Unanswered Prayers in The Prince of Egypt
- Aaron
- Jun 13, 2020
- 3 min read
Updated: Jul 2, 2021
I absolutely adore this movie. If you grew up in a Christian household like myself, The Prince of Egypt was definitely a part of your childhood. (And if you're like me, that song where the Egyptian sorcerers called on their gods were part of your nightmares too.)
I watched The Prince of Egypt again last year and I have to admit, it really impacted my worldview regarding religion and suffering. And I wanted to share what I learned from this movie.
But once I started writing, I realized it was a lot deeper than I thought, forcing me to separate this blog post into three separate pieces: one each for Miriam, Moses, and Aaron. (Moses is really the one that's taking longer than expected, so I'm kind of buying time until I finish my thoughts on him.)
This first part is about Miriam, what she believed about divine intervention, and how that affected her prayers.
Spoiler warning, even though this movie is kinda old, and I mean- there's also the book of Exodus this movie is loosely based off of so um... Spoiler warning
One of the themes in The Prince of Egypt deals with humanity's role in fixing our broken world. This film wants me to believe that Moses is integral to Israel’s deliverance. Within the actual story, no one believes this more than his sister Miriam. As a child, Miriam begins the film praying for Moses to be the Deliverer.
"Grow baby brother / come back someday / come and deliver us too"
This is notable because Miriam, along with the rest of Israel, isn't just praying for God to save them. They're also asking Him to send someone, a human, to save them.
"Deliver us / Send a shepherd to shepherd us / And deliver us to the Promised Land"
The film never makes Miriam seem naive for believing her brother is the Deliverer (even if Aaron believes she's naive) and into adulthood, Miriam still holds onto that belief.
God saved you to be our Deliverer!
And even after Moses returns, provokes Pharaoh, and makes slavery doubly burdensome for the Hebrews, Miriam still believes Moses can save them.
“I have been a slave all my life. And God has never answered my prayers until now... God will not abandon you, so don't you abandon us.”
By the end of the movie, Miriam's faith is eventually rewarded and God finally comes through. The ten plagues wreak havoc on Egypt, Ramses lets the Hebrews go, and they cross the Red Sea until they're home free.
But on a surface level, the timeframe of the Hebrews' deliverance bothered me. Through all Miriam's prayers, it seemed that God was silent until Moses was ready to come to the rescue. But why now? Why didn’t God answer Miriam's prayers until now?
Think about it. God could have sent the plagues and rioted at any time- Pharaoh killing the Hebrew babies at the beginning of the movie seemed like a good time to me- but God doesn't do that. God waits for Moses because his involvement is necessary for deliverance.
Over time, this has become one of my favorite messages from The Prince of Egypt- for whatever reason, God wants us to play an active role in fixing our broken world. In many Bible stories, God doesn’t act until human agents are ready to act with Him. If you don’t believe me, just read Esther- God doesn’t even show up in that book.
It's almost as if God needs us.
Draw whatever parallels you want between the exodus story and today. God might need you and I to act.
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