Miryam's Critique of Moshe in Art/0

Miryam's Critique of Moshe in Art

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Introduction

Bemidbar 12 revolves around Miryam and Aharon's critique of Moshe and his Cushite marriage and Hashem's subsequent reprimand and punishment. Each of the images shown here illustrates a different phase of the story. Jacob Jordaens¹ depicts only the married couple, Moshe and his Cushite wife, while the engraving² focuses on the central part of the story, the slander. The stained glass³ moves to the story's conclusion, the punishment of Miryam and request for mercy. The artists differ in both whom they decide to portray and how they depict each of the characters, highlighting central questions of the text itself: Who was Moshe's Cushite wife?  About what were Miryam and Aharon upset? Is this a story about racism, sibling rivalry, or something else entirely?

Contrasting Images

Moses and his Ethiopian Wife Sephora

Jordaen's painting is, in essence, a dual portrait of Moshe and his wife. Though painted as a couple, there is no hint of intimacy between the two and nothing that draws them together. Moshe stands in front, looking forward at the viewer rather than at his wife. He is richly clothed in blue and red, holding what appears to be the tablet of the law in his left hand.  His emotions and the gesturing of his open hand are difficult to interpret.  His wife, a black women, stands behind him, her darkness contrasting with his whiteness.  She, too, is richly garbed, wearing a gold cloak and hat. She is positioned at an angle to her husband, and like Moshe, gazes at the viewer rather than her spouse. Her right hand is raised and points to her heart.

Miriam and Aaron Complain Against Moses

The engraving is a much busier composition, with all four central figures depicted in the foreground. The artist positions them clearly into two camps, as Miryam and Aharon⁴ (identifiable due to his priestly garb) face Moshe and his wife, each gesticulating at the other.  Moshe's wife is not colored, and stands with her husband as a united team.  The second scene of the story is depicted to the viewer's left, where the three leaders stand by the Tent of Meeting as a very anthropomorphic God speaks to them from within.  The final scene is lightly illustrated in the background of the work, where the siblings plead before Moshe and Miryam is cast out of the camp.

Miryam is Cursed with Leprosy The last image focuses on the three siblings, with Moshe's wife absent from the composition. All three, somewhat surprisingly, are brown-skinned, though the artist plays with the image to reveal white legs underneath. Miryam kneels in front of Moshe on the ground, her arms crisscrossed against her chest in a gesture of submission and apology. Aharon puts his hand on top of her head, perhaps in solidarity, perhaps to declare her impure.  He is dressed in everyday garb rather than priestly clothing. Moshe stands next to him, their backs almost touching, as he looks down at his sister.  In the background, the tents of the camp stand tall, one of which might be the Ohel Moed.

Relationship to the Biblical Text

The artists' choices reflect certain ambiguities in the Biblical text and different possible interpretive stances:

Who Was the Cushite? While Jordaens paints the Cushite as a black woman, the engraving depicts her in the same light shades as the other figures.  Though the stained glass image does not include the Cushite at all, it depicts all the other characters in brownish tones.  The various choices highlight one of the key questions of the chapter: Who was Moshe's Cushite wife?  Was she a black woman from Cush, as might be implied by the simple sense of the verses, or might she be Zipporah, Moshe's Midianite wife known to us from earlier chapters?

¹ Jordaens (1593 – 1678[) was a Flemish painter and tapestry designer, greatly influenced by Peter Paul Rubens.. The painting is currently housed in Rubenshuis, Antwerp.

² The engraving is from "The Bible and Its Story Taught by One Thousand Picture Lessons" vol. 2, eds. Charles F. Horne and Julius A. Bewer, (New York, 1908).

³ This stained glass image dates to the mid 1500's and is currently located in the Museum Schnütgen, Cologne, Germany.

⁴ He is clearly