March 28, 2024 | Be God's Light
Moses is Opposed by His Family
Scripture: Numbers 12(NIV)
1 Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite. 2 “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses?” they asked. “Hasn’t he also spoken through us?” And the Lord heard this.
3 (Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.)
4 At once the Lord said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, “Come out to the tent of meeting, all three of you.” So the three of them went out. 5 Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud; he stood at the entrance to the tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When the two of them stepped forward, 6 he said, “Listen to my words:
“When there is a prophet among you,
I, the Lord, reveal myself to them in visions,
I speak to them in dreams.
7 But this is not true of my servant Moses;
he is faithful in all my house.
8 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?”
9 The anger of the Lord burned against them, and he left them.
10 When the cloud lifted from above the tent, Miriam’s skin was leprous—it became as white as snow. Aaron turned toward her and saw that she had a defiling skin disease, 11 and he said to Moses, “Please, my lord, I ask you not to hold against us the sin we have so foolishly committed. 12 Do not let her be like a stillborn infant coming from its mother’s womb with its flesh half eaten away.”
13 So Moses cried out to the Lord, “Please, God, heal her!”
14 The Lord replied to Moses, “If her father had spit in her face, would she not have been in disgrace for seven days? Confine her outside the camp for seven days; after that she can be brought back.” 15 So Miriam was confined outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on till she was brought back.
16 After that, the people left Hazeroth and encamped in the Desert of Paran.
Devotional
It’s one thing to have your enemies oppose you. It’s another to have the people you lead grumble against you. But it’s a whole different level when your family turns on you.
Miriam and Aaron were Moses’ sister and brother. They had been with him through the hardest of times. Miriam busted out in song after they passed through the Red Sea. Aaron was named as the progenitor of Israel’s future priests. They were a family who stuck together for the good of the people they were leading.
But they didn’t like Moses’ choice of a wife. The only wife we know about is Zipporah from Midian in Arabia. They were complaining about a wife from Cush in Africa.
Exodus 12:38 tells us, “Many other people went up with” the Israelites when they left Egypt. Perhaps Moses married one of these African women from the area of modern day Ethiopia. Or maybe Zipporah was darker-skinned, and this was a derogatory way of pointing out that Moses had not married a Hebrew. The former option is most likely.
In an act of divine irony, God gave Miriam leprous skin “white as snow” in contrast to the wife of Moses with blacker skin. The Lord was telling her not to worry about someone’s skin color and ethnic background. In contrast, Moses’ character is lifted up by the Lord as a very humble man, God’s servant, and faithful in all God’s house (v. 3, 7).
How do you think Moses felt about this opposition from his siblings? How do you deal with family conflict and criticism?
In the end, Moses interceded for his rebellious sister. 1 Timothy 5:8 reminds us of this truth: “Anyone who does not provide for their relatives, and especially for their own household, has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.”
Poem
Back Stage Whispers
So why is he important?
Is he the only one?
Does not the Lord of heaven and earth
Speak to us--everyone?
He's always in the lime light;
He's always center stage
Just who, now, does he think he is?
Is he now all the rage?
We think we should get credit;
We've done our share of work
We'd like a plaque or trophy
To state how much we're worth.
We're tired of being tech crew!
This work behind the scenes
Is dull and boring; we're stars, too,
Who really should be seen
So, see here, God Director,
It's time you changed the play.
Rewrite the script, we want some lines
We want to have our day
