Book Review–“Miriam’s Song” by Jill Eileen Smith
Miriam, was Moses and Aaron’s sister, she is first mentioned in the book of Exodus verse 2:4: “and his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him”
The bible verse is in regard to the time when Moses’ mother, Jochedbed, placed baby Moses in a basket in the Nile River near the place where the Egyptian Princess, Hatshepsut came to bathe, in order to hide him from the Egyptians who had been ordered by Pharaoh, to kill all newborn Hebrew male babies.
Jochedbed and the family felt the baby Moses was chosen of God for a special purpose, and so prayed that he would be found and rescued by the Pharaoh’s daughter, Hatshepsut, who was not in favor of her father’s order to kill male Hebrew babies.
Young Miriam, who was Moses older sister, was told to hide in the bulrushes near the river and watch to see what would happen to her brother, baby Moses.
Have you ever wondered how Miriam thought and felt about all of this? She was a young Hebrew girl, who had to face an Egyptian princess, she had to be brave to speak up, and she had to watch as the princess took her baby brother away.
Then, in later years, she had to go through those terrible years of bondage that was put upon her people, always wondering, praying and waiting for deliverance. Not knowing what was happening to her brother, Moses, yet keeping up hope that maybe he would be the one who would somehow set the Hebrew people free.
Jill Eileen Smith did a wonderful job of imagining what possibly might have taken place during that time by combining fact with fiction to weave this wonderful story about Miriam, Moses, and Aaron and that period of time between the years Moses was born until the time the Israelites reached the promised land.
I enjoyed reading this book very much and highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys reading old testament biblical fiction.
I received a copy of this book from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group, in exchange for an honest review. All comments are my own.
–Leona J. Atkinson