The first instance of a choral performance recorded in the Bible took place in the spring of 1312 BCE as part of the drama of the exodus from Egypt. Pursued by Pharaoh's army, the Israelites were able to pass through the Sinai Peninsula as the Sea of Reeds dried up; the waters then receded, drowning the Egyptian army. At this point the jubilant Israelites burst into song. According to Zamir Chorale conductor Joshua Jacobson's reading of the verses in Exodus, the ancient Israelite choir had two conductors, both of whom were Levites. The first was Moses, who conducted the basses and tenors: "Then Moses and the men of Israel sang this song to the Lord: I sing to the Lord for He has greatly triumphed…."[1] The second conductor was his sister Miriam the prophetess, Aaron's sister, who led the sopranos and altos; when she took the drum in her hand, all the women followed her with drums and dances, and the men and women sang antiphonal: "I sing to the Lord for he has greatly triumphed, casting chariots and horses into the sea."[2] — The editor Prof. James Kugel, offers a different approach. Exodus 15:1-21 Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the Lord. They said: I will sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously; Horse and driver He has hurled into the sea. 2The Lord is my strength and might; He is become my deliverance. This is my God and I will enshrine Him; The God of my father, and I will exalt Him. 3The Lord, the Warrior- Lord is His name! 4Pharaoh's chariots and his army He has cast into the sea; And the pick of his officers Are drowned in the Sea of Reeds. 5The deeps covered them; They went down into the depths like a stone. 6Your right hand, O Lord, glorious in power, Your right hand, O Lord, shatters the foe! 7In Your great triumph You break Your opponents; You send forth Your fury, it consumes them like straw. 8At the blast of Your nostrils the waters piled up, The floods stood straight like a wall; The deeps froze in the heart of the sea. 9The foe said, "I will pursue, I will overtake, I will divide the spoil; My desire shall have its fill of them. I will bare my sword- My hand shall subdue them." 10You made Your wind blow, the sea covered them; They sank like lead in the majestic waters. 11Who is like You, O Lord, among the celestials; Who is like You, majestic in holiness, Awesome in splendor, working wonders! 12You put out Your right hand, The earth swallowed them. 13In Your love You lead the people You redeemed; In Your strength You guide them to Your holy abode. 14The peoples hear, they tremble; Agony grips the dwellers in Philistia. 15Now are the clans of Edom dismayed; The tribes of Moab-trembling grips them; All the dwellers in Canaan are aghast. 16Terror and dread descend upon them; Through the might of Your arm they are still as stone- Till Your people cross over, O Lord, Till Your people cross whom You have ransomed. 17You will bring them and plant them in Your own mountain, The place You made to dwell in, O Lord, The sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands established. 18The Lord will reign for ever and ever! 19For the horses of Pharaoh, with his chariots and horsemen, went into the sea; and the Lord turned back on them the waters of the sea; but the Israelites marched on dry ground in the midst of the sea. 20Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron's sister, took a timbrel in her hand, and all the women went out after her in dance with timbrels. 21And Miriam chanted for them: Sing to the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously; Horse and driver He has hurled into the sea. The Shirah (Song) in the Liturgy The Song at the Sea assumed a special place in the Jewish liturgy quite early..... [more] Exodus 15:20-21 reports that Aaron's sister Miriam sang a song along with all the women at the Red Sea. Much speculation surrounded this song. The only words cited from it, "Sing to the Lord, for He has acted gloriously, horse and rider he has cast into the sea," match almost perfectly the first line of the men's song. Did Miriam thus simply form a women's chorus to sing along with the men, yet separately? Such modest behavior seemed altogether praiseworthy, and a number authors specifically mentioned it: Philo of Alexandria (c 20 BCE - 40 or 50 CE): They set up two choirs, one of men and one of women, on the beach, and sang hymns of thanksgiving to God. Over these two choirs Moses and his sister presided and led the hymns.[3] Ephraem Syrus (309 - 373 CE): The people were divided into two groups on that day, so that they might sing the wondrous hymn to Him who split the sea and drowned their oppressors on that day. Moses led the men in singing and Miriam, the women.[4] Or was that one choir? Philo: This wonderful sight and experience, an act transcending word and thought and hope, so filled with ecstasy both men and women that, forming a single choir, they sang hymns of thanksgiving to God their Savior, the men led by the prophet Moses and the women by the prophetess Miriam. (Philo, The Contemplative Life, 87) At the same time ancient interpreters supposed that the Israelite women must have sung their own song, with different words, at the Red Sea. One such text found among the Dead Sea Scrolls apparently contained the words of such a sing attributed to Miriam. Unfortunately, only a fragment of it has survived: "Reworked Pentateuch" found in the Dead Scrolls: You have put to shame… For You are clothed [?] in majesty… Great are You, savior are You… The enemy's hope has perished, and he is forgotten… They have been lost in the mighty water, the enemy… Praise to the heights… You gave… Who does gloriously.[5] [1] Exod. 15:1 [back] [2] Exodus 15:20-21 [back] [3] Philo (of Alexandria) (c. 20 BCE - 40 or 50 CE), Moses 1:180. This Greek-speaking Egyptian Jew is the author of a multi-volume series of commentaries on the Torah. Philo championed the allegorical approach to biblical interpretation that apparently flourished in Alexandria, Egypt. He explained many texts in keeping with then-current Greek philosophical ideas. [back] [4] Ephraem, Commentary on Exodus 15:3. Ephraem Syrus (309 - 373 CE) was an outstanding poet and biblical commentator of Syriac Christianity. His writings contain numerous parallels to, and developments of, earlier Jewish motifs attested to in both contemporaneous rabbinic writings as well as in the literature of Second Temple Judaism. [back] [5]4Q364 — Reworked Pentateuch. The nature of the "Reworked Pentateuch" found in the Dead Scrolls is still debated: Are they simply loose versions of the Pentateuch, which happen to change a word or two here or there, or are they explicative retellings intended to comment on the text? In any case, some of their deviations and additions do seem to conform with interpretive motifs attested elsewhere. [back] From: The Bible as it Was, James L. Kugel, the Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Mass 1997. CHOIR Table of Contents