Miriam the Prophet

1. Introduction

Miriam has been echoed amongst the outstanding personalities of the Old Testament. Her accolades stem from her endeavors to be rated amongst the minimal female prophet servants recorded across the bible. It is imperative to note that her activities have significantly impacted the transitioning state of the nation of Israel across the Sinai desert.

Being instrumental in the protection of the life of Moses from birth, her role has been expended in the redemption plan for the children of Israel. She coherently plays a silent critical role from the birth of Moses to the supporting role of a choreographer of women across the desert. However, her personality though seemingly strong relative to the prevailing leadership roles, is found lacking in the preceding chapters of the tale. She is scorned by the Lord upon holding an ill conversation with his brother Moses. The rebuke further exposes Miriam, and the brother may have disannulled the prophetic role as being of similar providence to that of Moses. However, despite her correlated misfortunes, her relentless role in leading the women in praise by far out rules most of her disposition. Her resiliency further warrants the need to highlight the significant role that female prophets had as anchored under the old dispensation. Moreover, her life additionally displays infallible proof that God may coherently utilize family ties as part of the redemption plan of mankind.

Her integration is part of God’s plan; however, dal short due to her inconsistent character that, provokes the wrath of God upon her life. Miriam’s review on the underlying concerns of women is, however outstanding, being reflected amongst the few female prophetic voices that are echoed across the old testament. The set case study seeks to expose the indifferent significant roles that are exposed across her life to be rated amongst the major prophetesses across the bible. In addition, we shall equally vest to highlight her profound impact across the bible in a contrasting review relative to Esther. The review will expose the niche development impacts of her role in establishing both the female prophet and character across the bible

2. Miriam and the different roles she played in the Bible

Miriam holds a myriad of indifferent indispensable roles she played in the nation of Israel. Each patented outlook of her character connotes a prolific display of her character. An in-depth analytical review of her background highlights the recurrent roles that Miriam displayed as part of her activities. The set roles may be captured and reviewed as follows:

Miriam’s role as a prophet

The prophetic mantle from a biblical perspective is often captured from the seers, prophecies, or other demonstrations of power as reflected by prophets such as Elijah. Therefore, adopting Miriam as a prophet would coherently be found wanting, especially in the correlation with his brother Moses. Not only is the hypothesis infallible but recurrently unfounded, given that Moses only vehemently utilized God in the display mantle alongside Miriam. However, Miriam is baptized as a prophetess, imploring her impeccable role in exposing the office.

Delving deeper into the prophetic mantle, we may assert that each ancient prophet displayed an indifferent outlook on the office. Dependent on the exposure of each of the roles, the role of the prophet accompanied by his or her functionalities warranted their title. Miriam’s relentless lead role in driving females in the worship and praise of God merits the title of the prophetic (Nelson, 2022). It is impertinent to mint out that though God adopted Moses in the demonstration of power, he could not be extended to offer worship in the form of songs. As a prophet, Moses had a critical impediment in his speech, given that he was a stammerer. However, his physical barriers were insignificant as the people needed to be presented before God to undertake communal worship. The disposition implores that God had to adopt other persons in the worship leading, with Miriam befitting the disposition with perfection. The undulations stemming from the worship were vital in the thanksgiving role to God from the recurrent delivery from the enemy. Miriam’s role is similarly mirrored across the present-day context, where she undoubtedly would be fundamental across major religious sessions where praise and worship are core parts of worship. Though other prophetic manifestations, such as miracles, visions, and dreams, are absent, her role as assenter of worship is fundamental to warrant her prophetic mantle.

Miriam as an artist (songwriter, singer, and dancer)

The musical composition will often stem from talent, whereas indifferent symphony will often be attested to channel praise or worship. An imperial outlook on Miriam as a musician is, however, impeccably higher, given that she leads the entire nation in worship despite having had no practice. Miriam displays a robust composition through the recurrent choreography demonstrated by her voicing of the melodies of victory upon crossing the Red sea. In addition, dancing further valiantly demonstrates her artistic appeal to her audience. However, despite the positive undulations captured across her composition, we may assert that she failed in her role (R, 2017). The disposition emanates from the absence of other similitude events where she led the nation in other religious endeavors. Though she was recognized and had been talented in the niche, she failed to accustom the nation to the practice. The assertion is further exposed when the whole nation ventures into idolatry, where they worship a calf instead of the God who had delivered them. The recordings expose that congregation engaged in dancing and singing all night, contrasting to those their God had approved. As a songwriter, Miriam may have failed in anchoring the nation to the idealistic worship disposition that was anticipated.

