In yesterday's passage from Numbers 12 we found Miriam and Aaron discriminating against Moses' wife because of her racial heritage (she is a Cushite) and because of her skin color (she is most likely black). This is wrong and the Lord is displeased with Miriam and Aaron. Furthermore, the two of them are using their prejudice against Moses' wife to suggest he is unfit to lead Israel due to having married a non-Israelite woman. Why do they feel that way suddenly, at this point in the narrative? Because they have grown jealous of Moses. They envy his power and authority and fame. They want some of it (in Miriam's case perhaps all of it) for themselves.
We know envy is at the root of their problem with Moses because in yesterday's study they questioned why Moses gets to be the Lord's spokesperson, considering that the Lord has also spoken to them. Miriam has been called a prophetess in the Bible. Aaron has spoken on authority of the Lord before. They are saying something like, "Why should Moses get all the attention of the people? Why does he get the last word? He's not the only person to whom the Lord has ever spoken. Why is Moses the leader and not one of us?" Miriam's and Aaron's problem is not really with Moses' choice of wife, although they are very wrong for their prejudice against her; their problem is with Moses and with the Lord. They are simply using Moses' non-Israelite wife as a means of sowing seeds of doubt regarding his loyalty to Israel.
We pick up with verse 3 which tells us, "(Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.'" (Numbers 12:3) Moses was not a prideful and arrogant leader. He never marched through the camp with his nose in the air and an attitude of, "The Lord has appointed me as your leader. It's my way or the highway! I have been specially chosen and blessed with the spirit of prophecy and discernment. I have been singled out, from among every person on the face of the earth, to relate the Lord's message to you and to be the leader of His people Israel as we march toward the promised land. Obey me or face the consequences!" No, Moses never made a big deal out of himself. If Miriam and Aaron think he's making a big deal of himself it's only because they are looking at him through the lens of their envy. They may think he thinks he's a big deal, but that's because they're projecting their own attitudes onto him. If the Lord had put either Miriam or Aaron in charge, they would have considered themselves a big deal, and they wrongfully assume Moses thinks the same way they do.
The Lord takes swift action to correct the behavior of Moses' two siblings and to heal the emerging family rift. "At once the Lord said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, 'Come out to the tent of meeting, all three of you.' So the three of them went out. Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud; He stood at the entrance to the tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam." (Numbers 12:4-5a) This is a bit like being called into the principal's office, only on a much larger and more fearsome scale.
"When the two of them stepped forward, He said, 'Listen to My words: When there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, reveal Myself to them in visions, I speak to them in dreams. But this is not true of My servant Moses; he is faithful in all My house. With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?'" (Numbers 12:5b-8) Miriam and Aaron wanted to know why Moses was chosen to lead Israel instead of one of them, since they too have received prophecies from the Lord. But the way the Lord revealed things to Miriam and Aaron, and to the prophets of old, is not the way He revealed things to Moses. He spoke to Moses "face to face". We already knew this as far back as Exodus 33:11 when we were told, "Thus the Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as one speaks to a friend." If you and were aware of this fact as far back as Exodus 33:11, Miriam and Aaron were aware of it too. And yet now, in the second year of their freedom from Egypt, they speak out against a man to whom the Lord speaks as He never spoke to any man before.
The Lord asks them, "Why did you dare speak against Moses in this way? You knew he and I communed face to face, as one man speaks to another man, as friends speak to one another. Did I ever speak with either of you that way? Have I ever spoken to anyone that way other than Moses? No? Then why did you think you were his equals in prophecy and revelation? Why did you think you had developed as close a relationship with Me as Moses has developed? Why did you envy him and try to overthrow the authority that I---the Lord---have given him? If I'd wanted either of you to lead Israel, I'd have appointed one of you to lead Israel. I have chosen Moses. In speaking against Moses you've spoken against My sovereign authority and My right to appoint whomever I choose."
Envy is a sin and we should take care not to envy the gifts God has given to our fellow believers. God has given gifts as it seems good to Him, and God is always right. He has given us gifts as well, and though they may be different from someone else's, we aren't to wish we had someone else's gifts instead of our own. We also must not envy the relationship others have with the Lord. If we feel someone has a closer relationship with the Lord than we do, and if this makes us jealous of them, the proper thing to do is work on our own relationship with the Lord. How do we build relationships? It's by spending time in the presence of the person with whom we are building a relationship. It's by talking to them and by listening to them when they talk. It's by learning about them and by telling them things about ourselves. If our relationship with the Lord isn't as good as someone else's, the only one to blame is ourselves. We have no right to envy them or feel bitter toward them.
