THE LIVES OF THE PATRIARCHS #68 | THE LIFE OF MOSES #50
Pastor Christopher Choo
Lesson 3751
THE LIVES OF THE PATRIARCHS #68
THE LIFE OF MOSES #50
MOSES VS. MIRIAM AND AARON.
It is said that one's own worst enemies are members of one's own family.
Moses had his share of familial animosity from Miriam his sister and elder brother Aaron.
Both Miriam and Aaron criticized Moses for marrying a Cushite or Ethiopian woman, but Miriam is listed first (Numbers 12:1) so it is likely she instigated the complaint.
While the complaint was ostensibly against Moses’ wife, the discontent ran deeper: “‘Has the Lord spoken only through Moses?’ they asked. ‘Hasn’t he also spoken through us?’” (Numbers 12:2). In her criticism, Miriam was questioning the Lord’s wisdom in choosing Moses as the leader.
God was angry that Miriam and Aaron were so willing to speak against the servant He had chosen.
The Lord struck Miriam with leprosy. Aaron, realizing the foolishness of their words, repented of his sin, and Moses, ever the intercessor, prayed on behalf of his sister: “Moses cried out to the Lord, ‘Please, God, heal her!’” (Numbers 12:13).
After a week-long quarantine, Miriam was healed and rejoined the camp.
As Miriam’s leprosy convicted Aaron of the foolish words they had spoken against God’s chosen servant, it should also remind us not to judge those around us or live in jealousy when God has given a specific call to someone else (see Titus 3:1–15; James 1:26; 4:11–12; Ephesians 4:31; Philippians 4:8).
Miriam had an opportunity to show the people of Israel what it meant to live in love as a servant of God without complaining, and, for most of her life, she did; but she failed in the matter of Moses’ wife.
We, too, have opportunities to show the grumblers and complainers around us what it is to be a servant of Jesus Christ.
Let us draw them to Jesus through our love and servanthood and not be drawn away from Him ourselves.
Our next encounter with Miriam is at the end of the 40-year desert wandering.
Because of their grumbling and lack of faith in God, the first generation of Israelites to leave captivity was not allowed to enter the Promised Land.
This included Miriam the prophetess.
Most of the older generation had already died in the wilderness when Israel comes back to Kadesh, where they had started their wanderings. It’s here that Miriam dies and is buried (Numbers 20:1).
Hers was a life of responsibility and service, of God’s calling and providence, yet it also reminds us that no one is too important to receive God’s discipline for personal sin (see 1 Corinthians 10:12)
