Rembering the Women of Passover

On the 25th and 26th of March the Jewish community and many Christian communities celebrated Passover.  The names of Moses and his brother Arron are the most remembered during Passover.  But there are women, without whom there would have been no Moses.  First, there are the midwives Shiphrah and Prah.  (Exodus 1: 15-21)  They disobeyed the king's command to kill every Hebrew baby boy. Then there was the mother of Moses, Arron and Mariam.  She hid her son for three months.  Mariam is the brave girl who hides in the reeds along the river to keep an eye on her baby brother.  She negotiates with the daughter of the king to allow her mother to nurse her own baby and get paid for it.  (Exodus 2:1-10)  In Exodus 15:20-21 she is called the prophet Mariam and leads the women in song and dance praising God.  As the 2007 edition of The New Oxford Annotated Bible states in the explanation of this text, "As women were the first to resist Pharaoh and save Moses' life it is especially fitting that women also get the last word in the story of liberation." Finally, in Micah 6:4 Mariam is included with Moses and Arron as a leader of the people. Remember the women named and unnamed who figure in the development of Judaism and Christianity.