Miriam’s idealistic choreography may further assert that she may fail to record or teach other recurrent generations about the impact of worship. We see Moses training Joshua as prophet though Miriam lacks any demonstration of any predecessor to uptake her mantle after her departure. The lack of apathy implores that though she was present in her musical narrative, her congregation did not, however, feel accommodated in her composition. It is recorded that women opted to re-join her melodies, with the male relatively absent in her worship service. However, various scrolls of innumerable composure have been attested, further warranting the need for further engagements. The move asserts her significant role in the various melodies.

Miriam’s character

The persona of Miriam is, however, appealing with a variable set of virtues accompanied by invariable vices. Her characterization is, however, deterred by the negative appeal she demonstrates against her brother. An intrinsic outlook of her behavioral role, however, highlights outstanding parameters such as:

Courageous – Being female, Miriam is anticipated to demonstrate sentimentality in fear when Pharaoh vehemently threatens to kill all the firstborn children. She, however, undertakes to save the brother despite the risks attested to her (Tervanotko, 2022). The manifestation of bravery amid calamity is an appealing character that sets her apart from even his brother Moses who feared returning to Egypt. She executes the task despite risks affiliated with them, unlike Moses, who needed affirmation to embark on his journey.

Proactive – Miriam uptakes the leadership role of leading the nation to worship despite her lack of experience or previous competence. The move is outstanding, given that the whole nation had no previous experience in undertaking communal worship. Moreover, her role is critical in the supportive role of driving the nation towards seeking the Lord as a congregation. In addition, the move coherently allows Moses, who had weakness under the set disposition.

Arrogant – Despite the numerous publications and manifestations displayed across the life of Moses, she still vehemently despises her. Miriam initiates an adverse criticism of Moses which provokes God. Her impeccable jealousy of her brother points to malice’s salient yet deteriorated character. The move is a strong indicator that Miriam displayed an averse yet harmful accusation of his brother. She arrogantly fails to recognize his brother’s lead role over them, opting to disrespect her. The trait plunges her into judgment, further warranting the questionable character of her personality.

3. Miriam’s strengths and weaknesses

Miriam’s varying roles, however, demonstrated a set of weaknesses in correlation to strengths, further asserting her recurrent persona. It is prudent to recurrently outline that the character traits, as well as functioning, exposed variability in her, affecting various tasks entrusted to her. The set various strengths and weaknesses may be enlisted as follows:

Valiant – As aforementioned earlier, Miriam was recursively bold. Despite her tender age, we visualize a muscular and impetuous strength that is critical in executing God’s plan. Like most toddlers of her age, the task to undertake redeem the brother will often be impossible due to her naivety and ignorant nature (The Basilica, 2021). The move is a plus as she can further secure a more cordial livelihood for the child by proposing a maiden servant, her mother, to the child.

Ardent – Miriam orchestrated the women to not only sing but equally dance, invigorating the various congregation. The bolder move allows for other expressions of worship due to her relentless influence on women. The move is amongst her notable strengths, as displayed in her ability to dissuade the whole population from the worship.

Envious – Perhaps the most outstanding weakness is her

covetousness towards power. She equates herself to Moses by claiming that her role is no less superior than that of Moses. The move results in her being punished for leprosy as God utterly distinguishes Moses from her. The weakness costs her health, and she loses honor from God and his brothers, including Israel’s entire nation.

Slanderous – Miriam coherently embedded possesses a slanderous weakness where she backbites other people. The weakness forces her to undertake negative defamatory messages to her sister-in-law. The move equally forces the character’s discriminatory nature as she further degrades Moses’ spouse. The weakness brings judgment and a broken relationship between herself and the brothers.

4. Similarities between Esther and Miriam

Emergent indifferences stem from Miriam and Esther, equally remarkable females across the bible. A comparative outlook of them indicates that they paired in similitude while concurrently retaining outstanding individual traits.

To begin with, both Esther and Miriam were impeccably audacious. Esther undertakes to save the nation of Israel despite the risk attested to her life being in danger. The move is similar to that of Miriam, who equally exposes her life to risk to save the younger brother. The duo demonstrates resilience in the face of danger while concurrently seeking to attest to their objectives.

