Story · 2 · Miriam
Miriam: the prophet they couldn't shut out
Exodus calls Miriam a prophet who led Israel's women in song at the sea. Later texts drop the title, and Numbers shows her punished for challenging Moses.
The tradition kept the voices it argued with.
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In Numbers 12 she is struck with skin disease and put outside the camp, but the people refuse to move on until she returns. Rather than erase her, the biblical writers made her courage at the Nile the first step toward liberation.
Bible reference: Exodus 15:20–21; Numbers 12
Source: Why the Bible Began, pp. 41–42
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