MARY or MIRIAM, the sister of Aaron and Moses

MARY or MIRIAM, the sister of Aaron and Moses. She was the daughter of Amram and Jochebed, who were both of the tribe of Levi (Exod. ii. 1), and were related to each other before marriage as aunt and nephew (Exod. vi. 20), and seems to have been their eldest child (Numb. xxvi. 59). When the infant Moses was exposed by his mother in the ark upon the Nile, Miriam, then probably about eight years of age, was sent to observe the fate of her brother; and when she beheld him picked up by the attendants of the daughter of Pharaoh, and saw the interest taken in him by that princess, she availed herself of the opportunity to have him again restored to his mother, by offering to procure for him a Hebrew nurse, and, when that offer was accepted, bringing his mother as the person she had selected (Exod. ii. 4-10). On the occasion of the destruction of the Egyptians in the Red Sea, after the Israelites had passed safely over, Miriam, who, in the passage giving an account of the circumstance (Exod. xv. 20), is styled "the prophetess," either on account of her skill in extempore poetry and music,¹ or because she really enjoyed divine revelations,² led forth a chorus of women, and guided them in celebrating with music and dancing the triumphant deliverance which their nation had obtained. Shortly after this an event occurred which presents the character of Miriam in a less favourable light. Her brother Moses had been rejoiced by his wife Zipporah, who had for a considerable time before been resident with her father Jethro (Exod. xviii. 1-3); and as she was not of Israelitish but of Cushite extraction, Miriam and her brother Aaron took occasion from this to indulge what seems to have been a long-cherished feeling of jealousy and envy towards Moses, by exciting a prejudice against him in the minds of the people. For this she was punished by God, by being, in the sight of all the people, afflicted with leprosy, so that "she became white as snow." On the intercession, however, of Aaron with Moses, and of Moses with God, this terrible infliction was removed; but not until she had been "shut out from the camp seven days," during which time the people of Israel suspended their journey (Numb. xii.). From this a period of nearly forty years elapses during which no mention is made of Miriam; and when at length, towards the close of the history, her name is again introduced, it is only for the purpose of informing us that, on the arrival of the Israelites at Kadesh, in the desert of Zin, she died and was buried in that place. At the time of her death it is calculated she must have been nearly 130 years of age. Her decease preceded that of Aaron by about four, and that of Moses by about eleven months, so that these three distinguished members of the same family died within the same year.³ Eusebius says her tomb was to be seen at Kadesh, near the city of Petra, even in his time.