Miriam

Women’s Study Hall: Miriam
Exodus 2: 4-9; Exodus 15:20-21; Numbers 12:1-16, Numbers 20:1; Micah 6:4

DAY 1 – General Overview
STOP!
1. Pray and ask God to bless your reading and time of study. What translation of the Bible are you reading? And Why?

2. Before you begin reading, what do you remember about Miriam?

Miriam is a fascinating woman who is often only remembered because of her sin of challenging the role of her brother as leader. There is much more. A study of Miriam can lead us into a deeper understanding of leadership, roles , and the amazing “Team Moses.”

Teaching point - one key to hermeneutics is understanding sequence or lists. This is important as we study the life of Miriam. God seems to say , or lists, what is the most important things first. Just think of the Ten Commandments…love God comes first….last are the commands of interacting and loving people. This holds true with names. The oldest child is named first, the youngest last. Each time the ‘team Moses’ is mentioned note the sequence. The names change order with each incident. Pay attention to this.

The story of Miriam is in three segments. 1) As a child she assisted in saving the life of Moses. (Her name is never given here.) 2) The crossing of the Red Sea – and the song of Victory. 3) Her rebellion and punishment. Yet there is so much more.

3. Read the verses slowly (listed in the title of this study). I used the NKJ version to prepare this study. If you use the KJV your wording will be a bit different. I suggest that you use NKJ, NAS, Amplified, REV or something similar. Never use a ‘paraphrase’ Bible…such as The Message, New Living Translation, etc… these are wonderful translations for recreational reading, I have them in my library also, but they are not for serious study.

As you read:
a. Make a list of words/concepts/ locations that you would like to understand better in this passage.( Just make the list.) This list will be different for everyone.
b. Mark the words for your ‘Word Search.” (Refer to the handout given earlier that explains why we do this.) (Go to the post for 5/21/10 to see information on word searches...Bible Reading Can Be Fun!)
For this study:
Always mark sentences that contain “but”, “because” and “for” when it means because. These words explain, compare, or show an outcome.

DAY 2- Miriam as Leader
LOOK!
Research the words/concepts that you listed in STOP # 3 (a). Write down what you find.

Lets look at Miriam’s role and leadership style.

1. Exodus 2:4-9 (for detailed information read 1-10) Do you see any leadership traits? Give a brief summary of Miriam’s attitude and actions. Note-she is not even named here.

2. Exodus 15:20-21 (for detailed information read Chapter 14 and 15:1-21). Give a brief summary of her attitude and actions. Who did she lead? Who followed? What was the focus of her actions?

3.What was the title given to her? What is a prophetess? Do we ever read/hear of any of her prophecies?

4.Who is another prophetess we have studied? Do you see any similarities in their roles or actions?
DAY 3 – Miriam in Sin
(LOOK continued)

1. Numbers 12 is the story of the rebellion against Moses. Who was part of the rebellion? What was it all about?

Where in these verses do we see proof that Miriam was a leader?
Where do we see proof that she was a prophetess?
Who was punished? Why only Miriam? (we really do not know.)
Miriam was loved. Where do we see this?

2. Lets see Moses part in this. What is his action/attitude toward Miriam?

3. Lets see Aaron’s part in this. What is his action/attitude toward Miriam?

What did Aaron say/do? Who did he speak to?

Notice the sequence of names each time they are given. Sequence gives order of importance

4.Lets see Gods part in this:
To whom did God speak?
Who spoke to God?

Miriam’s problem seemed to be that she was not happy with her role on the “Moses Team.” She was a prophetess, leader of women, close family confident of both Moses and Aaron, but that was not enough her. She had seen the power of God and his dealings with sin, yet, for some reason, perhaps jealousy over a new wife of ‘Gods Servant,’ Miriam tried to usurp the power and position of Moses. We don’t really know why, but many scholars think that the new wife might have had the ear and attention of Moses, and took the position of favor from Miriam.

DAY 4 – Miriam a Person of Importance
(LOOK Continued)
At the end of this study we will ask….Why did God give us so much information about Miriam?
I think it gets down to…Miriam was important to God and should be important to us. Lets think about some other aspects of her life.
A study of the life of Miriam is a study of decades of history and major events in the life of the Hebrew nation. Think of all she witnessed and was part of: she helped her mother save Moses from death, she saw his rise to power in the family of the pharaoh, and then lost him for years as he ran into the wilderness to meet God. Miriam was present when Moses returned to Egypt and was witness to the plagues, the first Passover. She walked through the parted waters of the sea, then danced with the women in joy and praise of God. She was assigned the position of leader by God.

Miriam was witness to the giving of the Ten Commandments, the sin of the golden calf, the march through the wilderness, the manna and quail, the sending of the spies into the land, the budding of Aaron’s rod, etc… Being a part of the family she not only knew about these incidents, but was intimately involved with the decision making, hearing the discussions and personally feeling the results on the leadership. She was there at the giving of the Law and the instructions for the building of the tabernacle. In fact, after her sin, when the laws of daily life were given, Miriam was used, by name, to explain something….Deut. 24:8-9 (For a more thorough understanding, read the entire chapter.)

We often overlook the amazing fact that Miriam was highly regarded by God. This may seem a strange comment because all we remember is her sin and fall, but on closer study we see that Miriam was part of the “Moses Team” of Moses, Aaron and Miriam. Not only was she part of the family, she helped save the baby, and she was gifted by God as a prophetess, one chosen by God to speak His message. What other facts might indicate how important she was to God and the entire wilderness wanderings?

We have been studying women in the Genealogy of Jesus. Lets look at three genealogies that mention Moses and see about Miriam.
1. Write out 1 Chron. 6:2-5( read vs 1-30 for more information.) Were there other women named? If so who, and why/why not
2.Write out Numb. 26:58-60 (read vs 57-62 for more information). Were there other women mentioned? If so who and why/why not?
3. Only select women are mentioned in the genealogies. Miriam is always mentioned with her brothers. Imagine – she had both Moses, and Aaron as brothers - the leader and the first High Priest– what a blessed family. If she was simply a sister, along-for-the-ride, she would not have been mentioned in such detail. She was an important part of that amazing family. She is so important, that hundreds of years later she is mentioned by name in Micah 6:4. This is an important verse in determining Miriam’s importance and place in history. Write out this verse.
This verse does seem to indicate that Miriam was an important part of the leadership team for the Hebrew people. Miriam, a woman, was chosen by God to be a part of HIS important plan to make a nation of the Hebrews, and to get them into the Promised Land….. the Holy Land.

DAY 5
LISTEN!
Always ask our four questions:
The first prophetess named in Scripture.

1.How does 2 Tim. 3:16-17 apply to the story of Miriam. “All Scripture…doctrine, reproof, correction, training and righteousness…..so that the woman of God may be complete…all good works”…..why all this information about Miriam? Is it just part of the story of Aaron and Moses, or is it special unto itself?

2. What if the detailed story of Miriam was left out of Scripture?

3.What is God trying to teach us (women) through this story?

4.How can we/you apply what you have learned about Miriam be applied to your life today ?
(I think we can learn and apply principles of leadership, the role of women, and the love of God as He forgives us)….what else?