Miriam, Aaron and Moses: Sibling rivalry

Abstract

According to Numbers 26:57-59, Miriam and Aaron are the siblings of Moses. In the pericope studied here (Num 11:35-16:16) Moses is challenged by Miriam and Aaron both with regard to his marital choice and to his superior prophetic status. The present article attempts to explicate some of the philological and thematic difficulties in the text. In the light of the archaeological data currently available, which demonstrate that none of the narrative of the Torah is historical, the study suggests that Num 11:35-16:16 is addressed to a Jewish audience of the Achaemenid Persian period; a period in which a written Torah, an innovation, was in competition with oral prophecy, an older traditional form of divine revelation. By composing a tale in which YHWH himself affirmed the superiority of his communications to Moses over his communications to other prophets, the author of the pericope was, in fact, claiming that Scripture, which contained the divine word in its clearest form, was far more reliable than prophecy orally delivered.