N20-1: Why Are The Portrayals Of Death In The Bible SO DIFFERENT Than Any Other Body Of Literature?

Today we begin Numbers Chapter 20.

For the Complete Jewish Bible, click here.

For the King James Version, click here.

“The people of Israel, the whole community, entered the Tzin Desert in the first month, and they stayed in Kadesh. There Miryam died, and there she was buried.”-Numbers 20:1

The events we’re about to study in this chapter occurred about 40 years after Israel left Egypt!

That’s right.

At this point in Scripture, the long days of wandering are about to end.

Israel is right at the cusp of taking the Promised Land.

But, as we’re about to see, just because the Promised Land is in sight doesn’t mean things were going to be without incident.

In terms of location, Israel is currently situated at the southernmost border of the region of Canaan.

The name of the place is KADESH also known as KADESH-BARNEA.

This was a desert area located right at the border between the Wilderness of Paran (where Israel had been wandering up until now) and the Wilderness of Zin.

The opening verses of Numbers Chapter 20 start off by telling us the following:

“The people of Israel, the whole community, entered the Tzin Desert in the first month, and they stayed in Kadesh. There Miryam died, and there she was buried.”-Numbers 20:1

Note how matter-of-factly and completely devoid of emotion and detail the account of Miriam’s death is.

She was Moses’ and Aaron’s sister and the summation of her life is given one sentence in the Bible.

Aside from Eve of Garden of Eden fame, Miriam could well be considered the main female character in the TANACH.

Yet her death is recorded as if it is a minor transaction on an accounting report. 

You might think, well that’s because ancient Israel was a very patriarchal society where females held little importance.

But here’s the thing.

The deaths of Moses and Aaron aren’t rendered that much differently in Scripture either.

Hence, I really don’t think gender is the issue.

Folks, I want you to understand that right here at this very point we encounter one of the main ways the Bible distinguishes itself from any other body of literature in its day or even in later periods of history.

If one were to check out the historical accounts of Egyptian, Hittite or Arabian records, you’d find a much different flavor and emphasis on how the deaths of significant figures are portrayed.

These accounts go deep into the details and circumstances surrounding the death of the person in question.

The same goes for later Greek and Roman historical accounts.

All of the emphasis seems to be on all of the conflict and sequence of events that led up to the death of the person.

Why is the Bible so radically different in its death portrayal accounts than any other body of literature?

I don’t have the answer to this.

But I would like to humbly offer what I think is an interesting opinion.

The Bible is a Book of Life, NOT death!

It’s not that God doesn’t care about the circumstances surrounding our death, but He’s much more concerned about our life.

And much more than our earthly life which is so short and temporary, He’s much more concerned about our eternal life.

I’ve written about this before, but to the Lord, there is nothing more unnatural than death and the diseases that lead to death.

Death was not supposed to be.

Death only entered into our plane of existence after man sinned.

That is why I believe that compared to other earthly historical accounts of death, the Bible pays scant little attention detail when it records the deaths of individuals, even important personages.

God is interested in LIFE!

Heck, God is the very source of life!

He is as separated from death as the East is from the West.

There’s another interesting point I want to share.

Note that the central female character in BOTH the TANACH (Old Testament) and the BRIT HADASHAH (New Testament) has the very same name.

Moses’ sister is called Miriam and the mother of Yeshua is also called Miriam.

I know gentile Christianity calls Yeshua’s mother “Mary“, but her real Hebrew name was Miriam.

CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT 

Yeshua said to him, 
“I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No one comes to the Father
except through Me.”
-John 14:6

Yeshua said to her,
“I am the resurrection and the life.
The one who believes in me will live,
even though they die.”
-John 11:25