Did Miriam Author Part of the Bible?

There is an obvious chiasm in Exodus 1-2 in the story of Moses' birth and adoption into Pharaoh's house. The chiasm includes at least Exodus 1:22-2:9, and possibly as much as Exodus 1:5-2:15.

This image shows the clearest segment:

Here is the expanded chiasm, which I think is correct:

A .v8-19 - Egyptians oppress Hebrews. Midwives rescue. Answer demanded. Escape.
B ...v20-21 - God's favor on the Midwives and growth of their families.
C .....v22 - Pharaoh said, "Take the son away. Let the daughter live."
D .......v1 - Amram went and took his wife, Jochebed.
E .........v2 - Jochebed conceived and bore a son.
F ...........v2 - Jochebed saw that the child was fine, took pity on him, and hid him for 3 months.
G .............v3 - Jochebed went to the river and hid the child in a basket in the river.
H ...............v4 - Miriam stood at a distance to learn what would happen.
G .............v5 - The princess went to the river and found the basket in the river.
F ...........v6 - The princess revealed the child, saw him crying, took pity, and recognized him.
E .........v7 - Miriam found a woman who had born a child.
D .......v8 - Miram went and called the child's mother, Jochebed.
C .....v9 - The princess said, "Take the child away. Pay the woman her wages."
B ...v10-11a - The princess's favor on Moses and his growth into a man.
A .v11b-15 - Egyptians oppress Hebrews. Moses rescues. Answer demanded. Escape.

Chiasms are always fascinating. The most interesting part is usually at the center, and this one is no exception. Miriam is at the center of a chiasm on the birth, near death, and adoption of Moses, and not just Miriam, but her observing and studying the process of Moses' transformation from Hebrew to Egyptian and back again to Hebrew.

What does this mean?

It probably means that Miriam was the source of the first part of Exodus; it might even record her exact words. How do we know what happened with the midwives and Jochebed and the basket and Pharaoh's daughter? Miriam witnessed it all so that Moses could his story as seen through her eyes and possibly even her words.

Knowledgeable Bible students will recall that this isn't the only extended record of Miriam's words. Exodus 15:1-21 contains The Song of Miriam.

Moses Never Forgot He Was A Hebrew

This chiasm in Exodus 2:11 shows that Moses never forgot he was a Hebrew, and it was inevitable that he would eventually rebel against Pharaoh's rule.

...and for the search engines:

• He went out to his people
• Looked on their burdens
• Witnessed their abuse
• A Hebrew, one of his people

A Chiasm in Exodus 4:14-31 Showing the Love of God for Israel

A chiasm in Exodus 4:14-31 that highlights faith, obedience, and God's love for Israel.

V14 – The anger of YHWH against Moses
---V14-16 – Moses and Aaron are to speak to the people
------V17 – Take your staff for the signs
---------V18 – Moses going to Egypt to visit brothers
------------V19 – Go to Egypt. All the men are dead.
---------------V20 – Moses, wife, and sons on the donkey. Messianic reference.
------------------V21 – Speak to Pharaoh. Refusal and consequences.
---------------------V22 – Israel is my firstborn son
------------------V23 – Speak to Pharaoh. Refusal and consequences.
---------------V24 – Moses, wife, and sons at lodging place. Messianic reference.
------------V25 – Foreskin, feet, bridegroom of blood.
---------V27 – Aaron going to wilderness to visit Moses
------V28 – Moses told Aaron about the signs
---V29-30 – Moses and Aaron speak to the people
V31 - YHWH visited and showed mercy on the people who believed.

An Abbreviated List of Biblical Sevens

I have not included every instance of a collection of seven. I lumped multiple instances of the same collection together, such as various commands concerning Unleavened Bread or Sukkot. I also ignored historical statements that didn't seem to put any special emphasis on "7", such as "in the seventh year of the reign of so-and-so." Feel free to let me know if I missed any.

