Hur, his son, and grandson had accepted the invitation of Nun and Joshua.
It was a hard task for her to restrain her tears.

But had she permitted them to flow uncontrolled, they would have been those of wrath and insulted womanly dignity, not of grief and longing.
During the hours of the evening watch soldiers marched past, and from troop after troop cheers for Joshua reached her.
Even when the words "strong and steadfast!" were heard, they recalled the man who had once been dear to her, and whom now--she freely admitted it--she hated.

The men of his own tribe only had honored her husband with a cheer.

Was this fitting gratitude for the generosity with which he had divested himself, for the sake of the younger man, of a dignity that belonged to him alone?
To see her husband thus slighted pierced her to the heart and caused her more pain than Hur's leaving her, his newly-wedded wife, to solitude.
The supper before the tent of the Ephraimites lasted a long time.

Miriam sent her women to rest before midnight, and lay down to await Hur's return and to confess to him all that had wounded and angered her, everything for which she longed.
She thought it would be an easy matter to keep awake while suffering such mental anguish.