If you're jealous of your sibling; you can always blame their spouse. Or not.

Numbers Chapter 12: The Failure of Miriam and Aaron

Numbers 12:1-16

Day 54. Ontario has opened all retail stores that have roadside entrances for curbside and delivery service. Many service type outlets still closed. Protests and lawsuits continue in the U.S. We press on studying the book of Numbers, learning today about some key people that had a relapse, to say the least.  Read on.

The Passage

12 Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married (for he had married a Cushite woman); ² and they said, “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us as well?” And the Lord heard it. ³ (Now the man Moses was very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth.) ⁴ Suddenly the Lord said to Moses and Aaron and to Miriam, “You three come out to the tent of meeting.” So the three of them came out. ⁵ Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the doorway of the tent, and He called Aaron and Miriam. When they had both come forward, ⁶ He said,

“Hear now My words:
If there is a prophet among you,
I, the Lord, shall make Myself known to him in a vision.
I shall speak with him in a dream.
⁷ “Not so, with My servant Moses,
He is faithful in all My household;
⁸ With him I speak mouth to mouth,
Even openly, and not in dark sayings,
And he beholds the form of the Lord.
Why then were you not afraid
To speak against My servant, against Moses?”

⁹ So the anger of the Lord burned against them and He departed. ¹⁰ But when the cloud had withdrawn from over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, as white as snow. As Aaron turned toward Miriam, behold, she was leprous. ¹¹ Then Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord, I beg you, do not account this sin to us, in which we have acted foolishly and in which we have sinned. ¹² Oh, do not let her be like one dead, whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes from his mother’s womb!” ¹³ Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “O God, heal her, I pray!” ¹⁴ But the Lord said to Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, would she not bear her shame for seven days? Let her be shut up for seven days outside the camp, and afterward she may be received again.” ¹⁵ So Miriam was shut up outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on until Miriam was received again.

¹⁶ Afterward, however, the people moved out from Hazeroth and camped in the wilderness of Paran.

Thoughts on the Passage

Now let me get this right. Here we have Aaron, the high priest and older brother of Moses along with Miriam, the older sister of Moses and Aaron speaking against Moses. I would say jealousy strikes again. (Remember Cain and Abel?) But they needed an excuse and what better excuse is there than to check out the “in-laws” – in this case their sister-in-law, the Cushite woman that Moses had married. Chuck Smith says she was an Ethiopian woman and likely had black skin. (See below.) That was a beef they weren’t prepared to be direct about. Instead, they questioned Moses’ unique privilege of having God speak through him, something that in no way was his wife’s fault.

More grumbling. And we learned what we can’t do while grumbling – we can’t grumble outside the awareness of the Lord. To boot, they were grumbling against the man God had appointed and the man that God had called, “My servant”.

David Guzik notes that one would have thought that his siblings would be his top supporters. Instead, we are reminded that oftentimes opposition to anyone doing God’s work often comes from their own flesh and blood.

He goes further and says, quoting Allen, “Miriam takes the lead here; "The feminine singular verb that initiates the chapter (lit., 'and she spoke,' v.1) and the placement of her name before that of Aaron indicate that Miriam is the principal in the attack against Moses."

Guzik says this passage does present some challenge for some as there are four possible ways one could look at who the “Ethiopian wife” was:

i. Some think perhaps Zipporah had died, and this was a second wife Moses took after her death. Remember that Moses had a remarkably long life and was more than 81 at this time - it is entirely possible he outlived several wives.

ii. Others think Moses took a second wife in addition to Zipporah; this is possible but doesn't seem likely.

iii. Still others suggest that Jethro, Zipporah's father, was actually from Ethiopia and had moved to Midian, making Zipporah a Ethiopian by birth but living in Midian.

iv. It may also be possible that Ethiopian here was a derogatory term used to criticize Zipporah because of a dark complexion.

So, at the least, the siblings felt Moses went around very arrogantly thinking that God could only speak through him. In addition, they wanted more credit for the fact that God also spoke through them sometimes. But let us not forget that sometimes God does indeed bless a “one-man (or woman) ministry” as long as that individual stays close to Him. A vision can be transferred 100% from God to the person He chooses to actualize it. But when that person starts to share that vision, it becomes blurrier and blurrier to others.

Verse 3 is most interesting to me as at face value it sounds like Moses (the author) blowing his own horn about how humble he was, in fact the humblest man on earth. Guzik says, “In all likelihood, someone added this comment after the death of Moses – perhaps Joshua, who would have known Moses well.” And let’s not forget that Moses didn’t start out that way. He was a very proud person but time in the desert, alone, changed that. Or perhaps he was instructed by God to put those words in there because right after that, God decides to have a little four-way conference call. He orders the three of them to meet Him in the tent of meeting. He didn’t delay at all in this case. [Sometimes we have to recognize that God may delay His answers and sometimes He responds right away. Can we handle that?] He took a personal interest in coming to the defense of “His servant”.

God addressed Aaron and Miriam directly and what He said is cited in verses 6-8. He tells them that His prophets are identified by God speaking to them in dreams – not in person. Moses, on the other hand, God says, is special – “I speak mouth to mouth, openly, not in riddles, and he sees My form.” He was implying, “Guys, do you see the difference? And if so, tell Me again why you grumbled against Moses?”  Good question.

Also notice, as Robert Jamieson points out, that this little audience or conference was indeed very private – only the key players were involved. This was not a public occurrence. We need to learn from that.  Sometimes the awareness of discipline among us, especially in the church, but also in our families, needs to be contained with the key players. And if that works, then we can move on. If not, in Matthew 18 we are given a process by which we can make the situation more public.

Without receiving an answer (there was no answer that would be adequate), God let His anger burn against the two of them and He left. But He left His mark that became visible when ‘the cloud’ had lifted (upward) from the tent.  Miriam was now leprous.

Interestingly, Aaron now begs Moses not to hold this ‘sin’ against them, and “please save our sister.” So, what does Moses do? He goes to God as usual and asks for her to be healed. God says, “Look, rules are rules – let her be like that for seven days and keep her outside the camp.” There was no favoritism for Moses’ sister. No chance of even perceived nepotism allowed here.

But notice this, the text says the people didn’t move camp until that seven-day period was completed and Miriam had been restored. At that point they were free to move on to the wilderness of Paran (Hezeroth). But it wasn’t the people – it was God who did not move the cloud, by choice. There was a lesson He wanted them to learn – the grumblings of one or two, can indeed delay many a journey. How often have we seen this in our families and in our churches?

I would have us note something else as Matthew Henry points out – notice how calm Moses remained throughout this whole experience. He didn’t get angry at his siblings. He didn’t defend himself. When he approached God, it was on behalf of his sister who grumbled against him. He forgave his siblings. And to my knowledge, he did not hold it against his sibling going forward. There are a few lessons there for us, I’m sure.

It would be great if you would share your thoughts or questions on this blog in the comments section below or on social media.