Miriam

Miriam was the sister of Moses. (Side note: she may or may not have been the sister that watched over Moses when he was put into the Nile as a baby. The Bible doesn’t call that sister by name. Later when we see the genealogy of Amram, Moses, Aaron, and Miriam are the only children listed (Num. 26:59, 1 Chron. 4:17.) From this, it seems as though Miriam was that sister, but we don’t know for sure.) Moses, Aaron, and Miriam worked side by side to deliver and then lead the Israelites. In Micah 6:4 the three of them are all mentioned as the ones sent to lead God’s people.

Miriam was not just Moses’ sister though, she was a prophetess, and a worshiper of God as well. When we first see Miriam mentioned by name it is after the Israelites have crossed the Red Sea. They had just seen the Egyptian army wiped out and are rejoicing in the fact that God has delivered them. In celebration, they sing a song of praise to the Lord. Miriam did her part in leading the women in song and dance.

Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her, with tambourines and dancing. Miriam sang to them: “Sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. The horse and its rider he has hurled into the sea.”   Exodus 15:20, 21

This is the last we hear of Miriam until the book of Numbers. Miriam goes from being a worshiper of God, to opposing her brother Moses. It seems as though Miriam and Aaron were not too fond of Moses’ Cushite wife. Essentially they were jealous of Moses and began to talk about him in an unfavorable way. They were jealous because he was the main leader of the people. God also spoke directly (face to face) with him.

Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite. “Has the LORD spoken only through Moses?” they asked. “Hasn’t he also spoken through us?” And the LORD heard this.  Numbers 12:1, 2

Still today we see this same behavior. We talk against leaders, pastors, politicians, bosses, and others that God has placed in a position of authority. This does not please God. He placed those people in that position, and we are to treat them with respect. We may not completely agree with them on all matters, but we can disagree with respect. Miriam was put in a place of humility because of her actions, and yet we do the same thing without any fear of being brought to humility.  

God wasn’t happy with what Miriam and Aaron were doing and he called them out on it. God spoke directly to them to correct them. When He was done, he left, leaving Miriam to bear the consequences of her actions.

When the cloud lifted from above the Tent, there stood Miriam – leprous, like snow.  Exodus 12:10a

Miriam was struck with leprosy. Leprosy was a disgraceful disease. If you had it, you would be quarantined from the rest of the camp because it was an infectious disease. Here Miriam was a leader and prophetess among the people and suddenly she would have to be shunned by them. Moses cried out to God on her behalf. God heard his cries, but first Miriam would have to go through a process of in order to be healed.

The Lord replied to Moses, “If her father had spit in her face, would she not have been in disgrace for seven days? Confine her outside the camp for seven days; after that she can be brought back.” So Miriam was confined outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on till she was brought back.  Numbers 12:14, 15  

God was faithful to heal Miriam, but it was a process. A process that would have taught her humility. She probably didn’t go around talking bad about people after that. Miriam was also an example to the people of what do if someone was infected with leprosy. She was remembered for this in Deuteronomy 24:9. This may not have been the legacy that Miriam had wanted to leave behind, but it is one that we can learn a thing or two about humility from.  

Zipporah

Zipporah is the wife of Moses. Now Moses is a very well known Bible character, Zipporah on the other hand is hardly mentioned. The small bit that we do know of her is an odd part of the story as well.

After Moses had fled Egypt because he had killed an Egyptian and knew that his life would be in danger, he fled to Midian. When in Midian, Moses rescued the daughters of Jethro (also known as Reuel) from some bullies. The girls were simply trying to get water for their flocks when some other shepherds drove them away. Moses could have minded his own business, but he stepped in and stood up for the girls. When the girls returned to their father, he inquired as to why they were finished so early. The girls told him of their rescuer. Jethro insisted that they invite Moses to come to their home. This led to Zipporah becoming the wife of Moses.

Moses agreed to stay with the man, who gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage.  Exodus 2:21

After Moses, Zipporah, and their two sons had lived in the land of Midian for a long time, God instructed Moses to return to Egypt to free the Israelites.