• 7 daughters of Jethro
• 7 days of Creation
• 7 clean animals on Noah’s Ark
• 7 congregations of Revelation
• 7 women of Isaiah
• 7 spirits of God
• 7 lamps of the Menorah
• 7 days of Unleavened Bread
• 7 days of Sukkot
• 7 days of Miriam’s shame
• 7 days of uncleanness for women and lepers
• 7 sprinkles from the red heifer
• 7 animals offered at various times
• 7 weeks of Shavuot
• 7th month, 1st day is Yom Teruah
• 7th year release
• 7th day Sabbath
• 7 years of oppression under Midian
• 7 years of rule by Ibzan
• 7 months with the Ark in Philistia
• 7 trumpeters with the Ark
• 7-fold light of the sun (Isa 30:26)
• 7 children of one mother (Jer 15:9) 
• 7 years burning weapons (Eze 39:9)
• 7 months burying the dead (Eze 39:12)
• 7 steps and cubits of Ezekiel’s Temple
• 7 weeks of Daniel
• 7 shepherds of Micah (Mic 5:5)
• 7 eyes of God (Zec 4:10)
• 7th day sin offerings (Eze 45:20)
• 7 husbands of the Sadducean widow.

Pharaoh's Bad Marriage

Exodus 1:10  Come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land.

And we all know how that worked out.

There are four ways to preserve a relationship that has begun to deteriorate:

1. Disable the other person. Through emotional abuse, you can make a person doubt themselves and their ability to survive on their own. Through physical abuse, you can confine or even cripple a person so that they are physically incapable of leaving. Perhaps the most common method today of disabling a person to keep them in a relationship is by keeping them financially dependent. Your credit card issuer and your neighbor with two upside down mortgages can tell you how effective this tactic can be.
2. Instill fear of the unknown. Convince the other person that there is a big bad wolf hiding behind every tree outside the door, that every person they encounter will take advantage of them, and they will be very reluctant to strike out alone. This method has worked very well for politicians throughout history.
3. Bond. Be friends. Spend time together in situations that develop emotional attachment. Study, explore, play, fight, and work together. Have an adventure.
4. Improve yourself. Make a relationship with you look more attractive than a relationship with someone else by becoming a better you. You have probably heard it said that you can’t change someone else. You can only change you. I haven’t read it yet, but Athol Kay’s Married Man Sex Life Primer appears to be based on this idea. It’s on my reading list.

Each of these methods works to a greater or lesser extent and there is a time and place in which each would be appropriate. A healthy relationship, however, will be almost exclusively characterized by methods three and four. Pharaoh tried to keep the Hebrews in Egypt by physically and financially hobbling them. Although they wanted more than ever to leave Egypt, they had no ships, no weapons, no chariots, and no gold with which to obtain such things. They had no allies. They came to believe that they were too weak to face the Canaanites and that their God was too weak or too busy to rescue them. Pharaoh’s strategy might have worked if he had not dismissed Joseph’s God along with Joseph himself. God is the champion of the oppressed and does not allow his people to be abused, enslaved, and terrorized forever.

Girls on the Left; Boys in the River

Exodus 1:16
...if it be a son... When a woman marries, ideally she leaves her father's people and joins her husband's. Hebrew women were as accustomed to this institution as were their contemporaries. Pharaoh knew that their daughters would be much easier than their sons to assimilate into Egyptian society. If his goal was only population control, one might think Pharaoh would have been wiser to kill the girls, thereby reducing the number of Hebrews for two generations instead of only one.  However, there were three good reasons to target boys.

1. If he had been successful, then the next generation of Israelites would have been Egyptians. He would have eliminated the Hebrews forever, while dramatically increasing the number of Egyptians in the next.
2. Battles are fought by men. By God’s design, they are more likely to forcefully resist oppression.
3. As a shadow of Yeshua, Moses’ arrival was almost certainly prophesied. Pharaoh, like Herod centuries later, thought to circumvent God’s design through force.

Update January 20, 2009: This could almost make one become a conspiracist: Declining Male Fertility Linked to Water Pollution.