| Snow-white Miriam |
Website Links For Miriam |
Information AboutSnow-white Miriam |
|
SUMMARY OF THE BIBLICAL TALE At Hazeroth , Miriam and Aaron speak against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married: for he had married a Cushite woman Miriam and Aaron continue questioning Moses' authority since they consider themselves to also have been Prophet s. God overhears and, in person, calls all three to the door of the Tabernacle . When they arive, God states to them that Moses has a much greater authority than Miriam and Aaron, indeed choosing to speak to Moses face to face, rather than merely through dreams. In anger, God subsequently visits a punishment on Miriam, giving her Tzaraath , usually translated as Leprosy , turning her ''white as snow''. According to the rules concerning Tzaraath, Miriam is subsequently forced to live outside the camp in isolation, only being allowed back when Moses intercedes with God on her behalf. Nevertheless, God insists that she still be punished for seven days. INTERPRETATION Zipporah and Cush Several features of the story are debated. One of the most prominent is the nature of Moses' wife. Elsewhere, Zipporah is named as being a wife of Moses, and it is consequently tempting to take the traditional Jewish and Christian line that Zipporah is the wife in question. However, Zipporah is described as being a Midianite , and as a result distinctly un-Cushite. This tends to be explained by supporters of the traditional position as being a metaphorical reference to Cush , referring to their perceived beauty at the time. However, it is important to note that Cush also meant Black skinned person in a more general sense. I.E. a Cushite could be one who was not directly from the Kushite region south of Egypt, but who is in general characteristically similar to one. This would of course imply that there were black Midianites (as well as blacks living amongst other Semetic tribes). This interpretation unnecessarily creates controversy as many still assume that black people (Kushites) were not present in meaningful proprotions in other cultures outside of the nucleus of Africa. Several ancient sources (such as Josephus ) nethertheless dispute this, identifying them as two separate women, pointing to the legality at the time of certain forms of Polygamy , as carried out by no less than Jacob himself. Modern scholars also consider them as two separate women, both for the difference between Midian and Cush, and for the fact that, in the Documentary Hypothesis , Zipporah is only mentioned in the Jahwist text, and the story of Snow-white Miriam is assigned to the Elohist , and so, in each, Moses only ever has one wife. The most frequent interpretation of the view of the documentary hypothesis is that at least one of the accounts (either that of Zipporah or of Snow-white Miriam) is historically inaccurate, and so this view is not supported by traditional Jews or Christians. Aaron Since anyone with Tzaraath was not allowed to become high priest, if Aaron had been punished as well as his sister, he would no longer have been able to perform his duties. This is plausibly the reason that God (or the writer, for those who view the story as ahistorical) decided that Aaron should not receive punishment. In the kingdom of Judah , much later than the date this story is set, the temple was controlled by a priesthood which claimed descent from Aaron. However, there was a priesthood based at Shiloh that viewed the Aaronids' claim that they alone were the rightful priesthood to be inaccurate and Vain . The tale thus would have been well received by the Shiloh priesthood, since it places Aaron in a negative light, but for the same reason would not have been liked by the Aaronids. According to the documentary hypothesis, the Elohist was from, or supported, the Shiloh priesthood, and thus had a strong motivation to create, or repeat this tale, as with the tale of the Golden Calf . It is notable that the tale is not present in the earlier Jahwist source, which generally parallels the Elohist. It is also not present in the later Priestly Source , which was purportedly based on the combination, JE , of the Elohist and Jahwist's work. As the Priestly source is thought to originate from the Aaronid priesthood, this is not altogether surprising. Moral Some politically "liberal" Biblical scholars in the United States view the story as concerning Racism . Cushites, usually identified as being from Ethiopia , would be very dark skinned. Thus, when, after having criticised Moses for taking a Cushite wife, Miriam has her skin turned white as snow, the punishment can be seen as suitably just, as well as Satirical or as an expression of the principle of ''middah keneged middah'' (punishment in kind). Traditional Jews and Christians tend to avoid reading the story as a criticism of racism, and instead take it as a condemnation against those who attack authority, particularly biblical authority. Rabbi nical sources from the classical era consider that Miriam's real reason for criticising Moses' wife was that she wished Moses to spend more time with his wife and children. |
|
|