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EIGHT – Miriam, Deborah, and Hannah

Because of the culture and the times from which they emerge, it is not easy to make it into the narratives of the Bible as a woman. Only a particular kind of story makes it into Scripture: women are mostly either written out of the story, or excluded from the action in the first place. Strong women EIGHTs are the women most likely to make it through into the text – and here are three of them: Miriam, Deborah, and Hannah.

We only glimpse Miriam in Exodus 15 and Numbers 12, but the hints that we do see suggest that she was alongside her two brothers, the leaders Moses and Aaron, throughout the escape from Egypt and in the years that followed. We read her EIGHTish character in Exodus 15, where she leads the people in singing a great celebration of their escape from Egypt. More than anything else, this focuses on issues of power: the way in which their powerful God has humiliated and utterly destroyed their enemy. Nowhere in eighteen verses does it pause to consider the sadness of the fate of the Egyptian soldiers or their families: in this song, a mighty and righteous power has triumphed gloriously over evil, and will do so again and again. This attitude ‘keeps it simple’ – which is the NINE wing; rejoicing in every detail of the sheer excess of the triumph reveals the SEVEN wing. The detailed account of what has happened, and its analysis as a work of God, reveals the link to observer FIVE. If there is a link to TWO here, it is to see God as the loving parent of the nation in verse 13 (Exodus 15:1‑18,20‑21).

The EIGHTish song of Deborah in Judges 5 is also a song of Israel’s triumph, concluding triumphantly: ‘so perish all thine enemies, O Lord!’ Deborah was one of several informally emerging leaders of Israel known as judges in the period between the entry into the promised land – led by Joshua at Jericho – and the anointing of the first king, Saul. Once again in this EIGHTish song of triumph we see EIGHT’s link to observer FIVE in detailed descriptions of recent events – but here we also see a much stronger link to TWO. Deborah lists and occasionally chides the role of each tribe in turn in the recent campaign – and she is proclaimed ‘mother of the nation’ (Judges 4 and 5).

Finally, Hannah gives us the prayer which Mary the mother of Jesus adapts to become the Magnificat in Luke chapter 2 – as used in the daily prayers of the church. Hannah’s prayer celebrates the birth of her firstborn Samuel: Mary’s prayer responds to the blessing spoken first by the angel and then, in the weeks following, by her cousin Elizabeth. Both prayers proclaim that God alone is the all-powerful one, raising up the lowly and casting down the mighty at will. This God shows mercy to those who stand in awe of him, and guards his faithful ones – but strikes down the mighty, and scatters the proud and their vanities. Those who were once rich and powerful will now go laboring to survive – or ‘be sent empty away’ – while the hungry will be hungry no more, but ‘filled with good things.’

In this prayer of EIGHT, Hannah has a beautiful link to the compassionate love of TWO in some lines of worship and adoration: ‘There is none holy as the Lord; there is none beside thee.’ God is then named as a ‘rock’: EIGHT says ‘test this out – this is solid.’ This is the solid rock of a God who keeps the promises made many generations ago. And there is also a link to the observing FIVE: God is a God of knowledge, watching and weighing our actions.

We see the NINE wing of EIGHT in the celebration of simple faithfulness, simple humility, and simplicity of life: ‘keeping it simple.’ And we see the SEVEN wing of EIGHT in the rejoicing: ‘my heart exults,’ ‘my spirit rejoices in God’ (1 Samuel 2:1‑10; Luke 1:46‑55).

We see too little of Miriam, Deborah, and Hannah to plot their journeys – but the usual journey of EIGHT sees power-conscious EIGHTs learning to respect others, finding the ability to show mercy, discovering the protector instinct, and finding the gentle heart within. All three of these women are heroes of the Scriptures, but perhaps Deborah was one step further on the road than Miriam – albeit in easier times – and perhaps Hannah was one step beyond Deborah, with her concern for the raising up of the lowly.

It is Hannah’s prayer, through Mary, which becomes a daily prayer for the church – and EIGHT’s contribution to our daily prayer. ‘My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord: my spirit rejoices in God my savior; for he has looked with favor on his lowly servant. He has filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he has sent away empty: he has remembered his promise of mercy, made to our forebears, for Abraham and his children for ever.’

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