Being an only child, I can only speculate on the difficulties of brother and sister relationships. There’s a family conflict in scripture involving Moses that is often overlooked, and can be found in Numbers 12. Moses, Aaron, and Miriam – they are the trio of siblings God used profoundly in leading the Israelites out from slavery. Aaron and Miriam began reflecting on how Moses had married an Egyptian woman, perhaps questioning his loyalty, obedience to God, and ability to lead the Israelites out of Egypt.
Pride creeps in. They decide since God speaks through them as well as Moses, they should have the same authority and power over the Israelites. Pride suggests they should be elevated beyond what God has called them to.
God literally calls them out on their sin, confronting them in Moses’ presence. Punishment? – Miriam is given an intense skin disease (the word has a broader meaning than specifically leprosy, though it could well be). Moses intervenes on her behalf, and she is sent outside the camp of Israel for 7 days. This is both a fulfillment of the command to keep lepers outside the camp, as well as to serve as a warning to Israel.
She comes back after 7 days, Israel abruptly moves on in their desert wanderings, and she is never heard from again in scripture. Moses’ pleaded for the Lord to heal her, but the text does not say if she was healed! Maybe she was, maybe she wasn’t.
Interpreting the text – Numbers 12
In realizing scripture is about real people in real situations, consider Miriam. She acknowledged before the Lord her sin, yet spends 7 long days and 7 long nights outside the camp. Possibly alone, possibly itching, scratching, possibly her flesh rotting. She has gone from being a prophetess (Exodus 15:10) to being temporarily banished. No doubt looked down upon by many, talked about – and think of the walk of shame as the crowds no doubt moved out of the way while she walked away from the presence of the Lord and from his people. 7 days of reflecting, of meditating on her jealousy and realizing God is much greater and she is much less significant. Then the walk back into the camp, and to face her two brothers, one righteous and one slightly less so. What does she say? How does she act? Sin and its consequences have defined her now, have shaped how people see her. She serves as a living example that God is not to be trifled with, but must be served faithfully with humility.
As the Israelites stand at the edge of the Promised Land and the second-giving of the Law, Deuteronomy, is given. One of the warnings is for Israel to "remember what the LORD your God did to Miriam on the way as you came out of Egypt.” (Deuteronomy 24:9 NAS). Miriam has gone from prophetess to leper, to serving as a warning for others of how jealousy and sin are detested in God’s sight.
Applications
We take sin so lightly in America. It’s okay to get a divorce if things don’t work out, if your wife hates you and yells at you every day. It’s understandable that no one likes the senior pastor and the associate pastor needs to replace him, even though God has not said so. After all, God uses both right?
While there was grumbling and conversations of jealousy, these were not outright blatantly obvious sins. Rather, they were sins of the heart – jealousy, perhaps some pride and some self-righteousness thrown in the mix too. Neither of these sins of the heart were specifically addressed in Exodus, but God’s response indicates he detests jealousy. In the text, Moses is mentioned as being incredibly humble - as opposed to his brother and sister who demand, in a sense, to be in Moses’ shoes. The Egyptian wife is merely an outward reason to plan/act on their jealous sinful hearts.
What’s the outward reason we use as an excuse to cover up the inward sin of our hearts? Do we preach and teach the bible because we want to be admired? Do we point out the obvious mistake of our coworker because we desire to be recognized and be perceived as more valuable than them? In brief conversations at church, do we promote ourselves and our accomplishments over the week, or do we listen to others?
Applications are endless, but most importantly, specific when the Holy Spirit brings deep conviction to our hearts. Christians need to be concerned about their outward actions, such as tearing down the leaders God has put over them. But we also need to be even more concerned about those deceptive sins of the heart that can go un-noticed by others, perhaps even by ourselves as well.
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