And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances.
Miriam the prophetess - so called from her receiving divine revelations (Numbers 12:1; Micah 6:4), but in this instance, principally from her being eminently skilled in music; and in this sense the word 'prophesy' is sometimes used in Scripture (1 Samuel 10:5; 1 Samuel 10:10-15; 1 Chronicles 25:1; 1 Corinthians 11:5).
The sister of Aaron - ranked with him, as both were subordinate to Moses, who was placed at the head of Israel as the mediator of the old covenant.
Took a timbrel, х hatop (H8596), the timbrel] - or tabret, a musical instrument used chiefly by women, in the form of a hoop, edged round with rings or pieces of brass, to make a jingling noise, and covered over with tightened parchment, like a drum. It was beaten with the fingers, and corresponds to our tambourine.
All the women ... We shall understand this by attending to the modern customs of the East, where the dance-a slow, grave, and solemn gesture, generally accompanied with singing and the sound of the timbrel-is still led by the principal female of the company, the rest imitating her movements and repeating the words of the song as they drop from her lips.
And with dances, х uwbimcholot (H4246)] Some render this 'flutes,' the word being supposed to denote an instrument of the pipe kind, with holes. But the generality of commentators prefer the rendering adopted in our version (cf. Judges 11:34). So the Septuagint has choroon, dances.
Verse 21. Answered them - "them" in the Hebrew is masculine, so that Moses probably led the men, and Miriam the women, the two bands responding alternately, and singing the first verse as a chorus (cf. Hosea 2:15). This whole scene is illustrated by the Egyptian monuments, on which separate choirs of men and women are represented singing in alternate responses, the timbrel or tambourine being the instrument of the women, as the flute is that of the men; and the beating of the tambourine, together with the notes of the other instrument, is regulated to accord with the cadence of the song and the evolutions of the dance. Both music and dancing were among the Egyptians enlisted in their sacred services (Champollion, 'Lettres, 53;' Wilkinson, vol. 2:, pp. 253, 254, 314-6; Rosellini, 2:, 3, p. 78; Hengstenberg, 'Egypt and Books of Moses,' pp. 136, 137; Lowth's 'Dissertation,' p. 47).