Nisan 10 – Miriam died there…

Nisan 10, 5785; from sunset April 7, 2025, to sunset April 8, 2025

(The tenth day of the first month)

This is the name Miriam as seen in the Aleppo Codex, written over 1,000 years ago.

The Death of Miriam

Miriam was the daughter of Amram and Joechebed, and the sister to Aaron and Moses. She was born in Egypt and the book of Jasher gives us a little information about her birth.

There was a man in the land of Egypt of the seed of Levi, whose name was Amram, the son of Kehath, the son of Levi, the son of Israel. And this man went and took a wife, namely Jochebed the daughter of Levi his father’s sister, and she was one hundred and twenty-six years old, and he came unto her. And the woman conceived and bare a daughter, and she called her name Miriam, because in those days the Egyptians had embittered the lives of the children of Israel. – Jasher 67:1-3

There are different views for what the name Miriam means, but according to Jasher, her name is related to bitterness. The first part of Miriam’s name “Mir” could be related to the word “marar.” Marar means to be strong or bitter and can be used to describe tastes or smells and hard or difficult situations. It’s related to the word “maror” which is used to describe the bitter herbs (horseradish) that we are commanded to eat at Passover to remind us of the bitter oppression the people of Israel experienced while in bondage in Egypt. The last part of Miriam’s name could possibly come from the word “yam,” meaning “sea.” This combination would render a meaning for the name of Miriam as “Bitter Waters” or even a “Sea of Strength.”

When the children of Israel moved to Egypt to be with Joseph during the famine, God blessed them in the land and their numbers swelled. The Egyptians noticed this and were afraid. They decreed that the midwives throw all baby boys into the river. When Miriam’s brother Moses was born, his mother hid him for three months, and then followed the decree by “throwing her baby into the river” via means of a basket covered with pitch. Miriam is known for keeping watch over baby Moses until Pharaoh’s daughter saw him and took him in as her own.

The next time that Miriam is mentioned is after God split the sea and brought the children of Israel through on dry ground. It is then that Miriam brought out her timbrel and began singing and dancing to the LORD. “For He has triumphed gloriously!” Shortly thereafter, the children of Israel came to a place called “Marah” because of the “bitter” (mar) “waters” found there.

Miriam shows up again in Numbers 12 when she and Aaron get into it with Moses. And God said, “Don’t make me come down there!” (Well, that’s a loose translation, but the story does make me think about a Father who would say that to His misbehaving children.) But He did come down in the pillar of cloud and called all three of them to the Tabernacle. He gave them a talking to and Miriam ended up leprous. Moses prayed for her, and God healed her, but she was “grounded” and put out of the camp for seven days.

The last mention of Miriam is found in our verse dated to today. The Bible tells us that Miriam died in the Wilderness of Zin in the first month.

Then the children of Israel, the whole congregation, came into the Wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh; and Miriam died there and was buried there. – Numbers 20:1 (NKJ)

Tradition tells us it was on the tenth day of the first month.

In the very next verse, Numbers 20:2, the Israelites are described as complaining of the lack of water at Kadesh. In Jewish tradition this abrupt transition between her passing and the lack of water was explained by suggesting a “well of Miriam” that dried up when she died…making a nice connection to the possible meaning of her name.

Miriam died 39 years after the Exodus, and exactly one year before Joshua led the people of Israel into the Promised Land. She is said to have been 126 years old.

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