Jochebed and Miriam: Ezer
kenedgo to Moses and to Israel
By Rev. Lonnie C. Crowe
Woman complements man.
Therefore, man must complement woman.
If it is not good for man to be alone, it is not good for woman to be
alone. Together, we manifest the image of God.
Genesis 2:18. And the
Lord God said, "It is not good that man should be alone; I will make him a
helper comparable to him.''
Helper comparable or helpmeet are translations of the Hebrew
ezer kenegdo which means a helper who is the same as and who protects
and supports. The phrase and the English
translation of the phrase do not indicate that the helper is in a subservient
role or of lesser value.
Jochebed is the first person mentioned in the Bible whose
name was compounded with Jah or Jehovah. Her name means God is my glory.
She was of the tribe of Levi, therefore, a descendant of
Leah. Her first two children were Miriam
and Aaron.
Jochebed’s story began about 400 years after Leah’s. The Hebrews had become slaves in Egypt. They were so prolific that the Egyptians were
fearful of becoming outnumbered. Pharaoh declared that all males newly born to
the Hebrews were to be destroyed.
Exodus 2:1-4:
And a
man of the house of Levi went and took as wife a daughter of Levi. So the woman conceived and bore a son. And
when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him three months. But when she could no longer hide him, she
took an ark of bulrushes for him, daubed it with asphalt and pitch, put the
child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river's bank. And his sister Miriam stood afar off, to know
what would be done to him.
A mother and her daughter courageously defied the order of
the most powerful man in their world.
Exodus 2:5-10
Then the daughter of
Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river. And her maidens walked along
the river's side; and when she saw the ark among the reeds, she sent her maid
to get it. And when she had opened it, she saw the child, and behold, the baby
wept. So she had compassion on him, and said, "This is one of the Hebrews'
children.'' Then his sister said to
Pharaoh's daughter, "Shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew
women, that she may nurse the child for you?'' And Pharaoh's daughter said to her,
"Go.'' So the maiden went and called the child's mother. Then Pharaoh's
daughter said to her, "Take this child away and nurse him for me, and I
will give you your wages.'' So the woman took the child and nursed him. And the
child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son.
So she called his name Moses, saying, "Because I drew him out of the
water.''
Jochebed was the mother of three remarkable children who
together led the nation of Israel out of Egypt:
Moses, who became one of the greatest national leaders and
legislators the world has ever known.
Aaron, who became Israel’s first high priest and the founder
of the Aaronic priesthood.
Miriam, the gifted prophetess, musician and teacher.
Certainly, Jochebed was a remarkably courageous woman who
lived up to her name.
Did Miriam live up to her name as well?
Miriam was probably only about 10-12 years old when she
watched over her brother from the banks of the Nile.
Miriam means rebellion.
From her story, we learn that under some circumstances we must have the
courage and strength to rebel. We also
learn that some rebellion is ungodly.
Like her mother, Miriam had the courage to rebel against
the order of Pharaoh that would have led to the death of her brother Moses.
Miriam showed wisdom beyond her years in suggesting that
she find a nurse for the child from the Hebrew women.
We next hear of Miriam about 80 years later.
After killing an Egyptian, Moses fled Egypt and went into
the wilderness for 40 years where he herded sheep for the man who became his
father-in-law.
God called him back to Egypt. He confronted Pharaoh, and after the ten
plagues, led his people to freedom.
Along the way, the people were caught between the Red Sea
and the mighty army of Egypt.
It is after the Israelites were miraculously delivered
that we again meet Miriam. She would
have been more than 90 years old at that time.
Exodus 15;1-4
Then Moses and the children of Israel sang
this song to the Lord, and spoke, saying: "I will sing to the Lord, for He
has triumphed gloriously! The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea!
The Lord is my
strength and song, and He has become my salvation; He is my God, and I will
praise Him; my father's God, and I will exalt Him.
The Lord is a man of war; the Lord is His
name.
Pharaoh's chariots and his army He has cast
into the sea;
Exodus 15:20-22
Then Miriam the prophetess, the sister of
Aaron, took the timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with
timbrels and with dances.
And
Miriam answered them: "Sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously!
The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea!''
So
Moses brought Israel from the Red Sea; then they went out into the Wilderness
of Shur.
What a
celebration!!! No matter how old we are, we should keep on dancing with joy
over what God has done, is doing and will do.
