“And I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.” Micah 6:4

I am interested in the inclusion of Miriam’s name. Long generations after her death, God commemorates her deeds no less than those of her great brothers. For in His Kingdom there is neither male nor female, and the woman is as essential and as helpful as the man.

How it illustrates His forgiveness, too, that God recalls only that which is good about Miriam! There was a mournful episode in her history, when she spoke against Moses, and when, for a little while, the frightful scourge of the leprosy fell upon her. But this is forgotten, and nothing is recounted except her brave leadership of Israel.

Who is so liberal-hearted as God, and so rich in magnanimity?

He writes my sins on the sand, and the flowing waters of His mercy and grace soon obliterate the indictment. My services, as small as they are in comparison with what He deserves — He writes on the undecaying page of His Book of Remembrance, and they live abidingly in His thought and heart!

Alexander Smellie