Miriam

MIRIAM, Sister of Moses and Aaron, and Daughter of Amram and Jochebed, was born about ten or twelve Years before her Brother Moses, about the Year of the World 2424, before Christ 1576, and before the Vulgar Æra 1580. She might be about ten or twelve Years old when her Brother Moses was exposed upon the Banks Exod. ii. 4, 5, &c.of the Nile, since Miriam was watching there, and offered her self to Pharaoh’s Daughter, to fetch her a Nurse for the Child, who was indeed her own Brother. The Princess accepting of the Offer, Miriam went and fetched her own Mother, to whom the young Moses was given to nurse. ‘Tis thought that Miriam¹ married Hur, of the Tribe of Judah; but it does not appear that she had any Children by him. This Hur is he that went up to the Mountain with Moses and Aaron, and who supported Moses’s Hands, while Joshua fought with the Amalekites².

Miriam was enlightened with the supernatural Exod. xvii. 10, 11. Numb. xii. 2. Exod. xv. 21. Numb. xii. 1, 2, 3, &c.Gift of Prophecy, as she her self insinuates when she says, Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? Hath he not spoken also by us? After the Passage of the Red- Sea, Miriam put her self at the Head of the Choirs and Dances of the Women, and sung with them the Canticle, Sing ye to the Lord, &c. while Moses sung it in another Choir of Men. When Zipporah the Wife of Moses arrived in the Camp of Israel, Miriam and Aaron had a Dispute with her, speaking against Moses on this Account. Which the Lord hearing, he said to Moses, Aaron, and to Miriam, Come out you three to the Tabernacle of the Congregation. When they were there, the Lord came down in a Pillar of Cloud, and standing at the Door of the Tabernacle, he spoke to Aaron and Miriam, If there be a Prophet among you, I the Lord will make my self known to him in a Vision, and will speak to him in a Dream. But it shall not be so with Moses my Servant, for I have spoke to him Face to Face, and he sees the Lord manifestly, and not under Shadows and Figures. Wherefore then have ye not been afraid to speak against him? Then the Lord withdrew, and Miriam all of a sudden was covered with a Leprosy as white as Snow. Aaron seeing her in this Condition, says to Moses, My Lord, I beseech you, let not this Punishment fall upon us, and let her not be as a Carcass, or as an Abortion, the half of whose Flesh is consumed before it comes out of its Mother’s Womb. You see that the Leprosie has already devoured one half of her Body.

Then Moses cried to the Lord, and the Lord answered him; If her Father had spit in her Face, ought she not to have continued at least seven Days covered with Confusion? Let her remain then seven Days out of the Camp, and after that she may return. Thus was Miriam obliged to continue seven Days out of the Camp, and the People remained in the same Place till she was admitted again. We are made acquainted with no Particulars of the Life of Miriam, till her Death, which happened in the first Month of the fortieth Year after the coming out of Egypt³. She died at the Encampment of Cades in the Wilderness of Numb. xx. 1.Sin. The People mourned for her, and she was buried in the same Place. Josephus⁴ says, that she was buried with great Solemnity at the Charge of the Publick, and that they mourned for her a whole Month. St. Gregory of Nyssa⁵, and⁶ St. Ambrose were of Opinion, that she observed a perpetual Virginity, but we have observed before, that Josephus has given her Hur for a Husband. Several ancient, and many modern Commentators, explain that of Miriam, Moses and Aaron, which is said in Zechary, c. xi. ℣ 8. Three Shepherds also I cut off in one Month, and my Soul loathed them, and their Soul also abhorred me. Eusebius assures us, that even in his Time the Sepulchre of Miriam was to be seen at Cades.

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