"The anger of the Lord burned against them, and He left them." (Numbers 12:9) I can't help wondering if the Lord leaves them abruptly because He is so angry. His righteousness is capable of consuming sinful man. I think perhaps what He does in verse 9 can be compared to a parent who has to leave the room because their annoyance with a willful child is so great at the moment. The Lord removes Himself from Miriam's and Aaron's presence at this time. It is by His mercy that they are not consumed, as the prophet Jeremiah says in the book of Lamentations when pointing out that the Lord has the right to destroy any of us for our sins. There will, however, be consequences for the sin of Miriam and Aaron. "When the cloud lifted from above the tent, Miriam's skin was leprous---it became as white as snow. Aaron turned toward her and saw that she had a defiling skin disease, and he said to Moses, 'Please, my lord, I ask you not to hold against us the sin we have so foolishly committed. Do not let her be like a stillborn infant coming from its mother's womb with its flesh half eaten away.'" (Numbers 12:10-12)
As we said yesterday, it's believed that Miriam was more bitter against Moses than Aaron was. I believe Miriam was proposing (or was about to propose) a coup against the leadership of Moses. Miriam was named before Aaron when we were told they began to "talk against Moses". Miriam alone, and not Miriam and Aaron both, is stricken with that most dire skin disease of leprosy. Aaron is heartbroken when he sees the condition of his sister. I think Aaron likely repented of his sin toward the Lord while the Lord was speaking with them in our passage today. But Aaron still owes Moses an apology and we find him making it in verses 11 and 12 above. Miriam's illness is discipline for her sin but it's also discipline for Aaron's sin. It took Aaron seeing her in this dreadful state to cause him to make things right with his brother. When you and I realize we've wronged someone, our first response should be to repent to the Lord. Our second response should be to apologize to the person as soon as we can. Making things right with the Lord is good but it isn't enough to bring healing to the situation; we must try to make things right with the person too. They may or may not accept our apology but we must make it anyway.
Moses responds in a godly way. He doesn't say to Miriam, "You got what you deserved." He doesn't say to Aaron, "I don't accept your apology." Instead he immediately calls upon the Lord for help for his sister. "So Moses cried out to the Lord, 'Please, God, heal her!'" (Numbers 12:13) Wow! No wonder Numbers 12 tells us Moses was the most humble man on the earth at that time. If he'd been a prideful man he would have said, "I have a right to be offended by the treachery of my sister and brother. I have a right to be angry with them. I won't forgive them. I won't help them. They have betrayed me and I consider them dead to me." This is how a lot of human beings would behave when spoken against in the manner in which Miriam and Aaron spoke against their brother Moses. But Moses' love for his siblings far outweighs any hurt or bitterness he may feel over their betrayal. When they need his help, he doesn't even have to think about it.
The Lord hears Moses' noble and unselfish prayer. The Lord heals Miriam but, because she needs a "time out" in which to reflect upon her wrong attitudes and actions, the Lord prescribes a seven-day period of isolation for her. "The Lord replied to Moses, 'If her father had spit in her face, would she not have been in disgrace for seven days? Confine her outside the camp for seven days; after that she can be brought back.' So Miriam was confined outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on til she was brought back. After that, the people left Hazeroth and encamped in the Desert of Paran." (Numbers 12:14-16) Some versions of the Bible render verse 14 as, "If she had spit in her father's face, would she not have been in disgrace for seven days?" I am not sure which way this verse should be translated, but as in the case of anyone in the Israelite camp who has had a defiling skin outbreak, Miriam must be isolated for seven days. We studied the regulations regarding such things in the book of Exodus. If a person's skin ailment had improved or disappeared after a week in isolation, they were no longer considered unclean because a skin condition that improves or disappears is not a deadly contagious illness. Miriam will be able to rejoin the camp in seven days, but meanwhile she's exactly where she needs to be: alone with her conscience and her God. Everyone in the camp knows what has happened and that she is in disgrace for trying to usurp the authority of Moses. This will serve to humble her and to heal her attitude toward Moses. It will probably also prevent people from ever rallying behind her should she ever again propose she is as qualified as Moses to lead the nation.
Will this put an end to people in the camp rebelling against the Lord? Sadly, no. Will it put an end to people finding fault with Moses? No. But it has rid Miriam and Aaron of the envy they felt toward their brother. It has prevented Moses from harboring resentment toward his siblings. It has healed this family and put it back together. The Lord is in the business of healing and uniting, but people must be obedient when He calls them to love and forgive each other and to come together in peace. "A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones. (Proverbs 14:30)
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