We first meet Miriam, although she is not named, as she is keeping a protective watch over her baby brother Moses as he floats in a waterproof papyrus basket. His mother had hidden him there to protect him from the Pharaoh’ slaughter of all male Israelite babies. Miriam was watching when Pharaoh’s daughter found Moses and took him in as her own. Miriam was a brave little girl to walk up to Pharaoh’s daughter to suggest that she could get a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby. With the affirmative answer, Miriam got her mother, who was then paid to nurse Moses until he was old enough to be weaned. Exodus 2:4-8
Knowing Moses was called of God, she supported him when he led the children of Israel from Egypt. Miriam, a great influence for good in the camp of Israel, led the women in singing and praising God after Moses divided the waters of the Red Sea for them and destroyed their pursuers. (See Ex. 15:20–21.)
The time came when Moses married a second wife; not approving, Miriam talked bitterly against him. Then the Lord asked Miriam, “With him [Moses] will I speak mouth to mouth, … and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” (Num. 12:8.) And Miriam became “leprous, white as snow.”
Aaron besought Moses in Miriam’s behalf, and Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, “Heal her now, O God, I beseech thee.” (Num. 12:13.)
The Lord could have healed Miriam instantly, but he did not. She had to be isolated from the camp one week before she was healed.
A week of isolation surely gave Miriam time to contemplate the seriousness of speaking against the Lord’s anointed, and if a Latter-day woman speaks against the Lord’s appointed leaders, she can also be sure of a rebuke. In all probability it will not be leprosy. But to the degree that she condemns the Lord’s prophets and leaders, she will lose the Spirit of the Lord—a malady more deadly than leprosy.
Another Bible story shows that a woman who serves and sustains a prophet or leader whom God has called is blessed according to her needs with the necessities of life, the Spirit of the Lord, and a testimony.
