Miriam & Aaron Speak Against Moses (Numbers Chapter 12)

I don't know about you, but I, I'm really enjoying going through numbers. That's one of those books that doesn't get a lot of attention.

People don't think about the book of numbers as much as they would think about Genesis or maybe

Exodus. And I noticed sometimes I will call numbers Exodus. We were in Exodus so long.

So if I do that, you know what I'm talking about, but a lot of great, a lot of great passages, a lot of great stories in numbers.

So go ahead and open up to numbers chapter 12, numbers, chapter 12.

We'll pray. And then we will follow along heavenly father. Once again, you've brought us together in your house to sit under the word

Lord. And we just asked that your spirit would move tonight and touch our hearts.

There's something here. I believe that every person needs something in this text, something that's going to be brought out, maybe something someone else says.

And certainly Lord, we all need to spend time together and fellowship and spend time together in prayer.

So be with us as we pray later on, but we're just so thankful that we can assemble and we're thankful for Moses writing down these, these stories, some of them, some of the things that are written here in chapter 12.

I think Moses would probably prefer were not written, but in your wisdom, you put in the

Bible, everything that we need for life and godliness. So we just thank you for that.

And it's in Jesus name. We pray. Amen. Numbers chapter 12.

Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married for he had married an

Ethiopian woman. Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?

And the Lord heard it. Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who are on the face of the earth.

Suddenly the Lord said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, come out you three to the tabernacle of meeting.

So the three came out. Then the Lord came down in the pillar of cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle and called

Aaron and Miriam and they both went forward. Then he said, hear now my words.

If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord make myself known to him in a vision.

I speak to him in a dream. Not so with my servant

Moses. He is faithful in all my house. I speak with him face to face, even plainly and not in dark sayings.

And he sees the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant

Moses? So the anger of the Lord was aroused against them and he departed.

When the cloud departed from above the tabernacle, suddenly Miriam became leprous as white as snow.

Then Aaron turned toward Miriam and there she was a leper. So Aaron said to Moses, oh my

Lord, please do not lay this sin on us in which we have done foolishly and in which we have sinned.

Please do not let her be as one dead whose flesh is half consumed when he comes out of his mother's womb.

So Moses cried out to the Lord, please heal her, oh

God, I pray. Then the Lord said to Moses, if her father had but spit in her face, would she not be shamed seven days?

Let her be shut out of the camp seven days and afterward she may be received again.

So Miriam was shut out of the camp seven days and the people did not journey till Miriam was brought in again.

And afterward the people moved from Hazirath and camped in the wilderness of Paran.

Sometimes people complain about something and they have an issue, but what they complain about isn't the real issue.

That's what they bring up and that's what it seems like is going on here.

So the New King James says the dissension of Aaron and Miriam, it should probably be titled the dissension of Miriam and Aaron.

Look at verses one, one and two. This is all being fueled, believe by jealousy and pride.

Miriam is jealous, Aaron a little jealous. Says then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the

Ethiopian woman whom he had married, for he had married an Ethiopian woman.

So they said, has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?

And the Lord heard it. I like that part. And the Lord heard it.

You know, God hears everything, doesn't he? He heard it and he didn't like it.

The first thing I'd point out is, yeah, while the New King James labels it Aaron and Miriam, how is it recorded in the text of scripture?

It's, yeah, it's, it's Miriam who's mentioned first. Why is that?

Sometimes you have to pay attention to scripture because it's these little details sometimes that can speak volumes.

And I think that's what's going on here. So Miriam's name is mentioned first.

That's not by accident. By putting her name first, that indicates that she is the primary player in this rebellion.

Usually the man is named first. So have you ever noticed, just to pick random names, maybe there'll be a couple, let's call them

John and Karen. We don't know any couples named John and Karen, right? I don't think so. If the woman, let's say she's the dominant personality.

Sometimes people just naturally refer to that couple as Karen and John. They might not even think about it, but that's what they say because she's kind of the one, one in charge, so to speak.

So who's writing the book of numbers? Moses. So Moses is the author, but God, the

Holy Spirit is also the author. So Miriam is mentioned first, whether it's

Moses who's doing that for a reason, God knows who's behind this. And the fact that Miriam is the one who gets struck with leprosy and not

Aaron, I think proves that Miriam is the instigator. She is the one behind this.

