Numbers 12:1-16--Miriam and Aaron Oppose Moses

Numbers 12
English Standard Version

Miriam and Aaron Oppose Moses
12 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 also?” And the Lord heard it. 3 Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth. 4 And suddenly the Lord said to Moses and to Aaron and Miriam, “Come out, you three, to the tent of meeting.” And the three of them came out. 5 And the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the tent and called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forward. 6 And he said, “Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream. 7 Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. 8 With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” 9 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and he departed.

​10 When the cloud removed from over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, like snow. And Aaron turned toward Miriam, and behold, she was leprous. 11 And Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord, do not punish us because we have done foolishly and have sinned. 12 Let her not be as one dead, whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes out of his mother's womb.” 13 And Moses cried to the Lord, “O God, please heal her—please.” 14 But the Lord said to Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be shamed seven days? Let her be shut outside the camp seven days, and after that she may be brought in again.” 15 So Miriam was shut outside the camp seven days, and the people did not set out on the march till Miriam was brought in again. 16 After that the people set out from Hazeroth, and camped in the wilderness of Paran.

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Moses has faced opposition from the people, but now he is going to face opposition from his own family--specifically his sister Miriam and his brother Aaron.  God for some reason only seems to judge Miriam here, but perhaps that's because of Aaron's role and duties as high priest and that if God judges him in the same way that He will judge Miriam that it would put the whole nation in danger.

Miriam and Aaron do not appear to go to Moses directly with their concerns about Moses' marriage to a foreigner, a Cushite woman.  The word "meek" that is used here does not mean "weak," as many think it to mean, but it does mean someone or something that is both strong and tamed or under control.  We've seen Moses lash out in anger and kill an Egyptian for beating a Hebrew slave before and we'll see other times in which he lashes out (one of which we'll get to in the future that will prevent him from being allowed to enter the Promised Land with the people).  However, in this moment, he did not lash out against his sister and brother.  Instead, the Lord took notice of what they were doing and called a family meeting at the entrance to the Tabernacle.  Why there?  Because these two had said they too spoke for God--not only Moses, but God is going to speak for Himself and in a way where they will not misunderstand.

​God told Miriam and Aaron that they may be prophetesses and prophets as well, but God has used dreams to speak to His prophets and prophetesses, and the meaning of those dreams isn't always clear to them, but God had chosen not to speak to Moses in that way, but instead He chose to speak to Him clearly without riddle or dreams or visions.  He also says that He has permitted Moses to see His form--and we'll see that Moses' last request before he dies will be to see God's face, but God will only allow Moses to see HIs glory as He passes by.

God then asks them why they are so bold as to speak against Moses when Moses clearly has a relationship with God?  Why would they not trust God to speak directly to Moses if God had a problem with the woman that Moses had married?  Why did they need to stir up the people in a way to try to undermine Moses' authority?  Then God calls what they have done sin....sin against Moses and sin against God, because to rebel against the leaders that God has put in place over us is to rebel against God (Romans 13 and 1 Peter 2-3).

God speaks by making Miriam leprous so that she was unclean and no one could come near her or in contact with her.  Again, the same punishment was not given to Aaron.  I can only imagine this was because Aaron's role as high priest was necessary for him to fulfill on a daily basis.  Aaron and Moses both plead for Miriam's healing, but God knows that she needs to be experience the punishment of being treated as being unclean for seven days.  So she lived outside the camp for seven days and was restored on the eighth day.

God made sure to not instruct the people to break camp and move on until the days of Miriam's shaming were over.  They then broke camp at the Lord's command and set out into the wilderness where most of their wanderings occurred and where Hagar and Ishmael fled to (the land of Midian).  This is the set up for one of the most important parts of the story of the people wandering in the wilderness.  The people have done a lot to mess up so far, but the next thing is going to be the thing that causes God to choose to delay the blessing that was meant for this generation and to instead give it to their children.  We'll look at that next time.