Family Matters
The man led two million Israelites to the promised land, fulfilling a covenant established by God Almighty with Father Abraham. The power of Yahweh moved through this man so tremendously that even the Egyptian empire was no match for him. The Pharaoh even capitulated under the pressure God wrought through Moses. The people saw the sea split, the appearance of Yahweh as a cloud by day and fire by night, manna, quail, serpents, plagues, and many other miraculous signs. All these wondrous works were performed through God's appointed leader, Moses. Yet, even though they saw the man of God speak with the Almighty “face to face,” Mose's big brother and sister would still not shut their mouths instead of undermining the leader's authority.
Aaron and Miriam had to speak out against Moses. Why did these two respected individuals within the Jewish community feel the need to challenge Moses’ leadership? Because of who Moses married. Aaron and Miriam, in their brilliance, decided to talk against the guy who talks to God, “Face to Face!”, because he married a Cushite woman. This can’t be true. Surely someone is embellishing the story. Nope. It was Moses’ wife that brought on the vitriol from his own family. So Miriam and Aaron decided to spread doubt toward Moses' leadership by questioning whether he was the only one God spoke through. (Interesting point, the characteristic his brother and sister focused on in this instance was exactly the thing Moses addressed as a weakness before God at the burning bush.)
Take care when considering bringing accusation against God’s ordained leader, even when the leader is your sibling.
So here we are. The Jewish people are freed by God's power from Egypt and are led by God’s man to the promised land. Right in the middle of this, big brother and big sister decide to have a problem with their brother’s wife, leading to the challenge of Moses’ authority under God’s appointment. It is likely not that straightforward, but the fact remains that the Jewish people did not need this distraction. Like most family feuds there was time between the initial offense and the eventual blow-up. In this instance, Miriam was likely first offended - it’s a female thing. But old Aaron was ready to take on the offense and claim it as his own.
All this hullabaloo leads to a wonderful interaction - at least I think so. The scripture says that “God heard” all of Miriam and Aaron’s challenges about Moses’ leadership. So in total Dad mode, God says, and I paraphrase, “Get over here, all three of you.” Seriously, God called the siblings together like a Dad ready to break off the switch. They meet God, who came down in a pillar of cloud, at the tent of meeting, and God called out Miriam and Aaron. Now, I have stood before my earthly Dad when a spanking was due. My knees rattled and I may have wet my drawers a little bit. But I can’t imagine getting called out by God the Father for an old-fashioned whooping.
God tells the two backbiters what’s up. Moses is God’s man, and Miriam and Aaron made a big mistake attacking him. God asks a question at the end of His monologue. It’s a good question. It was evident to everyone, especially these two people, that Moses and God were close, and that God had chosen Moses to lead His people. Seeing that as the case, God asks Miriam and Aaron, “Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” God left the question hanging because His anger “burned against them.” The Lord walked out before He destroyed them.
When God Almighty left the three at the tent of meeting, Miriam immediately developed a skin disease. When Aaron saw the illness spread on her skin he pleaded with Moses to do something to help his sister. Moses immediately went to God and asked Him to “heal her.” But God wasn’t going to let up. He said that even under earthly tradition, Miriam would have been disgraced for at least seven days. So she was to be “confined outside the camp for seven days and then she could join the community again.” She would live.
God’s response to the issue indicates where the problem arose. Miriam had a problem with Moses’ wife. Some say it was a racial thing. Others infer that it was a status thing. I think it was a female thing, which is to say it was because they were humans. The key is that Miriam allowed this thing to develop to a point where she was willing to incur the wrath of God by speaking out against His chosen leader. To be fair to Miriam the leader was her little brother. But still, she was undermining Moses because she didn’t like his wife. She even enlisted her weaker younger brother, Aaron, and got him in trouble with the Creator of the universe.
Don’t do that.