Miriam and Aaron Oppose Moses

The Dispute

Numbers 12:1-3

Numbers 12:1–3 ESV

Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman. And they said, “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 meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth.

Moses married to a foreigner

A family matter

Becomes a leadership matter

Has God not spoken through us

Moses was meek

Did not argue

The Lord’s Defense of Moses

Numbers 12:4-9

Numbers 12:4–9 ESV

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. 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. 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. Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. 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?” And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and he departed.

God demands the presence of the three parties

God speaks to prophets in dreams and visions

God speaks to moses mouth to mouth clearly not in riddles

He sees the form of God

Moses better than prophets

Why speak against Moses

The Punishment

Numbers 12:10-16

Numbers 12:10–16 ESV

When the cloud removed from over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, like snow. And Aaron turned toward Miriam, and behold, she was leprous. And Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord, do not punish us because we have done foolishly and have sinned. Let her not be as one dead, whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes out of his mother’s womb.” And Moses cried to the Lord, “O God, please heal her—please.” 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.” 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. After that the people set out from Hazeroth, and camped in the wilderness of Paran.

Miriam was leprous

Why only Miriam

Aaron admits his own guilt yet he is not leprous

He is high priest to be leprous he could not perform his duties

Aaron and moses beg for healing immediate healing

Spit in the face

sign of shame and humiliation

greater shame was rejecting Moses

God said she would have leprosy 7 days

Lepers were put outside the camp away from everyone else until healed

Leviticus 13:44–46 ESV

he is a leprous man, he is unclean. The priest must pronounce him unclean; his disease is on his head. “The leprous person who has the disease shall wear torn clothes and let the hair of his head hang loose, and he shall cover his upper lip and cry out, ‘Unclean, unclean.’ He shall remain unclean as long as he has the disease. He is unclean. He shall live alone. His dwelling shall be outside the camp.

The people did not move out until Miriam was healed