Swallowed Up

Then the sons of Israel, the whole congregation, came to the wilderness of Zin in the first month; and the people stayed at Kadesh. Now Miriam died there and was buried there. Numbers 20:1 NASB

Died there – ta’mot sham. The end of a prophetess, a leader, a woman of valor is ignominiously recounted in one sentence. In fact, most of us read Numbers 20 without paying any attention to this opening detail. We fixate on the water from the rock, the punishment of Moses for striking the rock and the inevitable Christian Messianic implications. We pay about as much attention to the death of Miriam as the text does. Have you ever wondered why?

The Water of Meribah is certainly the focus of chapter 20. What happens here has serious consequences for the people and for Moses. But, as Erica Brown points out, “The woman who, as a young girl, watched over the Israelites’ chief savior and ensured his early nurturing, the woman who led the women in joyous song later as the Israelites crossed the sea, suffered a cruel death of indifference. The wilderness even devoured human compassion.”[1] This woman, so important to the overall story, passes from the text and the people without any recognition of her value. She is buried as a side note in between the lines of another story. All that she did is unraveled in two words, ta’mot sham.

You and I are wandering in the wilderness of Zin, just like the Israelites before us. We have not reached the Promised Land, and along the way we have probably voiced as many complaints, been taught as many lessons, and inherited as many chastisements as our wandering ancestors. But perhaps we can correct this one thing. Perhaps we can remember that woman, those women, whose valor brought us to this point, who shepherded us without credit, who led us joyfully into God’s presence even as we stubbornly resisted the manifestation of His glory. Perhaps there’s a Miriam in our past who needs to be honored, who should not be erased with ta’mot sham. The wilderness does obliterate human compassion, but it doesn’t have to. We lose our perspective on compassion when we stop acknowledging the service of others on our behalf. We become those with stony hearts when we are so focused on our present needs that we forget who brought us to this place where God shows Himself. Yes, we might be exhausted, exasperated and exsiccated, but gratitude does not have a shelf life. You and I owe Miriam thanks, just as we might owe one of her daughters. Today is a good day for rectifying ta’mot sham. She died and was buried, but today we recall her with honor.

Thank you, Miriam.

Topical Index: Miriam, ta’mot sham, died there, Numbers 20:1

[1] Erica Brown, Leadership in the Wilderness: Authority and Anarchy in the Book of Numbers, fn. 6, p. 13.