IF YOU DON'T HAVE SOMETHING NICE TO SAY...

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite.

"Has the Lord spoken only through Moses?" they asked. "Hasn't He also spoken through us?"

And the Lord heard this.

(Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.)

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 came out.

Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud; He stood at the entrance to the Tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam.

When both of them stepped forward, He said, "Listen to my words: ‘When a prophet of the Lord is among you, I reveal Myself to him in visions, I speak to him in dreams. But this is not true of my servant Moses; he is faithful in all My house. 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?’”

The anger of the Lord burned against them, and He left them.

When the cloud lifted from above the Tent, there stood Miriam—leprous, like snow. Aaron turned toward her and saw that she had leprosy; and he said to Moses, "Please, my lord, do not hold against us the sin we have so foolishly committed. Do not let her be like a stillborn infant coming from its mother's womb with its flesh half eaten away."

So Moses cried out to the Lord, "O God, please heal her!"

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."

So Miriam was confined outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on till she was brought back.”

Numbers 12:1-15

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

In any election year (and we see them every year somewhere), we are often bombarded by television advertisements and social media content where candidates spend a lot of time and effort to smear their opponent. Far from tame, nothing seems to be off limits when it comes to these verbal assaults. Anything can and will be said, whether true or not, just to attract the vote of someone.

As we return to our study of the Book of Numbers after taking some time to observe Advent as well as the Christmas and New Year’s Day holidays, we see in chapter 12 that there’s more than a little subtle posturing happening within the leadership ranks of the Israelites and what makes it different from the typical political wrangling we see is that the smearing is happening between siblings within the same family.

We read right away that Aaron and Miriam began to “talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite.” They both knew that their brother was not only an obedient servant to God but also held special favor with Him. For the Lord had not spoken to anyone else as much as Moses.

Given this, if God were opposed to Moses being married to a Cushite (comparable to a Midianite) then He would have told Moses Himself but that didn’t happen so Aaron and Miriam decided to judge their brother themselves and attempt to discredit him in the court of public opinion.

What was their motive?

Well, if they could make Moses look bad then they themselves would look better than him in the eyes of the Israelites.

So they foolishly and arrogantly ask others, “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses?...Hasn't he also spoken through us?"

In other words, they were essentially saying, “Moses doesn’t have the corner on communication with God. We’re just as much in touch with Him as Moses so what makes him any better than us.”

Well, not only did the people hear their words but so did the Lord and as we see in this passage, He took action. We read where He told “Moses, Aaron and Miriam” to “come out to the Tent of Meeting” and when they came as commanded, He descended in “a pillar of cloud”, standing “at the entrance to the Tent” where He “summoned Aaron and Miriam.”

As they came forward, we read where God addressed them for their actions saying:

“Listen to my words: ‘When a prophet of the Lord is among you, I reveal Myself to him in visions, I speak to him in dreams. But this is not true of My servant Moses; he is faithful in all My house. 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?’"

You see, Moses was no ordinary prophet. Yes, he had experienced God communicating with him through visions and dreams like other appointed messengers but the faithfulness of Moses unto the Lord is what set him apart and elevated him to a higher level relationship with His Creator. Through His own testimony, God spoke with Moses “face-to-face”, “clearly and not in riddles”. Indeed, God’s connection with His servant and appointed leader of the Israelites was personable and intimate. No one was as connected to God than Him.

Therefore, Moses garnered a higher level of respect and esteem from others, including his own family members. Anyone who chose to speak against him would be viewed by God as being against Him as well. This is why we find God asking Aaron and Miriam:

“Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?"

Basically, God was asserting that if the two siblings had no respect for their own brother and spiritual leader, then they wouldn’t have respect for their Lord as well. This is what God was getting at.

So what would come of Aaron and Miriam’s sinful behavior?

Well, we see it’s very obvious that God was very upset at the two. The scriptures tell us that “the anger of the Lord burned against them” and as God departed with “the cloud lifted from above the Tent”, the evidence of consequence was revealed for we read where Miriam was “leprous, like snow.” This penalty was more than Aaron could bear, especially since it appeared he was left unpunished. We see where he pleaded with Moses, saying:

“Please, my lord, do not hold against us the sin we have so foolishly committed. Do not let her be like a stillborn infant coming from its mother's womb with its flesh half eaten away."

Of interest here, Aaron is speaking to his brother as if he was the one who had inflicted the judgment when he hadn’t. And although his two siblings have behaved so sinfully against him, notice that Moses doesn’t say to them, “Away from me with your complaints! You received what you deserved.” Rather, we find Moses interceding for his siblings, supporting them in ways that they failed to show him. Through his actions, Moses showed why he was distinguished from them by God in the first place.

Going back to our passage, we see Moses crying out to the Lord asking for Him to “please heal” Miriam and if you expected God to immediately honor that request, you would be disappointed. For we find Him saying this 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."

While God shows in His decision that He indeed is a God of mercy, He also makes it clear that He is a God of discipline. Allowing Miriam to be healed immediately would not have taught her or Aaron the proper lesson regarding their actions and so a seven day period of affliction was imposed. This week long period was consistent with other penalties that were already in replace for disrespecting an elder. And as for Israelite camp, we read where they “did not move on till she was brought back.”

In the end, God would extend His compassion and forgiveness to Miriam by allowing her to eventually be healed and return to her brother and sister Israelites.

You know, this entire passage reminds me about a saying my parents used as a teaching tool. It went something like this:

"If you don’t have something nice to say about someone, don’t say anything at all.”

Well, Aaron and Miriam would have definitely been in a lot better shape if they had been taught that and so will we as believers today. For nothing good comes out of slanderous talk or gossip intended to bring another person down. Living for the Lord is supposed to be about personal edification not personal destruction.

My prayer today is that we learn from the mistakes of Moses’ brother and sister, thinking first before we say something so our tongues don’t get us in trouble. James, the half brother of Jesus, had this to say on the subject:

“It (the tongue) is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be.” James 3:8-10

As we move into this new year, let us call on our Lord to help us control our tongue and bless us with the right words to say. We can do so by repeating these words of David found in the nineteenth Psalm:

“May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. v:14

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.