Miriam

In Exodus 2, following along the water’s edge, Miriam kept a close watch on her baby brother as he floated tucked in his makeshift boat of papyrus reeds. Her mother, Jochebed, had sent her infant son, innocent but hunted, down the Nile River in hopes of rescue, and big sister Miriam would be sure of it. Miriam then spied an Egyptian princess lift him from the water and determine his Hebrew origin, for who would float a three-month-old baby down the Nile except for a desperate mother who feared keeping him would end in death? After the princess’s discovery, Miriam approached the royal with a proposition at just the right time. With her offer to find a Hebrew wet nurse for the orphaned baby, Miriam not only secured financial provision for her family but also reunited mother and baby. Assertive and helpful, and likely not even twelve years old, it wouldn’t be the last time she was a voice of reason and resistance for her younger brother at the water’s edge.

Years later, when Miriam partnered with her brothers Moses and Aaron as they sought freedom for their people, the same resolve is seen along the parted waters of the Red Sea. Victoriously, she co-led the rescue not only of one beloved image bearer but of thousands. Born into slavery but not bound by expectations, she dared to prophetically co-lead a migration journey as Israel’s advocate for rest.

Interestingly, Rabbinic tradition suggests that Miriam was the Israelites’ source of water and that she possessed a miraculous inner well that offered refreshment on their wilderness trek.* At her death in Kadesh, the wanderers went without water until Moses struck the rock (Num. 20:11). Throughout her life, her prophetic and confident nature carried an almost mystical meaning, and her identity was synonymous with refreshment to the people of Israel long before they reached the promised land. Like Miriam, we understand the practice of rest doesn’t grant a stress-free existence; rather, it acknowledges our limitations, our finite nature, and our own wilderness wandering. Yet it still beckons us to tap out and quiet our souls, enabling us to see ourselves outside our commitments or achievements. Free of any cultural conditions, in rest we offer space for our mind, body, and soul to simply be.

*Tamar Meir, “Miriam: Midrash and Aggadah,” Shalvi/Hyman Encyclopedia of Jewish Women, Jewish Women’s Archive, accessed December 30, 2023, https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/miriam-midrash-and-aggadah.

Tiffany Bluhm, The Women We’ve Been Waiting For, Brazos Press, a division of Baker Publishing Group, September 24, 2024. Used by permission.