Miriam sang to them: sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. Both horse and driver he has hurled into the sea. Miriam's refrain is the opening line of Moses' song — the same declaration, sung antiphonally. The women respond to Moses' song with the same words that began it, creating a liturgical call-and-response structure. This is the first explicitly antiphonal worship in Scripture, a structure that will develop throughout the Psalter (Psalm 136 repeats his love endures forever in every verse) and into the New Testament's vision of heavenly worship in Revelation 4–5. The specific content of the song — horse and driver hurled into the sea — grounds the worship in the specific historical act. Miriam does not lead the women in abstract praise; she leads them in the proclamation of what God just did, with the bodies that were at risk of recapture an hour ago.

COMMUNITY REFLECTIONS

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