I, and I use the word rebellion, not in that they wanted to overthrow

Moses leadership. I think they knew better than that. I think what

Miriam wanted was co -leadership. Aaron was high up, but Moses was the man.

No question about it. Moses is the man of God. He's the leader, nobody else. And Miriam's attitude seems to be, well,

Hey, God speaks through me too. What about, what about me? So I think she wants to be, um, maybe his vice president, uh, so to speak, that seems to be what's, what's going on here.

So she, what she's doing is seizing upon this opportunity that Moses marries this

Ethiopian woman. And this seems like the perfect time. Uh, we don't know how long this has been brewing, uh, but this is the time to act.

So she uses this as a pretext for her saying,

Hey, what about me now? I think we have to ask, why is this a problem?

Why does she object? And why does Aaron object to Moses marrying an

Ethiopian woman? So we'll cover that in a moment. All right. But Miriam, do we all agree?

She's the, she's the driving force behind that fact that her name is mentioned first and she gets the leprosy.

Okay. Aaron just seems to be going along with yet another bad idea.

What was another bad idea that Aaron went along with right?

The golden calf. I don't know. Aaron, at this point, he just seems to be kind of like a pushover, you know, whatever people want to do, they can put a little pressure on Aaron and he's going to go along with it.

Yeah. Exodus chapter 32. I don't think he wanted to build the golden calf, but he just couldn't stand up to people and tell them no.

Uh, now his sister is getting him into trouble and he doesn't tell her. No, I just want point to make about this, being in a position of leadership, you have to be able to tell people, no,

I think just in general, you should be able to tell people no, but if you're going to be in leadership, you have to be able to say no at times.

So Aaron is the high priest. He has a great position of authority, a great deal of responsibility, but he's weak.

Once again, we see another example that shows Aaron as a weak leader and his weakness causes more problems than it solves.

So based on what we've mentioned many times, studying Exodus and now numbers, if first Corinthians 10 says that Israel in the wilderness is an example for new

Testament Christians, an example of what we shouldn't do, uh, Christian leaders, whatever

Christian leaders may be, one thing Christian leaders can't be is weak. And I think this is one of the issues with American evangelical

Christianity is weak leaders who can't tell people no. If you want to disagree with that, uh, you can, but Christian leaders should not be weak.

Christian leaders should be what is a word that sounds very similar to weak, meek, right?

Christian leaders should be meek. All believers should be meek. Now, what does the word meek mean?

Controlled strength. Okay. Controlled strength. That's a common definition.

Well, who has the King James version of the Bible? It says here, uh, well, it says that in the

King James, right? That Moses was the meekest man on the face of the earth. Is that what it says? Okay.

He was very meek. Uh, the new King James says what he was very humble.

So this would be the word we would use more often than meek. Moses was very humble.

Uh, he wasn't always trying to exalt himself. Remember in the last chapter, chapter 11, when

L dad and me dad were prophesying in the camp, Joshua runs and he tells Moses, Moses, my

Lord forbid them. Uh, it's like Joshua is afraid that they're going to steal a little bit of Moses glory almost.

Right. And I wonder just a thought. I wonder if that incident with the 70 elders and L dad and me dad played some role in this.

This is just my thought. Uh, maybe Miriam is a little jealous that these two nobodies

L dad and me dad, who are these guys? I'm, I'm Moses sister. Now these men are minor celebrities in Israel.

What about me? I've prophesied. So whatever's in Miriam's mind, I don't know, but it causes her to fall into this snare of pride.

So anyway, as Joshua runs, tells Moses, Moses, my Lord forbid them. And you remember what

Moses said, are you jealous or zealous for my sake? He says,

Oh, that all the Lord's people were prophets and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them.

So Moses was a humble man. He didn't have to be in the spotlight all the time.

Uh, he wasn't proud. Matter of fact, when God first came to Moses in Exodus three at the burning

Bush, most Moses didn't even want to be in this situation. So Moses, the point is he was a good leader.

And part of the thing that made him a good leader is he was humble. He was a strong leader.

That's true. He wasn't weak, but he was meek. And that's, that's what the church

I think needs. So he's in this position. Why? Because he sought it.

