Numbers 12

Updated
2001-05-26; 14:32:15utc

In this chapter we come to the last part of, what our outline called: "The Failure of Israel En Route to Kadesh," spanning chapter 10:11 through 12:16.F. Failure of Miriam and Aaron 12:1-16

This time Moses is attacked where it hurts most, by those who were closest to him: his own sister and brother. The theme of the chapter is Pride and Prejudice. Miriam and Aaron demonstrate spiritual pride in saying: "Has the LORD spoken only through Moses? …. Hasn't he also spoken through us?" And they showed racial prejudice, because our text says that they began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife. It may be concluded that Miriam was the instigator of this confrontation, since the Lord singles her out for punishment. We do not need much imagination to see how the relationship between two sisters-in-law could cause a flair up of emotions that demonstrated itself in spiritual pride.

Supposing that Moses wrote this account, we have to appreciate the fact that no details are given about the poor family relationships. We are only given to understand that what triggered the confrontation was Miriam's attitude toward her sister-in-law.

We do not know much about Zipporah. From the strange episode in Exodus, where we read that "Zipporah took a flint knife, cut off her son's foreskin and touched [Moses'] feet with it, [saying] 'Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me,' "[ 1 ] we could draw the conclusion that she was a strong headed woman, and that Moses was sometimes unable to overrule her. But then, we do not know anything about Miriam's character either. We do get the impression, though, that Aaron was more easily swayed than his brother. Anyhow, the "spiritual" confrontation must have been triggered by something as unspiritual as character clashes within the family. The overall impression we receive from the opening words, however, is that Zipporah was considered by Miriam as "not being one of them." More than a clash of character, this was racial prejudice in its purest form. Had Zipporah been Egyptian instead of Cushite, things might have been different.

Miriam and Aaron confront Moses with the accusation that he monopolizes divine revelation. They say: "Has the LORD spoken only through Moses? …. Hasn't he also spoken through us?" The Scriptures add: "And the LORD heard this." The obvious meaning of the latter phrase is that God took Moses' defense. God's children are rarely called upon to defend themselves. Truth does not need to be defended. In case we are accused and stand trial, Jesus wants us to testify to the truth of the Gospel, not to clear our own name. We read: "On my account you will be brought before governors and kings as witnesses to them and to the Gentiles. But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for it will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you."[ 2 ] Our defense is in the hands of the greatest lawyer of the universe: the Paraklete, the Holy Spirit.

We read about Moses: "Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth." The KJV translates the Hebrew word `anav with "meek." Strongs' Definition describes it as "depressed (figuratively), in mind (gentle) or circumstances (needy, especially saintly)."

In the Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary we read: "[The man Moses was very meek]-- <Exo. 14:13; 32:12-13; Num. 14:13; 21:7; Deut. 9:18>. This observation might have been made to account for Moses taking no notice of their angry reproaches, and for God's interposing so speedily for the vindication of His servant's cause. The circumstance of Moses recording an eulogium on a distinguishing excellence of his own character is not without a parallel among the sacred writers, when forced to it by the insolence and contempt of opponents <2 Cor. 11:5; 12:11-12>. This the opinion of Calvin, Hengstenberg, etc. But it is not improbable that, as this verse appears to be a parenthesis, it may have been inserted as a glees by Ezra or some later prophet. This is the view taken by Rosenmuller, Jahn, and Kurtz. Others, instead of 'very meek,' suggest 'very afflicted,' as the proper rendering."

Adam Clarke Commentary elaborates on this by saying: "How could Moses, who certainly was as humble and modest as he was meek, write this en comium upon himself? I think the word is not rightly understood; `aanaayw …, which we translate meek, comes from `aanah …, to act upon, to humble, depress, afflict, and is translated so in many places in the Old Testament; and in this sense it should be understood here: 'Now this man Moses was depressed or afflicted more than any man, 'aadaam, of that land.' And why was he so? Because of the great burden he had to bear in the care and government of this people, and because of their ingratitude and rebellion both against God and himself: of this depression and affliction, see the fullest proof in the preceding chapter. The very power they envied was oppressive to its possessor, and was more than either of their shoulders could sustain."

It seems that Adam Clarke, like most people, misunderstands the concept of humility. First of all, the idea of Moses being depressed because "of the great burden he had to bear in the care and government of this people" does not seem to fit the context. It is clear that God takes up Moses' defence because Moses does not defend himself. This is, obviously, the fruit of Moses' humility, or meekness. Secondly, contrary to the popular concept, an admission of humility does not annul humility. Certainly, when Jesus said: "Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart," He did not become less humble. Humility is related to greatness; only the high ones can bow down low, and only the great can humble themselves. A confession of humility is not a denial of qualities or qualifications, we know we possess, but a simple recognition of the source of our greatness. We are humble when we confess, in Paul's words: "And who is equal to such a task? … our competence comes from God."[ 3 ] Moses was the most humble man on earth, because he was overwhelmed with the thought that he would be nothing, if it were not for the fact that God had made him what he was.

