Women in the Bible

Women in the Old Testament - Miriam

This devotional is written by Heidi Watt. Heidi works for St Mary's, loves health and nutrition and is a bit of an environmentalist.

Exodus 15:20-21

20 Then Miriam the prophet, Aaron's sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women followed her, with tambourines and dancing. 21 Miriam sang to them:

'Sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. Both horse and driver he has hurled into the sea.'

Reflection

I love Miriam in the Bible, not just because she leads the Israelites out of Egypt in 'The Prince of Egypt' singing Miracles (the song above is the actual song she sings) but because she is a crucial part of the Exodus, a prophetess and a brilliant woman of God. In this verse they have finally escaped slavery in Egypt where they were forced to work hard by the Egyptians. They are free.

 I can imagine the joy that they all are feeling in this moment, their enemies have been defeated. What I love about this, is that Miriam grabs a tambourine and leads all the other women in singing and dancing. She's extra cool because tambourines these days get a bit of a bad rap, but have you ever seen a person with a tambourine who isn't filled with joy? ...Me neither. She is a leader and a faithful woman and doesn't forget to rejoice and praise God in the triumph, even though it could be easy to worry about what happens next.

This reminds me a bit of us today, in the midst of these difficult times, the future is still uncertain, there is finally a vaccine though we still don't know what the future holds. It can feel really scary not knowing what's happening next and often that means we forget to enjoy or appreciate some of the things that are happening in the present because we are so concerned for our futures. Miriam reminds me in this moment to be thankful daily and to worship the Lord with singing and dancing. Life can be really, really hard at times but we can sing and dance and grab our tambo's because what he has done for us is worth singing and dancing for every day.

Take some time today and put on some of your favourite worship music and make sure to dance and sing and thank God no matter how awful you're feeling or mad you look, because he has triumphed gloriously.


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