by the people (Exodus 32), with characteristic pliability. [[Leprosy]] was the penalty of sin against the theocracy, as in Uzziah's and Gehazi's case. Miriam became in a state of living death. Aaron interceded with Moses piteously for her: "let her not be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he cometh out of his mother's womb." So Moses interceded with God: "heal her now, O God, I beseech Thee." </p> <p> The Lord hearkened, but excluded her from the camp seven days; and such was her popularity, "the people journeyed not (from Hazeroth) until Miriam was brought in again." Her death was at [[Kadesh]] Barnea, the first month of the 40th year (&nbsp;Numbers 20:1). Her sepulchre was shown in Eusebius' (Onom. in Jerome) time at Petra; but [[Josephus]] Ant. 4:4, section 6; 3:2, section 4, 6 section 1) places it on Mount Zin, and makes her wife of [[Hur]] and grandmother of the architect Bezaleel. [[Feminine]] jealousy and ambition were the drawbacks to her otherwise commanding character. </p> <p> '''2.''' &nbsp;1 Chronicles 4:17. Berheau by transposition reads, "and these are the sons of [[Bithiah]] the daughter of Pharaoh, whom [[Mered]] had taken" immediately after "and Jalon, ... and she (Bithiah) conceived and bore) Miriam," etc. Miriam is here a man. </p>

<p> 1. Sister of Aaron and Moses: she is emphatically called 'Miriam the prophetess.' She was probably the sister who watched the ark in which her brother Moses was laid. In after years she headed the procession of women, when, with timbrels and dances, they answered the song of Moses, on their deliverance out of [[Egypt]] and through the Red Sea. With Aaron she took the lead in murmuring against Moses, on the plea that he had married an Ethiopian woman. Moses was very meek, but the Lord did not allow His servant, who was faithful in all God's house, and to whom He spake mouth to mouth, to be spoken against. God was angry with them and Miriam was smitten with leprosy, white as snow. Aaron humbled himself and confessed their sin, and Moses prayed for the restoration of Miriam. She was made to go outside the camp seven days. This rebellion was typical of [[Israel]] in the character of prophet and priest uniting against Christ as King. Miriam died at Kadesh and was buried there. &nbsp; Exodus 15:20,21; &nbsp;Numbers 12:1-15; &nbsp;Numbers 20:1; &nbsp;Numbers 26:59; &nbsp;Deuteronomy 24:9; &nbsp;Micah 6:4 . </p> <p> 2. Son or daughter of one in the tribe of Judah. &nbsp;1 Chronicles 4:17 . </p>

<p> '''Mir'iam.''' (rebellion). The sister of Moses, was the eldest of that sacred family; and she first appears, probably as a young girl, watching her infant brother's cradle in the Nile, &nbsp;Exodus 2:4, and suggesting her mother as a nurse. &nbsp;Exodus 2:7. </p> <p> After the crossing of the Red Sea, "Miriam, the prophetess," is her acknowledged title. &nbsp;Exodus 15:20. The prophetic power showed itself in her, under the same form as that which it assumed, in the days of Samuel and David, - poetry, accompanied with music and processions. &nbsp;Exodus 15:1-19. </p> <p> She took the lead, with Aaron, in the complaint against Moses, for his marriage with a Cushite, &nbsp;Numbers 12:1-2, and for this, was attacked with leprosy. This stroke and its removal, which took place at Hazeroth, form the last public event of Miriam's life. &nbsp;Numbers 12:1-15. She died toward the close of the wanderings at Kadesh, and was buried there. &nbsp;Numbers 20:1. (B.C. about 1452). </p>

<p> '''Miriam''' (mĭr'i-am), rebellion. 1. The daughter of Amram, and the sister of Moses and Aaron, &nbsp;1 Chronicles 6:3, appointed to watch the ark of bulrushes in which her infant brother was laid among the flags of the river. She was there when Pharaoh's daughter came down and discovered it, and proposed to go for a nurse. She immediately called her mother as the nurse, and the infant was placed under her care. &nbsp;Exodus 2:4-10. After the passage of the Red Sea, she led the choir of the women of Israel in the sublime song of deliverance, &nbsp;Exodus 15:20, but afterward, having joined Aaron in murmuring against Moses, she was smitten with leprosy, and restored only in answer to the prayers of Moses. &nbsp;Numbers 12:1-15. She died and was buried at Kadesh. &nbsp;Numbers 20:1. 2. A descendant of Judah. &nbsp;1 Chronicles 4:17. </p>

<li> &nbsp;1 Chronicles 4:17 , one of the descendants of Judah. <div> <p> '''Copyright Statement''' These dictionary topics are from M.G. Easton M.A., D.D., Illustrated [[Bible]] Dictionary, Third Edition, published by [[Thomas]] Nelson, 1897. Public Domain. </p> <p> '''Bibliography Information''' Easton, Matthew George. Entry for 'Miriam'. Easton's Bible Dictionary. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/ebd/m/miriam.html. 1897. </p> </div> </li>