Not only does God take up Moses' defence (and by inference of his wife!) but He reacts immediately. The NIV says "At once," for the Hebrew pith'om; the KJV renders it with "suddenly." The literal meaning is "instantly." God's punishment is swift. Moses, Aaron and Miriam are summoned to the tabernacle, and when God finishes speaking to them, Miriam is covered with leprosy. Her physical condition seems to portray her spiritual one, leprosy being the image "par excellence" of sin. Now, it is clear that no one on earth is without sin, not even Moses. If the content of our hearts would be visible to the naked eye, or if every human being could see what is in our hearts, as God can see it, we would all appear as lepers, "like a stillborn infant coming from its mother's womb with its flesh half eaten away." Is not that what Paul wants to say, when he speaks about his conversion: "and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born?"[ 4 ] The fact that, normally, our heart's conditions does not appear on our skin as leprosy, is due to the fact that God, in His grace, covers us with the righteousness of Christ. What God does here to Miriam is taking away the cover of her soul. This disgrace is the highest insult to our human dignity. But then, it does not take much to be disgraced, does it? God only has to show what is inside our hearts. That is why God compares what He has done to Miriam as the insult a father could inflict upon his daughter by spitting in her face. We read: "The LORD replied to Moses, 'If her father had spit in her face, would she not have been in disgrace for seven days?' "

Before this open demonstration of Miriam's inner condition, God tells the brother and sister what their brother's relationship to Him really is. God's testimony about Moses is the most impressive one given about any human being in the whole Old Testament. It is only surpassed by what the Father testifies about His Son, Jesus Christ, when He spoke from heaven: "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased."[ 5 ] He said to Miriam and Aaron: "Listen to my words: When a prophet of the LORD is among you, I reveal myself to him in visions, I speak to him 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?"

The keyword is "faithful." The Hebrew word is 'aman, which Strong defines as: "to build up or support; to foster as a parent or nurse; figuratively to render (or be) firm or faithful, to trust or believe, to be permanent or quiet; morally to be true or certain." These alternatives do not seem to explain too well, what God is saying in the context of the comparison between Moses and other prophets. We understand the gist, of course, which is that God does not reveal Himself to Moses in a veiled or indirect way, as He does to other prophets, but directly, using the same mode of communication as is used in inter-human relations. We read: "With him I speak face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the LORD." Moses sees the form of the Lord and he hears a voice which speaks words in a human language. This seems to suggest an intimacy between God and man which was unparalleled in history. This is not the picture we get when reading the words: "he is faithful in all my house." It could very well be that the expression is proverbial and that the sentence says more in the original than the sum of its words.

The author of the Epistle to the Hebrews quotes this text when he compares Moses to Christ. He says: "Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God's house. Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. Moses was faithful as a servant in all God's house, testifying to what would be said in the future. But Christ is faithful as a son over God's house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast."[ 6 ] The emphasis in this quote in Hebrews is on the similarity and the difference in the relationship of these two, Moses and Jesus, with God, the Father. They were both faithful, and God trusted them both, but one was a servant and the other is the Son.

It may be helpful to turn to the story of Joseph in Egypt, to understand the confidence a master can have in his slave. We read about him: "When his master [that is Potiphar] saw that the LORD was with him and that the LORD gave him success in everything he did, Joseph found favor in his eyes and became his attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household, and he entrusted to his care everything he owned. From the time he put him in charge of his household and of all that he owned, the LORD blessed the household of the Egyptian because of Joseph. The blessing of the LORD was on everything Potiphar had, both in the house and in the field. So he left in Joseph's care everything he had; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate."[ 7 ] The story repeats itself when Joseph is put in prison, and we read: "But while Joseph was there in the prison, the LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. So the warden put Joseph in charge of all those held in the prison, and he was made responsible for all that was done there. The warden paid no attention to anything under Joseph's care, because the LORD was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did."[ 8 ] Moses' faithfulness in God's house consisted of the fact that God had the highest priority in his life; just as Jesus, who said to His disciples: "My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work."[ 9 ]

But the fact remains that, however confidential a relationship may be, a slave is a slave and a son is a son. Moses may have known God as no other man did in the Old Testament dispensation; and we, in Christ, we know God on the basis of a blood relationship. This blood is thicker than water.

The key to a right understanding of God's words to Miriam and Aaron seems to be in the comparison between Moses and Christ. It was not merely the fact that Moses was more than conscientious in the way he carried out his task before God; it was what Moses portrayed, more than what he did. This, of course, was beyond the scope of Miriam and Aaron's vision, and even beyond that of Moses, but the Holy Spirit knew what He was saying and the writer to the Hebrews understood it correctly. God compares Moses to His Son, and that is why He bestows the grace of intimacy upon His servant. In the same way God would call David "a man after his own heart." Samuel says to king Saul: "Your kingdom will not endure; the LORD has sought out and appointed him leader of his people, because you have not kept the LORD's command."[ 10 ] God used this term for David, because he reminded him, so to speak, of His own Son.

There are in this portion of Scripture two sets of concentric circles: For Miriam and Aaron there is the smaller circle of friction between them and Zipporah, Moses' wife which triggers their feelings and thoughts to move to the larger circle of their status before the Lord. In this process they greatly deceive themselves. They compare themselves to another nation, from which Zipporah descended, and found themselves superior, and then moved into the circle of their spiritual call, and found themselves to be on the same level as their brother Moses, if not higher.

