The Murmuring of Miriam and Aaron
“Then Miriam and Aaron criticized Moses because of the Cushite woman he had married, for he had taken a Cushite wife. “Does the LORD speak only through Moses?” they said. “Does He not also speak through us?” And the LORD heard this.
Now Moses was a very humble man, more so than any man on the face of the earth. And suddenly the LORD said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, “You three, come out to the Tent of Meeting.” So the three went out, and the LORD came down in a pillar of cloud, stood at the entrance to the Tent, and summoned Aaron and Miriam.
When both of them had stepped forward, He said, “Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, will reveal Myself to him in a vision; I will speak to him in a dream. But this is not so with My servant Moses; he is faithful in all My house. I speak with him face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the LORD. Why then were you unafraid to speak against My servant Moses?” So the anger of the LORD burned against them, and He departed.
As the cloud lifted from above the Tent, suddenly Miriam became leprous, white as snow. Aaron turned toward her, saw that she was leprous, and said to Moses, “My lord, please do not hold against us this sin we have so foolishly committed. Please do not let her be like a stillborn infant whose flesh is half consumed when he comes out of his mother’s womb.”
So Moses cried out to the LORD, “O God, please heal her!”
But the LORD answered Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, would she not have been in disgrace for seven days? Let her be confined outside the camp for seven days; after that she may be brought back in.” So Miriam was confined outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on until she was brought in again. After that, the people set out from Hazeroth and camped in the Wilderness of Paran.”
Poor Moses! Having survived a protest over food that left hundreds of people dead, now Moses is facing problems with his siblings. Aaron and Miriam are green with envy over Moses’ success as a leader and his relationship with God. Without any other reason to criticize Moses, Aaron and Miriam decide to attack Moses’ choice of an Ethiopian wife. Until now, we only know Miriam as the young girl who saved the infant Moses when Pharaoh’s daughter found him floating in a basket in the Nile. And Aaron is the dude responsible for creating the golden calf, a model of the Egyptian goddess Hathor, while Moses is up on Mount Sinai receiving God’s commandments. Those credentials aren’t exactly stellar; however, that doesn’t prevent the terrible two from attacking Moses.
“Does the LORD speak only through Moses?” they said. “Does He not also speak through us?” And the LORD heard this.” God describes Moses as the most humble man in all the earth, but Aaron and Miriam are a different matter. God is so angry that He summons Moses, Miram, and Aaron to the Tent of Meeting and then comes down in a pillar of cloud to the door of the Tent of Meeting to confront Aaron and Miriam. “Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, will reveal Myself to him in a vision; I will speak to him in a dream. But this is not so with My servant Moses; he is faithful in all My house. I speak with him face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the LORD. Why then were you unafraid to speak against My servant Moses?”
Are Aaron and Miriam ashamed of themselves and fall flat on their faces before the Lord? No. It takes Miriam suddenly becoming leprous before Aaron repents. “As the cloud lifted from above the Tent, suddenly Miriam became leprous, white as snow. Aaron turned toward her, saw that she was leprous, and said to Moses, “My lord, please do not hold against us this sin we have so foolishly committed. Please do not let her be like a stillborn infant whose flesh is half consumed when he comes out of his mother’s womb.” There is no record that Miriam repents at all. Only when Moses intercedes is Miriam healed. Miriam is isolated outside the camp for seven days as a sign of her disgrace.
APPLICATION: In an earlier age in America, disobedient children were taken out to the woodshed to be spanked. This practice became so common that corporal punishments came to be referred to as “woodshed sessions.” This chapter records a divine woodshed session. Sadly, there are few indications that Aaron and Miriam actually learn very much apart from realizing that messing with Moses is a bad idea.
How much respect do we have for the Ruler of the Universe? If anybody might have a sense of entitlement, it might have been Moses. Moses started in the Pharaoh’s palace until he had to flee to herd sheep in the wilderness for forty years. Forty years in the wilderness has taught Moses how little he actually knows. Moses has been meeting with God ever since the encounter at the burning bush; now he is the most humble man on the face of the earth. The more we know about God and His magnificent nature, the more we realize our own insignificance and our lack of knowledge. Aaron and Miriam really know nothing about God; they simply want power and assume they can get it by undermining Moses. It takes Miriam being stricken with leprosy before her brother and repenting before they truly bow to God’s Will.
The song from Fiddler on the Roof says it well. “Life has a way of abusing us, blessing and bruising us.” The longer you live, the more you realize how little you really know about a number of things, particularly God. The wonderful thing about God is the more you learn about Him, the more wonderful you find Him to be. The more you learn about God’s grace and mercy, the more amazing He appears. As we age, let us strive to learn more about God and to become closer to Him. A dear friend who is now with Jesus used to pray, “Lord, help me love you more today than I did yesterday.” Let that be our constant prayer.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and caring for us. Lord, help us to love You more each day than we did the day before. Give us a hunger for Your Word and for being in Your presence. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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