The Israelites were mumbling and
groaning about their lot in the wilderness and it was all getting
too much for Moses. He cried out to the Lord for help and the Lord
gave him 70 other men who could help him in his task of leading the
Israelites. It would ease his burden somewhat. But soon after this
Miriam and Aaron started to criticize Moses too. Poor Moses, his
own family, who was also in the leadership of Israel, with Aaron as
the High Priest, started to turn against him. How awful. Poor Moses
must have felt so alone. The two people he relied on the most,
turned against him. They criticized him because he had married a
Cushite woman. Now why they were so upset about that, we can only
guess. Plus what happened to his first wife, Zipporah, a Midianite,
we don't know either. But it soon becomes clear that they were
using Moses' supposedly wrong marriage as a smoke screen of why
they really were upset:
'They said, "Has the Lord spoken
only through Moses? Hasn't He spoken through us too?" Numbers
12:2
The real issue was that they were
jealous of Moses and jealous of his close relationship with God.
They didn't like his growing influence over the people and that he
had so much authority. They wanted some of that authority for
themselves. Aaron was already the High Priest and Miriam was seen
as a prophet and had a high standing as Moses' sister, but they
both wanted more. They wanted more recognition and they wanted more
power. They forgot all about Moses' hardships and what he had to go
through to lead these people out of Egypt. They only saw the
position he had now and they wanted part of it. And instead of
dealing with the sinful attitude in their hearts, they decided to
attack Moses. They couldn't attack his character, because his
behavior was exemplary, so they decided to attack his wife and use
this as a smoke screen for their jealousy.
God of course knew their hearts and
what it was really about and He was furious and struck Miriam with
leprosy. Aaron and Miriam were soon very sorry about their sinful
attitude and begged Moses to help them, which he did. Moses prayed
to the Lord and the Lord said that after seven days of exclusion of
the camp, Miriam will be healed.
Wow, Moses is really remarkable. He
wasn't angry with them, he didn't retaliate, he left the problem
with God and even stood up for them when he felt God's punishment
was too severe. I wonder what I would have done…
We often use smoke screens to
attack people we don't like. We are so glad when they do something
wrong, so that we can finally have something to use against them,
even if the issue is not that big. We should make sure that when we
are in a disagreement over something, that we really are addressing
the issue at hand and not arguing over some built up jealousy that
we might have. And vice versa. You can sometimes be attacked over
trivial matters and criticized over issues that you deem to be
small, remember that you might be criticized over an issue that
they might be struggling with. Don't take such criticism
seriously; don't even waste your time on it. Give it to God; He
will handle it according to His good will.
And in general, even if there is no
underlying jealousy or issue, don't argue over trivial matters and
ruin a relationship. It really is not worth it. I have seen so many
people argue about things that are really so stupid! Don't fall
into that trap, relationships are far too important. Rather focus
on all the good things of that person, rather than on the small
issues. It really isn't worth your breath.
Lord, thank you for the
relationships that You have given us. Thank you that You have
blessed us with loved ones in our lives. Please forgive us that we
sometimes argue with them over stupid matters and help us to rather
focus on the attitude in our hearts. Amen