No, because God put him there. God put him there. And now

Miriam, she's complaining against Moses. Aaron's complaining against Moses, but since God put him in that position, who are they really where's their complaint?

Really their complaint ultimately is with God. So just a few takeaways,

Christian leaders can't be weak. Uh, they should be meek. All Christians should be meek or humble.

Jesus said in Luke 14, verse 11, whoever exalts himself will be humbled.

And he who humbles himself will be exalted. Uh, another thing,

Moses feared God, not to say that Miriam and Aaron didn't fear

God. They might've feared God, but they feared God a lot less than Moses did. So Miriam, she wants to be exalted and God is going to humble her.

So, so let this be a lesson. If we ever want to exalt or exert ourselves, uh, remember what

God did with Miriam. So look at verses one and two again, then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the

Ethiopian woman whom he had married, or he had married an Ethiopian woman.

Why is that repeated? I don't know. Does anyone have any thoughts on that? It seems unnecessary, but it's there for a reason.

I don't know what that is to emphasize that. Okay. It certainly does that.

Well, that's a good answer. It seems in the old Testament that happens a lot that it's things are repeated.

Yeah. I don't know if it's a Jewish thing. Okay. Was it the fact that they were objecting because he wasn't a

Jewish person? Right. So yeah, that leads us into this question of, okay, what's the issue?

Why is Miriam and Aaron so upset about this? You know, unfortunately, if you've ever done any reading on this, unfortunately, in modern times, people try to make this an issue about interracial marriage and they try to make it a black versus white issue.

I don't agree with that. Number one, if her being an Ethiopian is the problem, it's because she's of another nationality, not because of her skin color.

That would have been the issue as you seem to indicate. And number two,

Moses, this isn't a black and white issue. Moses isn't even really white. Charlton Heston is not actually

Moses. I know. I mean, he's

Middle Eastern, so he's not Anglo -Saxon. So people who try to make this a black versus white issue and try to shoehorn a 20th century issue or 18th century issue into the

Bible, I just don't think that's, I don't think it's valid. However, the fact that she is from another nation could be a problem because the

Jews or Israelites at this time had a very strong identity. So Moses marrying an

Ethiopian could potentially have been an issue.

Also another issue, maybe Miriam and this woman just didn't get along. Maybe it was as simple as that.

And she just creates something. I think it's fair to say they probably didn't get along. I think that's probably true either way.

But here's the thing, Moses, if you think about it, Moses has already married a non -Israelite woman.

And who is that? That's, yeah, that's Abraham. Oh, yeah.

Zipporah, right. Zipporah was what? A Midianite, right?

She was the daughter of Jethro. So this whole issue, here's a theory.

Um, I had never heard of this, but there is a theory that this

Ethiopian woman is actually a reference to Zipporah. Um, the theory is that, um,

Miriam is upset because remember, it was back in chapter 10, Moses convinces, tries to convince his in -laws to come along with them to the promised land.

Remember Hobab, we talked about Hobab and rule. So the idea is that Moses convinces his in -laws to come along.

He's married to Zipporah and Miriam is upset that the in -laws now are, you know, exerting more influence over Moses than his own sister.

So some commentators believe that, uh, Zipporah is actually the Ethiopian.

And there is a way she could be both Midianite and Ethiopian. That wouldn't be a problem. However, I think if you look at the most plain reading of the text, this seems to be a new wife.

To me, that is, is pretty, pretty obvious, which then raises another question.

What happened to Zipporah? Does any, does anyone know? Nobody knows because the

Bible just, just doesn't mention her anymore. So I think what happened is

Zipporah most likely passed away. The Bible doesn't record it. Moses takes another wife.

Does anyone have any other thoughts on this? I think that's the most obvious thing of what's going on.

Okay. So my view regarding the Ethiopian woman is that she is the new wife and that she was most likely a member of this mixed multitude that went along with the

Israelites out of Egypt. Uh, that, that seems to be the case. Uh, the mixed multitude, we talked about them being a bad influence last time.

That doesn't mean every single one of them was right. And the fact that she is sojourning with the

Israelites, she, if Moses married her, I think it's safe to say she is a worshiper of Jehovah God.

And if she's practicing the Passover or observing the Passover, even though she's

Ethiopian for all practical purposes, she is an Israelite, right?