God's circles run from Moses to Christ and from the tabernacle, and the nation of Israel to the bride of Christ and the ultimate revelation of His glory. The human circles are puny and insignificant. The divine circles deal with eternity and the consummation of God's plan of salvation.

If we could lay the circles of our pride and prejudice upon the circles of God's revelation in Christ, ours would melt away as snow for the sun. Yet, our circles dominate our relationships with those who are our brothers and sisters in Christ and with the rest of humanity. In this story God shows us how ugly and repulsive this is to Him. Aaron puts it eloquently, when he says that Miriam looks like "a stillborn infant coming from its mother's womb with its flesh half eaten away." If we compare the birth of a normal healthy baby with this picture Aaron paints for us, we get a clear idea of what God wants us to be and what we make of ourselves. One of the most moving experiences is to assist to the birth of a child, especially one's own child. One of the most heart renting experiences must be to see a miscarriage, such as the one Aaron describes, take place before our eyes.

The whole incident illustrates the tension between God's love and His wrath. Miriam's leprosy is, obviously, the result of God's wrath. We read: "The anger of the LORD burned against them, and he left them." Yet, the revelation of Miriam's inner leprosy, the leprosy of her heart which became visible on her skin, is also a demonstration of God's love. Aaron and Miriam now understand how ugly they had been in God's sight. They saw themselves as they were; and Aaron was, of course, just as much of a leper as his sister. Aaron confesses their sin and they are both restored by means of Moses' intercession for them.

Moses' intercessory prayer completes the picture of the one he represents. Confession of sin in itself would have no salutary effect whatsoever. We are not saved, forgiven, and restored because we confess, but because of the intercession of our High Priest. The writer of the Hebrew Epistle makes this clear when, speaking about Jesus as High Priest, he says: "Therefore he is able to save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to intercede for them."[ 11 ] The basis and strength of Jesus' prayer is the fact that He paid for our sins with His own blood. In the book of Revelation we read that the heavenly beings and the twenty-four elders sing this song before the Lamb: "With your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation."[ 12 ] This feature does not seem to be portrayed in this incident, unless we take it that Miriam's quarantine included the ritual of purification which involved the sacrifice of the two birds in which one was killed and the other one released, as prescribed in the book of Leviticus.[ 13 ]

Moses' prayer, "O God, please heal her!" is one of the shortest prayers in the Bible. It is also one of the most effective ones. We get the impression, although this is not stated specifically, that Miriam was healed instantly. Her quarantine was a ritual to remind her of the gravity and character of her sin, not a prerequisite for healing.

Apparently, Miriam is the only one who is the object of God's anger. We do read though that Aaron was part of the plot against Moses also. Going over the Pentateuch with a fine tooth comb, we find that there are parts of Aaron's life story that are not told. Recounting the incident with the Golden Calf, Moses says: "And the LORD was angry enough with Aaron to destroy him, but at that time I prayed for Aaron too."[ 14 ] None of this comes out in the actual report about the making of the calf in Exodus. We may conclude that Moses did some editing in his own manuscript, which makes Aaron appear in a more favorable light than he actually merited. As we mentioned before, we get the impression of Aaron as being a person who was easily influenced by the stronger characters that surrounded him.

Aaron may also have been spared God's punishment because of the immunity his office rendered him. Had he been afflicted with heresy, like his sister was, he would probably have been disqualified for life to serve as a high priest.

There is something very moving in the solidarity of the people with Miriam's lot. We read: "So Miriam was confined outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on till she was brought back." We could ask: "What about the cloud that determined whether the people moved or not?" If the cloud had remained stationary for seven days, we can hardly say that the people did not move because they waited for Miriam's restoration. We may suppose, therefore, that the cloud lifted, but the people refused to go. If this is true, it throws an interesting light upon the relationship between divine guidance and the human response to it. The refusal of the people to move, out of consideration for Miriam's condition, must have been pleasing to God. Jesus said: "Anyone who loves his father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; anyone who loves his son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me."[ 15 ] There are moments when we ought to choose for God and put father and mother at the second place. At other times we should not move, even if God's guidance seems to nudge us to do so, until the one we love is restored. There is a fine line between criminal behavior and civil disobedience, and we need a refined spirit of discernment to know the different. May God give us the gift to grasp this.

[ 1 ] See Ex. 4:24-26

[ 2 ] Matt. 10:18-20

[ 3 ] II Cor. 2:16; 3:5

[ 4 ] I Cor. 15:8

[ 5 ] Matt. 3:17

[ 6 ] Heb. 3:1-6

[ 7 ] Gen. 39:1-6

[ 8 ] Gen. 39:20-23

[ 9 ] John 4:34

[ 10 ] I Sam. 13:14

[ 11 ] Heb. 7:25

[ 12 ] Rev. 5:9

[ 13 ] See Lev. 14:1-7

[ 14 ] Deut. 9:20

[ 15 ] Matt. 10:37