The leadership role is abjectly captured, given both of them lead their nation to worship God based on their personal initiative. The move further asserts their position given that both of them were women and were deemed inferior due to their gender.

However, there are critical indifferences between the pair that may be reflected. Esther presents other forms of humility in her character, which are lacking compared to Miriam. She presents herself at the mercy of the King to make an appeal and seek mercy from the people. The move allows obtaining victory and redemption of his people. Miriam, on the other hand, lacks empathy and outrightly dishonors his brothers, forcing her to receive harsh judgment from the Lord (Levine, 2021). Miriam has equally lacked to be adorned with inner beauty and demonstrates a vile character of malice. The disposition is a sharp contrast to that of Esther, who, despite her relentless physical beauty, still maintains a dignified personality. She is able to thus receive the honor due to her appealing integrity leading her to receive a more subtle level of outcome for her people. However, Miriam’s undignified state destroys the cordial relationship between the brothers forcing her to abscond from the correlation. The outcome bears a judgment rather than a blessing from God.

Miriam is equally uncivil and lacking in moral inclination. Unlike Esther, who recognizes authority and offers reverence, Miriam presents an insolent personality that is obstinate to existing leadership. The move sharply contradicts the pair, given that both result in both judgment and blessing, respectively. We may therefore assert that Miriam may have been required to realign her character to that of Esther on various occasions.

5. Conclusion

Despite the weaknesses that Miriam demonstrated in the course of her life, we may point out that she accomplished a myriad of factors. She is renowned among the fewer prophetesses recorded in the bible. The move illustrates that it is possible to establish remarkable achievements despite falling in our weaknesses. Her leadership role is coherently pivotal and demonstrates that individuals may undertake to adopt their talents and roles in leadership roles. Her proactive nature is perhaps the most receding given many female characters fail to demonstrate similar personalities leading to their disregard. Courage in the midst of adversity is equally an accomplishment given that she could be able to undertake tasks deemed irreprehensible.

Undoubtedly her death was coherently a gap to the nation due to the significant role they had undertaken. We note that the nation failed to undertake communal worship upon her demise father, asserting the significant impact of her role on the nation relative to worship. It is of the essence that she may have mentored other members to uptake her role in leading worship. Though other parties attempt to drive her legacy, their lack of skill set inherent in Miriam deters them from attaining outstanding worship as a nation. In conclusion, we may point out that Miriam is reclined to lead a subtler level-dependent yet the appealing level of worship. Miriam as a prophet has equally emerged, drawing fruitful ties to Miriam’s character and persona nature. Women are emboldened to uptake leadership roles stemming from Miriam’s strengths to take an outgoing role. The move has foreseen a majority of the players to resound more subtle level of insights to ensure a more versatile level of leadership is attainable.

However, being naturally gifted implore that there is a need for character development to ensure the sustainability of adept worship. The presentation captured by closing statements highlights that one’s gifted natural abilities may also demand the development of character in order to offer more longevity. In addition, it will uphold a more cordial correlation with others who may be undertaking similar positions or even more elevated than individualism.

Annotated Bibliography

Levine, A.-J. (2021, July 3). From Miriam in Egypt to Mariam in Bethlehem. Retrieved from L’Osservatore Romano: https://www.osservatoreromano.va/en/news/2021-07/ing-027/from-miriam-in-egypt-to-mariam-in-bethlehem.html

Nelson, S. (2022, September 22). 9 Signficant lessons we can learn from Miriam in the Bible. Retrieved from Women of Noble Character: https://www.womanofnoblecharacter.com/miriam-in-the-bible/

R, A. (2017, April 1). SHIRAT HAYAM: MIRIAM’S SONG? Retrieved from EBSCO Information Services, Inc: https://www.ebsco.com/products/ebscohost-research-platform

Tervanotko, H. (2022, September 23). Miriam. Retrieved from Bible Odyssey: https://www.bibleodyssey.org/people/main-articles/miriam

The Basilica. (2021, October 7). Miriam: The woman who helped save a nation. Retrieved from Miriam: The Woman Who Helped Save a Nation: https://www.nationalshrine.org/blog/miriam-the-woman-who-helped-save-a-nation/