“There I am of a different opinion.  You did not obey the summons of the Most High.  Can you deny this?  And when the Omnipresent One found you at the feet of Pharaoh, instead of at the head of His people, He deprived you of the office with which He had entrusted you.  He, the mightiest of generals, summoned the tempest and the waves, and they swallowed up the foe.  So perished those who were your friends till their heavy fetters made you realize their true disposition toward you and your race.  But I, meanwhile, was extolling the mercy of the Most High, and the people joined in my hymn of praise.  On that very day the Lord summoned another to command the fighting-men in your stead, and that other, as you know, is my husband.  If Hur has never learned the art of war, God will surely guide his arm, and it is He and none other who bestows victory.

“My husband—­hear it again—­is the sole commander of the hosts and if, in the abundance of his generosity, he has forgotten it, he will retain his office when he remembers whose hand chose him, and when I, his wife, raise my voice and recall it to his memory.”

Joshua turned to go, in order to end the painful discussion, but Hur detained him, protesting that he was deeply incensed by his wife’s unseemly interference in the affairs of men, and that he insisted on his promise.  “A woman’s disapproving words were blown away by the wind.  It would be Moses’ duty to declare whom Jehovah had chosen to be commander.”

While making this reply Hur had gazed at his wife with stern dignity, as if admonishing discretion, and the look seemed to have effected its purpose; for Miriam had alternately flushed and paled as she listened; nay, she even detained the guest by beckoning him with a trembling hand to approach, as though she desired to soothe him.

“Let me say one thing more,” she began, drawing a long breath, “that you may not misunderstand my meaning.  I call everyone our friend who devotes himself to the cause of the people, and how self-sacrificingly you intend to do this, Hur has informed me.  It was your confidence in Pharaoh’s favor that parted us—­therefore I know how to prize your firm and decisive breach with the Egyptians, but I did not correctly estimate the full grandeur of this deed until I learned that not only long custom, but other bonds, united you to the foe.”

“What is the meaning of these words?” replied Joshua, convinced that she had just fitted to the bowstring another shaft intended to wound him.  But Miriam, unheeding the question, calmly continued with a defiant keenness of glance that contradicted her measured speech: 

“After the Lord’s guidance had delivered us from the enemy, the Red Sea washed ashore the most beautiful woman we have seen for a long time.  I bandaged the wound a Hebrew woman dealt her and she acknowledged that her heart was filled with love for you, and that on her dying bed she regarded you as the idol of her soul.”