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Miriam — the Prophet and Leader Who Was Also Moses's Sister, and Her Failure

Miriam first appears in Scripture as the unnamed girl watching over baby Moses (Exodus 2:4), and grows, after the crossing of the Red Sea, into a leader called “prophet” (Exodus 15:20). By the time we reach Numbers, though, she reappears as someone struck with leprosy for speaking against Moses. Read together, these two scenes produce a far more complex and interesting portrait.

What the text actually says

Exodus 15:20-21, right after the Israelites sing Moses’s song following the crossing of the Red Sea, continues: “Then Miriam the prophet, Aaron’s sister, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women followed her, with timbrels and dancing. Miriam sang to them: ‘Sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted.’” This is the first time she’s given the title “prophet” (nevi’ah, נְבִיאָה) — one of the earliest uses of this title for a woman anywhere in Scripture.

Numbers 12 tells a different story. Miriam and Aaron speak against Moses over his marriage to a Cushite woman, saying, “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses? Hasn’t he also spoken through us?” (12:2). The Lord immediately summons all three and declares the unique nature of his revelation to Moses — “With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the Lord” (12:8) — then departs in anger, leaving Miriam struck with leprosy. Aaron immediately pleads with Moses for forgiveness, Moses intercedes with God on her behalf, and after seven days outside the camp, Miriam is restored.

Punishing a woman, or a theological statement about prophecy?

Why Miriam alone, and not Aaron, is struck with leprosy in this account has been debated for a long time. Dennis T. Olson, in his Numbers commentary (Interpretation), argues that the passage’s focus isn’t gender itself, but the theological purpose of the author of Numbers: establishing Moses’s unique prophetic status. Miriam and Aaron both challenge Moses together, but what the text emphasizes isn’t discrimination by sex — it’s the fundamental hierarchical distinction between Moses and every other prophet, Miriam and Aaron included.

Rita J. Burns, in her expanded dissertation study Has the Lord Indeed Spoken Only through Moses? A Study of the Biblical Portrait of Miriam, analyzes this passage as reflecting a later editorial layer in Israel’s history (rivalry between priestly and other prophetic traditions), while noting that in its final form, the text doesn’t deny Miriam’s standing outright — it repositions it relative to Moses.

What the book of Micah says about her standing

Micah 6:4 names three leaders together as those who led Israel out of Egypt: “I brought you up out of Egypt… I sent Moses to lead you, also Aaron and Miriam.” Feminist biblical scholar Phyllis Trible, in her essay “Bringing Miriam Out of the Shadows,” points to this verse as independent evidence that Israel’s historical memory recognized Miriam as significant enough a leader to stand alongside Moses and Aaron. Judging her entire leadership solely by the Numbers 12 episode needs to be balanced against the broader memory Micah preserves.

A note for preachers

Miriam’s story shows that Scripture doesn’t flatten its leaders into simple heroes or failures. She experienced both one of Israel’s greatest moments (leading worship after the Red Sea crossing) and one of its most shameful (speaking against Moses) — and both are recorded honestly. This passage shows that leadership doesn’t presuppose perfection, and that recovery after failure is also part of a person’s full story.

Sources

  • Dennis T. Olson, Numbers (Interpretation, John Knox Press, 1996)
  • Rita J. Burns, Has the Lord Indeed Spoken Only through Moses? A Study of the Biblical Portrait of Miriam (SBL Dissertation Series, Scholars Press, 1987)
  • Phyllis Trible, “Bringing Miriam Out of the Shadows,” Bible Review 5, no. 1 (1989)

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