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Miriam's Women Packed Timbrels From Egypt for a Song Not Yet Heard

The women who left Egypt carried timbrels for a song they had not yet heard. Miriam knew miracles were coming and packed accordingly.

Curated by Arthur · Told by Maggid ·
Table of Contents
  1. Before the Men Finished Singing
  2. They Packed Instruments Before They Knew There Would Be a Song
  3. Faith That Preceded the Evidence
  4. Women Answered Women

Before the Men Finished Singing

Moses led the Song at the Sea and the men sang with him. The song rose from the shore and the words crossed the water. When it ended, Miriam moved.

She already had her timbrel. She had carried it from Egypt. She and all the women had timbrels, and some of them had flutes, instruments they had packed among their belongings on the night they left, tucked into whatever bundles a person grabs when given an hour to collect their life before walking into the desert. They had carried these instruments through three days of wilderness march, through the panic at the sea's edge, through the argument among the tribes about who would go in first, through the crossing itself. They had kept the timbrels dry and intact through all of it, for a song they had not yet heard, for a moment they had not yet reached.

Now the moment was here, and Miriam took up the timbrel, and the women followed her.

They Packed Instruments Before They Knew There Would Be a Song

The tradition's question about the timbrels is simple and devastating: where did they get them? Egypt. They brought them from Egypt. But why would a slave woman pack a musical instrument when leaving slavery? What does a person being released from four hundred years of bondage think to bring when running for her life?

The women of Israel thought to bring instruments. Not because they knew what form the miracle would take. Not because they had a prophecy about a song at the sea specifically. But because they knew, with a certainty the men apparently did not share, that God was going to do something worth celebrating before the journey was over. The timbrel was not nostalgia. It was preparation. You do not carry an instrument into a desert unless you believe you will use it.

Faith That Preceded the Evidence

Miriam was a prophetess. The tradition attaches her prophetic gift to a specific earlier moment: when Pharaoh decreed that every Israelite son be thrown into the Nile, and Amram, her father, separated from his wife in despair at the decree, it was Miriam who told him that a son would be born from him who would redeem Israel. He took her seriously. He returned to his wife. Moses was born. Miriam's prophetic standing in the tradition rests on that prediction and on everything that followed from it.

So when Miriam packed a timbrel on the night of the Exodus, she was not acting on blind hope. She was acting on a prophetic disposition that had already proven accurate once, a capacity to know what was coming before it arrived. The women who followed her lead and packed their own instruments may not have had her prophetic gift, but they had her example, and the example was enough. You pack for a celebration you cannot yet see because someone who has seen the future before is packing for the same celebration.

Women Answered Women

When Miriam led the women in song, the tradition preserves the structure of the response. Moses led the men. Miriam led the women. The men had their song. The women had their dance. The shore of the sea held both groups, the timbrels beating against the sound of the waves retreating, the voices of Israelite women singing what the slaves from Egypt had carried instruments to sing.

The midrash notes that Miriam's leadership here was not merely symbolic. It was organizational. She was the one who had made sure the instruments were packed. She was the one who had communicated the expectation to the other women, explicitly or by example, that this departure was going to end in music and not in the sea. She led the women in song because she had led them in packing before the song was known.

MiriamWomenExodusRed SeaMusicFaithProphecy
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From the tradition

Sources

4 sources

The texts this telling draws on, in full. Open a card to read inline, or expand it for a wider, quieter read.

Legends of the Jews 1:71Legends of the Jews

What would your reaction be? Awestruck silence? Jubilant shouts?

Well, according to the legends, the Israelites had their answer ready and waiting at the Red Sea.

After the men finished singing their song of praise – a powerful anthem celebrating God's victory – the women, led by Miriam the prophetess, took center stage. Can you picture it? A sea of women, voices rising in harmony, accompanied by music and dancing. It’s a scene of pure, unadulterated joy.

Here's the truly fascinating part: they were prepared. The text in Legends of the Jews, as retold by Ginzberg, tells us that the Israelites had already provided themselves with timbrels (small hand drums) and flutes. They had these instruments ready and waiting! Why? Because they had perfect faith that God would perform miracles. They knew, deep in their hearts, that something extraordinary was about to happen.

It's an incredible detail, isn't it? It speaks to the unwavering belief of the Israelites, their absolute conviction that God would deliver them. They weren't just hoping for a miracle; they were expecting it. And they were ready to celebrate it with music and dance.

Then, Miriam, her voice ringing out, led the women in their song: "Let us sing unto the Lord, for strength and sublimity are His; He lords it over the lordly, and He resents presumption. He hurled Pharaoh's horses and chariots into the sea, and drowned them, because wicked Pharaoh in his presumption pursued God's people, Israel."

It's more than just a song of praise. It's a declaration of faith, a recognition of God's power, and a condemnation of Pharaoh's arrogance. It's a reminder that even the mightiest rulers are nothing compared to the divine.

So, what can we learn from this ancient scene? Perhaps it's the importance of faith, of believing in the impossible. Or maybe it's the power of music and dance to express our deepest emotions, our joy, our gratitude. Or maybe, just maybe, it’s a reminder to always be prepared for the miraculous. You never know when you might need a timbrel.

Full source
Mekhilta Tractate Shirah 10:16Mekhilta DeRabbi Yishmael

The Mekhilta asks a practical question that most readers skip right over. The verse says Miriam took "the timbrel in her hand" and led the women in song after the crossing of the Red Sea. But where did the timbrels come from? The Israelites had just spent forty years worth of preparation fleeing Egypt in haste. They were in the middle of a desert. Who packed musical instruments?

The answer reveals something extraordinary about Israelite faith. The righteous among them, the tzaddikim (a righteous person) (the righteous), knew with absolute certainty that God would perform miracles and mighty acts on their behalf when they left Egypt. They were so certain of divine deliverance that they prepared celebration materials in advance. Before they knew how God would save them, before the sea split, before the Egyptian army drowned, they packed timbrels and dance instruments alongside their unleavened bread.

This detail transforms our understanding of the Exodus. The Israelites were not merely fleeing in panic. At least some of them were preparing to celebrate. They carried the tools of joy into the wilderness because they trusted that joy was coming. The timbrels were an act of prophetic faith, physical objects that declared: we will have reason to dance.

They were right. When the sea closed over the Egyptians and Miriam raised her timbrel, those instruments were not improvised. They had been waiting in Israelite bundles since the night of departure, packed by people who believed in miracles before they saw them.

Full source
Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai 15:21Mekhilta DeRabbi Shimon Ben Yochai

"And Miriam answered them" (Exodus 15:21). Scripture tells us that just as Moses recited the song for the men, so Miriam recited the song for the women: "Sing to the LORD, for He has triumphed gloriously."

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Yalkut Shimoni on Torah 253:5Yalkut Shimoni on Torah

"And Miriam the prophetess took the timbrel in her hand" (Exodus 15:20). Now from where did Israel have timbrels and dances in the wilderness? Rather, the righteous were confident and knew that the Holy One, blessed be He, would perform for them miracles and mighty deeds at the going out from Egypt, so they prepared for themselves timbrels and dances.

"And Miriam answered them" (Exodus 15:21). Scripture tells that just as Moses recited the song to the men, so Miriam recited the song to the women, as it is said, "Sing to the LORD, for He has triumphed gloriously" (Exodus 15:21).

Full source