<p> (Heb. Miryam', מַרְיָם , rebellion; Sept. Μαριάμ, but in &nbsp;1 Chronicles 4:17 Μαών v. r. Μαρών ; Josephus Μαριάμμη, Ant. 4:4, 6), the name of a woman and of a man. The name reappears in the N.T., Μαριάμ being the form always employed for the nominative case of the name of the [[Virgin]] Mary, though it is declined; while Μαρία is employed in all cases for the three other Marys. At the time of the [[Christian]] era it seems to have been common. Among others who bore it was Herod's celebrated wife and victim, Mariamne. (See [[Mary]]). </p> <p> '''1.''' The sister of Moses and Aaron, and supposed (so Josephus, Ant. 2:9, 4) to be the same that watched her infant brother when exposed on the Nile; in which case she was probably ten or twelve years old at the time (&nbsp;Exodus 2:4 sq.). B.C. 1738. She was the daughter of Amram and Jochebed, of the tribe of [[Levi]] (&nbsp;Numbers 26:59; comp. &nbsp;Micah 6:4). When the [[Israelites]] left Egypt, Miriam naturally became the leading woman among them. "The sister of Aaron" is her Biblical distinction (&nbsp;Exodus 10:20). In &nbsp;Numbers 12:1 she is placed before Aaron; and "Miriam the Prophetess" is her acknowledged title (&nbsp;Exodus 15:20). The prophetic power showed itself in her under the same form as that which it assumed in the days of Samuel and David poetry, accompanied with music and processions. The only instance of this prophetic gift is when, after the passage of the Red Sea, she took a cymbal in her hand, and went forth, like the Hebrew maidens in later times after a victory (&nbsp;Judges 18:1; &nbsp;Judges 11:34; &nbsp;1 Samuel 18:6; &nbsp;Psalms 68:11; &nbsp;Psalms 68:25), followed by the whole female population of Israel, also beating their cymbals and striking their guitars (מְחֹלֹת, otherwise "dances"). It does not appear how far they joined in the whole of the song (&nbsp;Exodus 1:15-19); but the opening words are repeated again by Miriam herself at the close, in the form of a command to the Hebrew women. "She answered them, saying, Sing ye to Jehovah, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea." B.C. 1658. The arrival of Moses's Cushite wife in the camp seems to have created in her an unseemly dread of losing her influence and position, and held her into complaints of and dangerous reflections upon Moses, in which Aaron joined (see Kitto's [[Daily]] Bible Illustr. ad loc.). (See [[Zipporah]]). </p> <p> Their question, "Hath [[Jehovah]] spoken by Moses? Hath he not spoken also by us?" (&nbsp;Numbers 12:1-2), implies that the prophetic gift was exercised by them; while the answer implies that it was communicated in a less direct form than to Moses. "If there be a prophet among you, I Jehovah will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so... With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches" (&nbsp;Numbers 12:6-8). A stern rebuke was administered in front of the sacred tent to both Aaron and Miriam. But the punishment fell on Miriam, as the chief offender. The hateful Egyptian leprosy, of which for a moment the sign had been seen on the hand of her younger brother, broke out over the whole person of the proud prophetess. How grand was her position, and how heavy the blow, is implied in the cry of anguish which goes up from both the brothers — "Alas my lord!... Let her not be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he cometh out of his mother's womb... [[Heal]] her now, O God! I beseech thee." And it is not less evident in the silent grief of the nation: "The people journeyed not till Miriam was brought in again" (&nbsp;Numbers 12:10-15). The same feeling is reflected, though in a strange and distorted form, in the ancient tradition of the drying up and reflowing of the marvellous well of the Wanderings. (See [[Beer]]). </p> <p> This stroke, and its removal, which took place at Hazeroth, form the last public event of Miriam's life. She died towards the close of the wanderings at Kadesh, and was buried there (&nbsp;Numbers 20:1). B.C. 1619. Her tomb was shown near [[Petra]] in the days of [[Jerome]] (Onomast. s.v. [[Cades]] Barnea). According to the [[Jewish]] tradition (Josephus, Ant. 4:4, 6), her death took place on the new moon of the month Xanthicus (i.e., about the end of February), which seems to imply that the anniversary was still observed in the time of Josephus. The burial, he adds, took place with great pomp on a mountain called Zin, i.e. the wilderness of Zin); and the mourning which lasted, as in the case of her brothers, for thirty days was closed by the institution of the purification through the sacrifice of the heifer (&nbsp;Numbers 19:1-10), which in the [[Pentateuch]] immediately precedes the story of her death. According to Josephus (Ant. 3:2, 4; 6, 1), she was married to the famous Hur, and, through him, was grandmother of the architect Bezaleel. In the [[Koran]] (chapter 3) she is confounded with the Virgin Mary; and hence the Holy Family is called the Family of Amram, or Imram (see also D'Herbelot, Bibl. Orient. s.v. Zakaria). In other Arabic traditions her name is given as Kolthum (see Weil's Bibl. Legends, page 101). </p> <p> '''2.''' The first named of the sons of Mered (the son of Ezra, of the family of Caleb) by Bithiah, the daughter of [[Pharaoh]] (&nbsp;1 Chronicles 4:17). B.C. prob. cir. 1658. (See [[Mered]]). </p>