Numbers 12:3,10: “Now the man Moses [was] very meek, above all the men which [were] upon the face of the earth. “And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam [became] leprous, [white] as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, [she was] leprous.”
My study partner was telling of a situation where a divorced father was struggling to spend time with his children and how it seemed his ex-wife and her new husband were doing everything possible to keep him away from his children. This father only wants to be a part of his children’s life, he is very generous with his children and overpays his child support, even though he can’t really afford it. We took one of his sons out to visit him today and you could see the change in this father, he became alive and excited for the first time in a long time because he had his son with him, albeit for only a couple hours as his mother had other things planned for him. His step father even tried to make the son feel guilty by asking him: “How do you think running off to see you father this afternoon makes your mother feel?” His father is really a good man and wants to be a good father but he is made out to be some sort of selfish fiend.
Yea, I will bet some of you reading this right now knows someone or has a relative or friend who are going through the same thing. The problem is of course very complex and I am no psychologist that can explain all the factors involved, but one thing is very apparent. The children love their natural father more than the step father and this step father is not handling it well at all. He is, in a word, jealous and using his role as the step father and husband of the children’s mother to provide some sort of leverage against the natural father. Of course we know the old saying, it is the children who really suffer.
I could not help but think of Numbers 12 when I listened to this story and my study partner and I spent a few hours today examining this passage in light of its historical, cultural and emotional context as well as look at a few words in the Hebrew.
The first thing that caught my attention were the words: haish moseh – the man Moses. Throughout this passage he is just Moses, but here he is the man Moses. Why is referred to as a man. My study partner pointed out that the word ish is also used for a husband. That makes sense. It is not just the man Moses, but the husband Moses, pointing to the problem here. The context of this passage is that Moses’s brother Aaron and sister Miriam were complaining that Moses married a Cushite woman, a foreign woman. It is true the Hebrews were not allowed to marry foreigners. No, that is not what is forbidden, they are not allowed to marry unbelieving foreigners. There appears to be no complaint from God about this marriage. Scripture does not say she had any effect on Moses’s relationship with God so we can only assume she was a proselyte, who embrace the Hebrew faith. But to Aaron and Moses she was a foreigner and how could God use Moses living in such sin. After all we learn in verse 2 that Aaron and Miriam heard from God just as well as Moses.
The Bible tells us in verse 3 that Moses was the meekest man on earth. A meek man leading a nation. I think we have to do a little research on that word ‘anaw. Most our translations render this as very meek or very humble. The very is put there because the word meek is repeated two times and is followed by the word mo’ed meaning very. In the Semitic languages when a word is repeated it is to show emphasis. This word ‘anaw has other meanings. It is a Canaanite word loan word meaning occupation, or task. It means to be so focused on your task that you really don’t care what people say about you or what happens to you. This emphasis on the word meek indicates not a passive person but one who is so focused that he did not care about the criticism coming from Aaron and Miriam. But God did care because this criticism which had nothing to do with Moses marrying a Cushite woman. In fact when God took all three aside he said nary a word about the poor woman. What he did address however, was the jealousy that Aaron and Miriam felt over Moses being the top dog who hears directly from God. Their pride was hurt. This had nothing to do with Moses marriage. Just as the insults and treachery directed toward this loving father has nothing to do with his seeing his children for more than two hours as agreed or some other minor complaint, it had to do with jealousy. Now the time has come for God to deal with it.
You see God had his own plans for Miriam and Aaron. Miriam was a worship leader, Aaron was a high priest but their wanting to play Moses was preventing God from carrying out his important plans for his people. God had to put Aaron and Miriam in their place and say: “Look, I have important jobs for you both, so stop worrying about stealing Moses’s thunder and get with the program.
You know I find many Christians today who are so jealous of the preacher or his assistants on the platform preaching or the worship leaders up on stage every Sunday. They think: “Why I also hear from God, they are no different me or I can sing better than those on the worship team, so why do I not get my chance to preach or lead the worship?” Why? Well, if you sit around belly aching about it you may just miss out on what God really has planned for you.
In fact look at poor Miriam, she was struck with leprosy. Would God do that to you today if you continued in your jealousy over those on the platform. You betcha. But let’s just stop and look at this a second. The word leprosy is not what we think of as leprosy today. It could be but it is more than that. Medical science was not as advanced as it is today. So any skin condition would in Old Testament times was lumped into the word tsara’ which we always render as leprosy. Note this tsara’ that afflicted Miriam was kesalge as snow. Snow is white, it is flaky. Check the internet and look up our modern term for leprosy. It is called Hanson disease and it is a horrible affliction that causes the skin to rot away. However, the skin does not turn white. In Extra Biblical literature tsara’ is used for all kinds of skin afflictions from psoriasis, eczema to Hansen’s disease. God was good enough to give us a clue as to the tsara’ that afflicted Miriam. It was like snow. As my study partner pointed out snow is white and flaky. Again check the internet and you will find that psoriasis can sometimes be white/silvery flaky skin. Further research on the internet led me to an article from the Harvard Medical School which indicated that many skin disease, including psoriasis can result from great emotional stress as well as excessive exposure to sunlight.
The Bible does not say that God put leprosy on Miriam, it only says that he left her and Aaron. That means his presence left them. Then the cloud lifted, exposing them to the sunlight that the cloud protected them from. God did not bring the tsara’ on Miriam, she brought it on herself. When the presence of God lifted that peace, that relaxed gentle feeling was gone and left was her fears, anxieties, guilt and stress, all which could exacerbate a condition that was already upon her but not manifested because she was under God’s protection. Once that protection left her skin condition then manifested from her emotional stress and the exposure to the harsh sun.
Will God bring a punishment upon you for your continued jealousy over others? No, God will not bring it upon you, you will bring it upon yourself for He will withdraw his presence from you and leave you with your stress, anxieties, fears and other emotional conflicts. Check out the internet, it is filled with information on afflictions that can come from such emotional conflicts, heart disease, intestinal disorders, even cancer. Without God’s protective covering, which He cannot provide if you are in sin, you are at risk. Just as that mother and step father are at risk if they continue in their jealousy.
Recent Comments