Charles Ellicott Commentary Exodus 15:20

"And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances." — Exodus 15:20 (ASV)

Miriam the prophetess. — In Miriam, we have the first of that long series of religious women presented to us in Holy Scripture who are not merely pious and God-fearing but also exercise a quasi-ministerial office. Examples of other “prophetesses” will be found in Judges 4:4; 2 Kings 22:14; Isaiah 8:3; and Luke 2:36. In the early Christian Church, there was an order of “deaconesses” (Romans 16:1; Apostolic Constitutions, 6.17). The office of “prophetess” seems to have been permitted to women in Egypt, though that of “priestess” was, until Ptolemaic times, forbidden to them.

The sister of Aaron. — She is called “sister of Aaron,” rather than of Moses, because Aaron was the head of the family (Exodus 6:20; Exodus 7:7). There is no reasonable doubt that she was the sister who kept watch on Moses when he was in the ark of bulrushes (Exodus 2:3–8). For her later history, see Numbers 12:1-15. The prophet Micah regarded her as having had a part in the work of Israel’s deliverance (Micah 6:4).

Timbrels and with dances. — By “timbrels” are meant tambours, or tambourines, favourite instruments in Egypt, and usually played by women there (Wilkinson, Ancient Egyptians, vol. 1, p. 93). The combination of music with song in religious worship, presented to us here for the first time, became the fixed rule of the Tabernacle service from the time of David (2 Samuel 6:15; 1 Chronicles 23:5; 1 Chronicles 25:1–6), and was adopted into the Temple service from its first establishment (2 Chronicles 5:12). Sanctioned under the new covenant by the general praise of psalmody, and by the representations given in the Apocalypse of the Church triumphant in heaven (Revelation 5:8; Revelation 14:2–3), it has always maintained itself in the Christian Church and still holds its ground firmly.

Dancing, on the contrary, though adopted into religious worship by many nations, sanctioned by the present passage, by the example of David (2 Samuel 6:16), and by expressions in the Psalms (Psalms 149:3; Psalms 150:4), has never found an entrance into Christian ceremonial, unless among a few fanatic sects. The reason for this is to be found in the abuses which, through human infirmity, gradually became connected with the practice, causing it to become unfit for a religious purpose. In primitive times, however, solemn and stately dances were deemed appropriate for festival periods and religious rejoicings, and among the more moral tribes and nations had nothing unseemly about them.

The arrangement of the choir on this occasion into two bands—one of males, the other of females—and the combined employment of music, song, and dancing by the female band, are in close accordance with Egyptian customs.