So Moses took his wife and sons, put them on a donkey and started back to Egypt. And he took the staff of God in his hand.  Exodus 4:20

It was during this journey to Egypt that the story of Zipporah has this weird, confusing, and mysterious part.

Remember that Zipporah was not an Israelite. She did not follow the same religious practices that Moses followed. For all we know she may not have even served God like he did, we don’t know that for sure though. Anyhow, circumcision was an important practice for the Israelites. If you were a male, you were going to be circumcised when you were a baby. From this part of the story we see that Moses and Zipporah had not followed this tradition with one of their sons. Because Moses had not followed this practice it brought some serious consequences to his life.  

At a lodging place along the way, the Lord met Moses and was about to kill him. But Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it. “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,” she said. So the Lord let him alone. (At that time she said. “bridegroom of blood,” referring to circumcision.)  Exodus 4:24-26

And this is where a lot of us read this story, go “huh?” and keep on reading. Yep, this is the strange part.

Zipporah knew that Moses’ life was in danger and she knew why. Surely her husband would have told her of the importance of circumcision. Immediately she acted. She knew what had to be done, and she did it. After she had cut off the foreskin and touched it to Moses’ feet, she made the declaration that he was a bridegroom of blood to her. This is a statement of her surrender to follow the Jewish custom. Some translations say that she “flung the foreskin” at his feet. This just goes to show the desperate state that she was in. It took a bold move on Zipporah’s part to save Moses from death.

At some point, Moses sent Zipporah and their two sons back to her father. We don’t know exactly why he did this. Later Jethro brings them back to Moses, and they are reunited. This is about the last that we hear of Zipporah. 

Moses' Mother, Sister, & Pharaoh's Daughter

Without the help of Moses’ Mother, Sister, and Pharaoh’s Daughter, Moses would have never survived. All three of these women played an important role in saving the life of a baby that would grow up to be a very important man to his people, and one that changed the course of their history. 

Moses was Hebrew, a Levite to be exact. Because of this fact, when he was born his life was in danger. At that time, the Israelites were slaves to the Egyptians. Pharaoh, the head of the Egyptians, didn’t like that the Israelites were outnumbering the Egyptians. His solution to this problem was to have all the male babies killed. Moses’ mother knew that her baby’s life was in danger because of what Pharaoh was doing. She hid her child as long as she could. Then she took a courageous step in the hopes that it would save his life.

But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile.   Exodus 2:3

I can’t imagine the anguish that this woman would have gone through to do this. She didn’t know if her son would be rescued. She didn’t know if he would be found by an Egyptian and killed anyhow. She was a desperate woman who was willing to let go of her son in order to try to save him.

Moses’ sister stood watch over her brother while he was floating in the Nile. (Side note: later in Exodus Moses has a sister we learn is named Miriam. The Bible doesn’t state if this is the same sister or not.) When Moses is rescued it is his sister that speaks up to ensure that for a little while longer he is in his mother’s care. Without her being there, Moses’ mother may have never known what happened to him, and probably wouldn’t have seen him again.

It is Pharaoh’s daughter who is the final rescuer.

Then Pharaoh’s daughter went down to the Nile to bathe, and her attendants were walking along the river bank. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her slave girl to get it. She opened it and saw the baby. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said.  Exodus 2:5,6

If she wouldn’t have been in the right place at the right time, and not had compassion, Moses would not have ended up in the place that he needed to be. Being taken in by Pharaoh’s daughter put him in the right position to free his people later in life.

Moses’ mother was given another short time to be with her son. She was allowed to nurse him and take care of him as work for Pharaoh’s daughter. Of course she couldn’t let her know that she was his mother. Because of this arrangement it meant that she would again have to let go of her son and give him up in order to save him.

When the child grew older, she took him to Pharaoh’s daughter and he became her son. She named him Moses, saying, “I drew him out of the water.”  Exodus 2:10  

Moses’ mother loved him so much that she was willing to give him up not once, but twice in order to save his life. Now that is truly a mother’s love.