Miriam and Aaron are jealous of Moses.
v 1-2 Aaron, Moses’ brother, and Miriam, Moses’ sister, were leaders too. They helped Moses but they had become jealous of him. It came to a point where they were accusing Moses. He was not the only person to speak on God’s behalf now, hence they were saying that Moses was not special. Also, they seemed to accuse him because he had married a foreigner. They were saying wicked things (v4-9). When leaders sin, this affects the people they lead. Leaders of churches today should remember this!
To accuse an innocent person in this way is bad. In fact, the name ‘Satan’ (the devil) means ‘the accuser’. It is his nature to accuse. It is very wrong to have this kind of attitude, it is of the devil. Paul warned about this in 1 Timothy 3:11. That passage is about the attitude that leaders and their relatives should have.
Aaron was the High Priest. Miriam was a prophet (Exodus 15:20). They were, however, jealous because Moses was God’s special servant.
V3 Moses was a humble man. The word ‘humble’ refers to someone who depends on God completely. Moses knew that God gave him the power and strength to lead the Israelites. Moses knew that he could not do this without God’s help. So, he talked to God often. He asked God what to do.
God considered Moses highly because Moses was humble. God considers people who serve others to be great (Matthew 23:11). Jesus was humble. He came to serve us and to show us how to have this same attitude (Philippians 2:5-11).
God appeared to Moses, Aaron and Miriam. He spoke to them by means of a poem (verses 6-8). He said that he spoke to prophets by means of dreams and visions. Moses was different for God spoke to him as a person speaks to another person. This is what the words ‘face to face’ mean (verse 8).
Miriam and Aaron had no right to complain about this and God acted against them and punished Miriam. He gave her a disease that affected her skin (leprosy). However, he did not punish Aaron like this. Perhaps Miriam was more guilty than Aaron. The author puts Miriam’s name before Aaron’s name in verse 1. This was not the custom usually, because Miriam was a woman. Also, the word ‘said’ in verse 1 actually means ‘she said’ in Hebrew.
But Moses was displeased because God punished Miriam. At Aaron’s request to help Miriam, Moses prayed immediately. It was a very short prayer but was very sincere. Immediately, God answered Moses by healing Miriam!
In accordance with the law, Miriam had to stay outside the camp for a week. This was because she was unclean (Leviticus 13:1-6). So, everyone in the camp knew that Miriam had done a bad thing. It was a sign of shame (Deuteronomy 25:9; Job 30:10; Isaiah 50:6. Miriam felt this shame. The camp could not move on until she returned thus her sin delayed the Israelites’ journey to the Promised Land.
People with diseases that affected the skin had to live away from other people. This was so that they did not give the disease to other people, and they had to stay outside the camp after the disease had gone. They had to show the disease had gone and had to purify themselves by means of special ceremonies (Leviticus 14:1-32). These were the rules about people with diseases that affected the skin.
Miriam’s shame should have been an example to the people. They should have realised that it is very wrong to say evil things about someone. This is what the devil gets us to do. The devil is the accuser of God’s people, and it is wrong to be jealous of other people who have important jobs. We should all be content to fulfil the work that God has given to us.
Did they learn? Sadly, the next chapter shows that the people did not learn from Miriam’s example.
