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Exodus 15:19–21
“Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women went out after her with tambourines and dancing. And Miriam sang to them: ‘Sing to the Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea’ ” (vv. 20–21).
The Song of Moses did not belong only to Moses, but all the people of Israel sang it, as indicated in Exodus 15:1. But how did Moses teach it to the whole company of Israelites, which numbered six hundred thousand men, plus their wives and children, plus many people who had joined the nation in leaving Egypt (see 12:37–38)? Today’s passage gives us at least part of the answer.
After mentioning what happened to Pharaoh’s army at the Red Sea one more time, Moses says that the women, led by his sister Miriam, sang and danced (15:19–20). Specifically, Moses says that Miriam sang the song to the women of Israel (v. 21), and the sense here is that she was teaching them the song by singing it. This was common practice in ancient Near Eastern cultures, and indeed, even today mothers pass on songs by singing them to their children, as one commentator observes. By teaching the Song of Moses to the women of Israel, Miriam was ensuring that it would be sung and remembered by the whole nation, for the women could then teach it to their families. Moses records in verse 21 only the first line of the song when he describes what Miriam sang, but it represents the entire hymn, and thus that the women were taught the whole song.
Miriam, who was almost certainly the sister who watched over the infant Moses when his mother hid him in the basket in the Nile (2:1–10), is referred to as a “prophetess” (15:20). This means that she received and delivered revelation from God, but we do not know exactly what that looked like in her case. Scripture does tell us that some women engaged in prophesying during the era in which the Lord delivered His special revelation (2 Chron. 34:22–33; 1 Cor. 11:5), though most of the prophets we read about in Scripture were men.
Some people have taken the fact that women could serve as prophetesses as evidence that women should be ordained to the office of pastor or elder. In light of Scripture’s explicit restriction of the ordained teaching office to men (1 Tim. 2:8–3:7), that some women were prophetesses cannot open the door to women as pastors and elders. While there is some similarity between the offices of prophet and pastor or elder, they are not equivalent, and the office of prophet has ceased. The practice of the new covenant church as established by God is to have only qualified men in the office of pastor or elder. Of course, this does not mean that women are not vital to the church and its health.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
John Calvin observes that “although Moses honors his sister by the title of ‘prophetess,’ he does not say that she assumed to herself the office of public teaching, but only that she was the leader and directress of the others in praising God.” We cannot press Miriam’s prophetic calling into use as evidence for ordaining women as pastors or elders. At the same time, we dare not overlook the critical role of godly women in passing on the faith.
For Further Study
- Judges 4:4
- Acts 21:8–9
- Colossians 3:16
- 2 Timothy 1:5; 3:14–15