I
spent a few days on a bible bunny trail. It was intellectually stimulating, but
not of much use for this study. I now return you to our regularly scheduled
Miriam.
Numbers 12:1 And Miriam and Aaron
spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian [tyvwk
Kuwshiyth] woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian
woman.
Looking
at a smattering of Bible commentaries, most suggest the Ethiopian/Cushite woman
is not Zipporah, who came from Midian rather than Cush.
Besides,
if it were Zipporah, why did Miriam
and Aaron wait so long to protest Moses’ marriage to her? So my guess is that
she is a different woman.
Why
did Miriam and Aaron start criticizing Moses? Maybe they were close to Zipporah
and they didn’t want Moses to remarry or replace her. Maybe they were prejudiced.
Maybe they had a big fight with Moses’ wife. Who knows?
2 And they said, Hath the LORD
indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us? And the LORD heard
[emv shama`] it.
It
appears from what Miriam and Aaron say is that their dispute really had little
to do with Moses’ wife, but actually with other issues. That Moses married an
Ethiopian/Cushite woman becomes the springboard for their complaint.
God
hears Miriam and Aaron speaking against Moses. Moses doesn’t have anything to
do with what happened next. (Verse 3 describes Moses as wne `anav, meek/humble.)
4 And the LORD spake suddenly unto
Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto Miriam, Come out ye three unto the tabernacle
of the congregation. And they three came out.
Suddenly. The LORD hears Miriam and Aaron
and speaks suddenly. This behavior of
theirs must stop. Now.
None
of them were at the tabernacle at the time; the LORD calls them to the
tabernacle. What any of them were doing at the time is speculation. (I confess,
I have speculated on it already.) Whether the three were apart or together,
they all hear from the LORD suddenly.
Next,
the LORD separates Aaron and Miriam from Moses. If you look at the verses,
Miriam was mentioned first in verse 1, but then it becomes “Aaron and Miriam.”
(Speculation time again.)
5 And the LORD came down in the
pillar of the cloud, and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron
and Miriam: and they both came forth.
6 And he said,
Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself
known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream. 7 My
servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. 8 With him
will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the
similitude of the LORD shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to
speak against my servant Moses?
The
LORD says some amazing things about Moses. He says Moses is faithful [Nma 'aman] in all his (God’s) house. He speaks to
Moses apparently [harm mar'eh}, in the sense of
appearing or visibly. He doesn’t speak to Moses in dreams or visions but hp peh to
hp peh.
Why
then were Miriam and Aaron not afraid [ary yare']
to speak against his servant Moses? Yare
means to fear, revere or be afraid.
The
LORD’s anger [Pa 'aph] is kindled [hrx charah] against them. What does He do? He departs
[Kly yalak]. Then the cloud
departs [rwo cuwr] from the tabernacle.
Remember
yalak? It means “to go, walk, come”;
it also has a meaning “to live, manner of life, to die.” I contrast this with
the cloud cuwr-ing from the tabernacle.
The cloud turns aside, a simple movement, but the LORD yalak-s from Miriam and Aaron. Did the LORD yalak from them as a punishment? Or did He yalak from them to keep
from punishing them?
There
is another phrase in scripture, the “fierce anger” of the LORD. It uses a word
similar to the anger that is kindled in verse 9. In Hebrew, it is Nwrx charown Pa 'aph. You don’t mess around with the
LORD’s charown ‘aph. See Nu 25:4; Nu 32:14; Isaiah 13:9; Jer 4:8, 26; Jer 12:13 and
more. Invariably, judgment and desolation follow. That is, unless, people
repent.
To
find the LORD’s anger being kindled [charah],
look in your concordance for “anger + kindled” or “wrath + kindled.” We’ve
already seen what happens when the LORD’s anger is kindled in Nu 11. The LORD’s
anger was kindled against Moses in Exodus 4:14. At that time, Moses got off
easily compared to the subsequent times His anger is kindled.
10 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.
When the cloud departs, Miriam becomes
leprous. Aaron sees her state and repents to Moses (to Moses, not to the LORD,
who has just left them). It’s all he can do.
11
And Aaron said unto Moses, Alas, my lord, I beseech thee, lay not the sin upon
us, wherein we have done foolishly, and wherein we have sinned. 12 Let
her not be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he cometh out
of his mother’s womb.
13 And Moses cried unto the LORD,
saying, Heal her now, O God, I beseech thee.
Cried is qeu
tsa`aq, “to cry, cry out, call, cry for help,
clamor, cry out in distress or need” and to call together/gather. The brothers
are desperate for their sister’s healing. The LORD responds to Moses.
14 And the LORD said unto Moses,
If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days?
let her be shut out from the camp seven days, and after that let her be
received in again.
This
is a tough one for me. The idea of one’s father so humiliating a child seems to
hold a kind of rejection that would last more than seven days. Exegetically,
was it a typical practice in ancient Palestine? Maybe it was commonplace and
doesn’t have my 21st century horror at the thought of it. See Deuteronomy
25:9.
The
LORD defines the shame [Mlk kalam] as lasting seven days. Hermeneutically, if I were feeling shame
about something for more than seven days, maybe I’d better take those feelings
to God and get myself whole. Living in shame doesn’t do me (or the people
around me) any good. To paraphrase one of my pastors, go to the hardware store,
buy a ladder and get over it.
Numbers
11 doesn’t actually say that Miriam
is healed. She is shut out [rgo cagar] of the camp for seven days and is brought in [Poa 'acaph] again, so I infer that she was
actually healed.
The
people don’t travel until Miriam is brought in again. They are not going to
abandon her. Nor is the LORD.