Because to be, anyone could become an Israelite. You didn't actually have to be a physical descendant of Abraham.

People could join the nation if they accepted the God of the nation and the practices. So I think that's the case here.

Although people obviously would have still known that she wasn't an Israelite, technically that she was an

Ethiopian. So, uh, this is, I believe just an excuse. I'm sure maybe

Miriam was upset about it, but what she's, what's really driving this was her pride and maybe even a lust for a little power of her own.

Commentator Matthew Henry writes, the patience of Moses was tried in his own family, as well as by the people.

The pretense was that he had married a foreign wife, but probably their pride was hurt and their envy stirred up by his superior authority.

Opposition, here's the application, opposition from our relatives and from religious friends is most painful, but this is to be looked for and will be well, if in such circumstances, we can preserve the gentleness and meekness of Moses.

I think we know, and some of you have experienced this, that when you first came to faith, or maybe when you got serious about God, there might've been some issues with family members.

You received criticism. They didn't agree with your decision, whatever it is, what's our response.

If those hurtful remarks, and to be honest, I've had a few with extended family.

When you receive those remarks, the best thing to do is to take the high road, be like Moses and be meek, and then let

God deal with them. Hey, don't, don't, don't retaliate. Don't say anything back.

Turn it over to the Lord and let, let him deal with it. Any comments or questions?

That's a pretty common thing, right? Turning to the Lord, you're going to have, if it's not issues with family, it's going to be issues with coworkers or neighbors, something.

All right. No questions or comments so far. All right.

Let's turn to Exodus 15, if you would.

Exodus, and I actually mean Exodus, not numbers. So yes, Exodus 15. Yep. As you're turning there, verse two, again, it says, so they

Miriam and Aaron said, has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses?

Has he not spoken through us also? And the Lord heard it. So when did the

Lord speak through Miriam? So we're going to look at this. This is the claim by Miriam that the

Lord has indeed spoken through, through her. And that's true because the Bible does call

Miriam a prophetess. So she exhorted and declared the word of God to the women of Israel after their victory at the

Red Sea. So Moses was a prophetess, meaning that she was used as God's mouthpiece, at least this one time, if not multiple times.

What's the time that Aaron was used as God's mouthpiece? Who knows? Right before Pharaoh, because well,

Moses didn't want the job. He didn't want to do it. And one of his excuses was, I can't speak.

I'm not eloquent. I think that was an excuse too, but the

Lord is like, okay, that's fine to Pharaoh. You'll be like God. And Aaron will be your what?

Prophet. So Aaron was used as God's mouthpiece.

And understand, I want to make this clear. No one is saying, and I'm not saying that Miriam is some godless, wicked woman.

I think she was a woman of God and she was used by God, but she's still human.

Look at Exodus 15 verse 19 says, for the horses of Pharaoh went with his chariots and his horsemen into the sea and the

Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them. But the children of Israel went on dry land in the midst of the sea.

Then Miriam was a caller. The prophetess, the sister of Aaron took the timbrel in her hand and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances.

And Miriam answered them, sing to the Lord for he has triumphed gloriously. The horse and its rider he has thrown into the sea.

One commentary said that, I thought this was really interesting. This is what one commentator wrote. Miriam with her chorus of women answered the chorus of men responding at the termination of each stanza or a separate part of the ode with the refrain.

This is what the women would say, sing ye to the Lord or sing to the Lord. While responding, the female chorus both danced and struck their tambourines.

This use of dancing in religious ceremony, this is what I thought was funny, so contrary to Western ideas of decorum is quite consistent with Eastern practice, both ancient and modern.

Does anyone want to translate what's being said? Yeah, in the

West, we all, we're all just very reserved. You know, we don't make much noise, you know, a religious ceremony.

We should all be like we're doing now. We're just sitting here listening, being quiet, which I do appreciate when

I'm preaching, you know, being able to think. At the same time, you know, if it's possible that we could get a little more excited, we don't want to go full -blown

Pentecostal or anything. I don't want anyone jumping the pews or rolling on the ground.

We could use some excitement though. Hey, you know, if you agree with something, shout an amen. Don't be afraid, don't be afraid to do that.

I just thought this was interesting that, yeah, in the West, that's the way, that's the way people are.