When the men and
women complemented each other, the glory of God was manifested.
Exodus 15:20: Then
Miriam the prophetess: A prophet is one through whom God speaks.
I thought only men
could be prophets.
Women prophets in
the Old Testament
▪Miriam (Exod.
15:20)
▪ Deborah (Judg.
4:4)
▪ Huldah (2 Kings
22:14; 2 Chron. 34:22)
▪ Noadiah (Neh.
6:14)
Huldah: During the time of Josiah, king of Judah,
Hilkiah the high priest discovered the book of the law. The people of Judah had forgotten their
covenant with the Lord. The king sent a
delegation to Huldah for more information.
Huldah warned the
delegation that judgment would come if the people did not return to the Lord. The
king listened to her.
2 Chronicles 34:30-33: And the king went up to the house of the
Lord, with all the men of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: the priests
and the Levites, and all the people, great and small; and he read in their
hearing all the words of the book of the covenant which had been found in the
house of the Lord.
Then the king stood in his place and made a
covenant before the Lord, to follow the Lord, and to keep His commandments and
His testimonies and His statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to
perform the words of the covenant that were written in this book.
And he made all who were present in Jerusalem
and Benjamin take their stand for it. So the inhabitants of Jerusalem did
according to the covenant of God, the God of their fathers.
Thus Josiah removed all the abominations from
all the country that belonged to the children of Israel, and made all who were
present in Israel diligently serve the Lord their God. All his days they did
not depart from following the Lord God of their fathers.
Noadiah: The one to
whom God revealed Himself. She did not
live up to her name. She was a false prophetess who tried to scare Nehemiah
into stopping the work program to rebuild the wall around Jerusalem.
Nehemiah’s
prayer: “My God, remember Tobiah and Sanballat, according to these their works,
and the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who would have made me
afraid.”
So the
wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of the month of Elul, in fifty-two
days.
And it
happened, when all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations around us saw
these things, that they were very disheartened in their own eyes; for they
perceived that this work was done by our God” (Neh. 6:14).
In the New
Testament:
Luke 2:36.
Now there was one, Anna, a prophetess, the daughter of Phanuel, of the
tribe of Asher.
Acts 21:8-9.
On the next day we who were Paul's companions departed and came to
Caesarea, and entered the house of Philip the evangelist, who was one of the
seven (chosen as deacons), and stayed with him. Now this man had four virgin
daughters who prophesied.
Oh, but there’s more
to Miriam’s story.
Numbers 12:1-3.
Then
Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had
married; for he had married an Ethiopian woman. And they said, "Has the
Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also?'' And
the Lord heard it.
(Now
the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the
earth.)
Numbers 12: 5-8a:
Then the Lord came down in the pillar of
cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam. And
they both went forward.
Then He said, "Hear now My words: If
there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, make Myself known to him in a
vision, and I speak to him in a dream.
Not so
with My servant Moses; he is faithful in all My house. I speak to him face to
face.
Numbers 12:10-12
And when
the cloud departed from above the tabernacle, suddenly Miriam became leprous,
as white as snow. Then Aaron turned toward Miriam, and there she was, a leper.
So
Aaron said to Moses, "Oh, my lord! Please do not lay this sin on us, in
which we have done foolishly and in which we have sinned.
"Please do not let her be as one dead,
whose flesh is half consumed when he comes out of his mother's womb!''
Numbers 12:13.
So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying,
"Please heal her, O God, I pray!''
Luke 6:28.
Bless
those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you.
Numbers 12: 14.
Then
the Lord said to Moses, "If her father had but spit in her face, would she
not be shamed seven days? Let her be shut out of the camp seven days, and after
that she may be received again.'
Rebellion without a
good cause will eat your soul like leprosy will eat your body.
Micah 6:4 For I
brought you up from the land of Egypt, I redeemed you from the house of
bondage; and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. (Scripture gives the siblings equal billing.)
When they worked
together, it was very good.
Another Miriam
rebelled against the culture of her day.
We call her Mary
from the Greek in which the Gospels were written.
In Hebrew, her name
was Miriam.
She courageously
defied the religious and social structure and the order of the most powerful
man in her world.
Joseph was her ezer
kenegdo.
Woman complements
man. Therefore, man must complement
woman. If it is not good for man to be
alone, it is not good for woman to be alone. Together, we manifest the image of
God.
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