Nu. 12: Miriam Blows It

Moses married a new girl, a Cushite. Probably not the best idea, since she wasn't an Israelite. Aaron and Miriam did not like her, whether it was because of her race, or some other reason. They began to gossip about Moses. They complained to each other that God had spoken through them, too, and God heard this. Maybe this was the reason for God's rage back in chapter 11, the Israelites complained about God without bringing their problems to God. Anyway, just as He heard the Israelites, God heard Moses' brother and sister talking junk.

He summoned all three of them to the Tent of Meeting. He revealed the specialness with which He spoke to Moses, in clear instructions (for example, the law and the tabernacle...there was no margin for error or miscalculation) rather than metaphor and riddles. God also cited Moses' faithfulness. I also find it amazing in verse 8 where God says the Moses "sees the form of the LORD." How easy would it be to jump whenever the LORD says so, if you could see the very "form" of Him? What an awesome experience it must have been for Moses.

Miriam wound up having a skin disease, and had to follow the rules for purification, she had to be confined outside the camp just like anyone else. I suspect the punishment God handed down could have been much worse, she could have had a permanent condition, but Aaron begged God not to hold her sin against her. Which makes me wonder why Aaron didn't receive any punishment, other than being the object of God's wrath.

Why would Aaron and Miriam speak this way against their brother unless they were in some way jealous of how God used him in comparison to how God used Moses? His Cushite wife was hardly the issue in my opinion, rather an opening for her jealousy to be expressed. Why then would I want to be jealous of someone else's "position" in regards to God?