Miriam

Miriam was the elder sister of Moses and Aaron, a prophetess and leader in Israel during the Exodus generation. Her name (meaning rebellion or possibly a variant of Mary) appears first in the account of infant Moses's rescue, where she watched over her baby brother in the basket on the Nile and arranged for their mother to nurse him under Pharaoh's daughter (Exodus 2:4–8). After the crossing of the Reed Sea, Miriam led the women of Israel in the first victory song recorded in Scripture, tambourine in hand: Sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously (Exodus 15:20–21).

Micah 6:4 names Miriam alongside Moses and Aaron as joint leaders of the Exodus community — a rare acknowledgment of female leadership in the Pentateuch. Her story also contains a cautionary episode: she and Aaron spoke against Moses over his Cushite wife and challenged his unique prophetic authority; Miriam alone was struck with tzara'at (leprosy), healed after seven days at Moses's intercession (Numbers 12). She died at Kadesh and was buried there (Numbers 20:1).