(Writer : Dessy Ariadna – Stand To JESUS)
Recently on Tiktok I saw a video which said that Mary, the mother of JESUS, was the same as Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, the content creator even said that JESUS was a contemporary of Moses and Aaron because His mother was their sister, but is that true? Let’s see the truth according to the Bible.
1. Different origins
Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, was from the tribe of Levi, their father was named Amran, their mother was named Jochebed.
1 Chronicles 6:3 (IMB) Amram’s sons were Aaron, Moses and Miriam. Aaron’s sons were Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.
Numbers 26:59 (IMB) Amram’s wife was named Jochebed, the daughter of Levi who was born to Levi in Egypt and who bore Amram Aaron, Moses and their sister Miriam.
Exodus 6:20 (IMB) Amram took Jochebed, his father’s sister, to be his wife; she bore him Aaron and Moses, and Amram lived one hundred and thirty-seven years.
Exodus 2:1-4 (IMB) A man from the family of Levi married Levi’s daughter. The woman became pregnant and gave birth to a boy. When he saw that the child was beautiful, he hid it for three months. But when he could hide the child no longer, he took a basket made of pandan leaves and covered it with resin and tar. And he put the baby in it and put the basket among the reeds on the bank of the Nile. His older sister stood at a distance to see what the child was going to experience.
Exodus 15:20 (IMB) Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women came out following her with tambourines and dancing.
Micah 6:4 (NIV) For I brought you out of the land of Egypt and redeemed you from the house of slavery; I have also sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam before you.
Meanwhile, Mary, the mother of JESUS, came from the tribe of Judah, her father’s name was Eli.
Luke 3:23-24 (IMB) JESUS began His ministry at the age of approximately thirty years. He was known as the son of Joseph, the son of Eli, the son of Matath, the son of Levi, the son of Malchi, the son of Yanai, the son of Joseph,
The genealogy of JESUS Christ in the Gospel of Luke is different from the genealogy of JESUS Christ in the Gospel of Matthew, because Matthew describes the gospel of JESUS from the path of Joseph, Mary’s husband. Meanwhile, Luke describes the genealogy of JESUS from the line of Mary, the mother of JESUS, Mary’s name is not mentioned in the passage because according to Jewish tradition, women are never mentioned by name in a genealogy, only the names of men, and in Jewish tradition when a man becomes the son-in-law of a family, then he is automatically considered the son of his in-laws if his in-laws do not have daughters, and he will continue his in-laws’ lineage. In this case, Joseph became the son of Eli (Mary’s father) and he continued the genealogy of his father-in-law.
2. Miriam was a prophetess, while Mary, the mother of JESUS, was not a prophetess (female prophetess)
Exodus 15:20 (IMB) Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand, and all the women came out following her with tambourines and dancing.
3. Miriam was in a different era from Mary, the mother of JESUS
JESUS Christ was born in 1 AD, and was crucified, ascending to heaven in 33 AD, in the Hebrew Christian tradition, Mary, the mother of JESUS, who is called a virgin in the Holy Bible, was still 15 years old when she conceived Jesus Christ (because a virgin is term for girls under 16 years of age). So Mary was born in 14 BC (14 BC).
The distance between Miriam and Mary, the mother of JESUS, is around 1500 years.
4. Miriam was born in Egypt while Mary was born in the promised land
Miriam was born in Egypt and at that time the Israelites became slaves in the land of Egypt after the death of Joseph and all his brothers because the new Pharaoh did not know Joseph at all.
Numbers 26:59 (IMB) Amram’s wife was named Jochebed, the daughter of Levi who was born to Levi in Egypt and who bore Amram Aaron, Moses and their sister Miriam.
Meanwhile, Mary, the mother of JESUS, was born in the promised land, even at the time of the population census held by the emperor August, Joseph went with his fiancé Mary to Bethlehem to register themselves there, which stated clearly that Mary and Joseph were born in Bethlehem.
Luke 2:1-5 (IMB) In those days a decree came out from Emperor Augustus to register the entire population. This was the first registration that took place when Quirinius was governor of Syria. So everyone went to their respective cities to register themselves. Joseph left the city of Nazareth in Galilee and went to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he came from the family and descendants of David, to register with Mary, his fiancee, who was pregnant.
From the differences above, it is clear that Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, is not the same person as Mary, the mother of JESUS Christ, they are two different people and come from different times.
