a child of god
this is the way, run in it
![]() I find the early section of Numbers a bit painful to read. The people of Israel keep getting it spectacularly wrong. And it looks all too much like human nature to be comfortable to me. So in Numbers Chapter 11 we had them murmuring and complaining about not having any meat to eat - in the middle of a desert expedition! And now in Chapter 12 we have two of the three main leaders murmuring and complaining against Moses, the other main leader. And boy, do they get in trouble! Miriam and Aaron are complaining away to each other and saying, "Huh! Is Moses the only one God speaks through?! Doesn't He speak through us as well!" And the Lord heard them. So God speaks to Moses, Aaron and to Miriam and says, "You three come out to the tent of meeting to Me." (I wonder if they knew what was coming? Could they hear a tone in God's voice?) And He starts speaking to them, building up to what He is going to say to them, "Hear Me now. (You say you hear from Me, well, get ready.) If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, will make Myself known to him in a vision, I shall speak to him in a dream. It's different with My servant Moses. He is faithful in all My household; with him I speak mouth to mouth, even openly and not in dark saying, and he beholds the form of the LORD. (I'm sure at this point Miriam and Aaron were trembling in their boots.) Why then were you not afraid to speak against My Servant Moses?!" And the anger of the LORD burned against them and He departed from the tent of meeting. Now, Miriam is immediately struck with leprosy, so severe it covers her from head to toe. Aaron cries out to Moses and begs him to forgive them for sinning and acting foolishly and begs that he help Miriam. Moses, humble Moses, even though he has been disrespected by Miriam and Aaron, cries out to God and says, please Lord, heal her!" This is the bit that I find instructive today. God says to Moses, if her earthly father were disciplining her, wouldn't she have to bear her shame for 7 days? So let her be shut up for 7 days outside the camp (the law for uncleanliness due to leprosy) and afterward she may be received into the camp again. When we get in trouble, and we are let off the hook, we tend to not treat the whole thing as seriously as we should. Good parents know this and they discipline their children with fairness but with justice, so they learn the correct way to behave. God is saying, where is My honor in this if I let her off without paying the penalty? Where is the justice and rightness in that? And get this! - the whole camp, all the people of Israel, could not strike camp and move out following God until Miriam's time of paying the consequences of her sinful action was complete. They all had to wait, and couldn't move forward, until the right thing was done due to one or two people's actions. That is sobering. We sometimes don't want to think about the ripple effect our actions cause, but they are there. And God is true to His word. After 7 days, Miriam is healed, and she returns to the camp, and then they can move forward together.
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Franci Ballwatching and working for the kingdom of God in Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham - UK Archives
January 2019
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