Western ideas of decorum. Is that true? You think that's true? Okay.

Well, in the East, yeah, they would, they would dance and have their tambourines.

Don't bring any tambourines to church. All right. All right.

Let's go back to Numbers chapter 12. And we'll start to bring this to a close.

One quick comment on verse three of chapter 12. I had mentioned in the opening prayer that there are some things in this chapter that maybe

Moses preferred not be in this chapter. I think this is one of them where it says that Moses was the most humble man on the face of the earth.

And did the thought occur to anyone? Wait, who wrote Numbers? Moses wrote

Numbers. So if he's the most humble man on the earth, if that's true, why is he writing that he's the most humble man on the earth?

Did that occur to anybody? Some have used this as a reason to cast doubt on the authorship of Moses.

And by the way, this is what liberal churches do. If you go to a liberal church, they'll say, Moses didn't write

Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, or Numbers that it's J P D.

And they have this whole thing. And Isaiah didn't write Isaiah and Matthew didn't write Matthew. And then you start to figure out why they don't really believe and follow the

Bible because they don't think any of the, the authors wrote it. So Peter didn't write second, Peter, Moses was the author.

Okay. And yes, even if he's acting as like a general editor and he's like Paul and has someone else writing while he dictated, however it worked.

Yes, Moses is the author, but there's an explanation as to why this is okay for it to be said that he's the most humble man on the face of the earth.

Number one, only God could know that only God has the knowledge that he really was of all the human beings.

So it's not that Moses wanted this in there. Who wanted it in there, right? This is

God's commentary on Moses. Yes. Well, there's some theory liberals have of, of who wrote the

Pentateuch and they claim there's like five, what, how many authors, five or seven different authors they've named

J whatever it is. Yeah. Yeah. The point is they don't believe

Genesis is real history and they don't believe that Moses wrote it. So it's just another piece of evidence of unbelief really.

Any, anything else? All right. So you're in chapter 12.

All right. So Miriam and Aaron speak against Moses and God heard it.

Of course he did. Verse four, suddenly the Lord said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, come out.

You three to the tabernacle of meeting. So the three came out. Then the Lord came down in the pillar of cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle and called

Aaron and Miriam and they both went forward. And then the

Lord goes on to tell them how there are prophets. And then there are prophets like there are prophets.

And then there's Moses. Like you guys realize Moses is completely different.

Moses is completely unique. I speak to prophets and dark sayings, dreams, visions.

I speak to Moses face -to -face and he's my servant.

He might be your brother, but he's my servant. And how are you not afraid to speak against my servant?

There's another man who's going to learn. You don't speak against Moses. Who's that? With a ground opens up.

He speaks against Moses and the ground opens up and he goes down into hell alive. Cora, right?

So he spoke against Moses. Didn't work out too well. Miriam speaks against Moses. The lesson is,

Hey, he's God's man. Don't speak against God's man. Uh, so what, what happens?

God strikes Miriam with leprosy, but then Moses as a type of Christ, once again, as a type of Christ, he doesn't see her as the sinner who deserves what she gets, even though he does see that and she does deserve it.

Uh, instead he has compassion and like Christ, Moses intercedes on her behalf.

Verse 13. So Moses cried out to the Lord saying, please heal her.

Oh God, I pray. And then there's this strange statement in verse 14, uh, seems to be a reference to spitting.

It seems to be a reference, uh, to middle Eastern practice where a father would show disgust, uh, the behavior of his children and he would spit on the ground or, um, somewhere else.

And the connection I think is that spittle on the face is white and leprosy on the skin is white.

That may be the connection. Either way, Miriam was to be put out of the camp for how long?

Seven days. And that was the penalty for her rebellion. So was she forgiven?

Was she healed? Yes, but there was still a penalty for what she did. But either way, the

Lord heard the intercessory prayer of Moses and she was restored.

So in conclusion, so it is today, the sinner can be forgiven through the intercessory work of Christ.

There still may be earthly consequences for bad behavior, but the

Lord is a God of mercy and we are most thankful for that. We'll close with verses 15 and 16 says, so Miriam was shut out of the camp seven days and the people did not journey till Miriam was brought in again.

And afterward, the people moved from Hazzaroth and camped in the wilderness of Perim.