05.01.30 How Miriam and Aaron Gossiped Against Moses
How Miriam and Aaron Gossiped Against Moses
A Bible Story
Miriam was the eldest sister of Aaron and Moses. The threesome were born to a man named Amram, a Levite, and his wife Jochebed while in Egypt. To cut a long story short, the siblings were later to become leaders of the children of Israel, each playing a specific role in their exodus from the foreign land. With Moses in the forefront, Miriam was the prophetess (Exodus 15:20-21) while Aaron was Moses’ mouthpiece (Exodus 4:14-17) and later became the very first high priest (Exodus 28:1-43). Miriam was a leader of the womenfolk; but also a lead singer and dancer, as we see her and the women rejoicing and worshipping God after crossing the Red Sea (Exodus 15:20-21).
However, in Numbers 12: 1-8, the bible reveals how Miriam and her brother Aaron gossiped against Moses; a thing which God did not like. That scripture reads (NKJV): 1Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married; for he had married an Ethiopian woman. 2So they said, “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also?” And the Lord heard it. 3(Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth.). 4Suddenly the Lord said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, “Come out, you three, to the tabernacle of meeting!” So the three came out. 5Then the Lord came down in the pillar of cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam. And they both went forward. 6Then He said, “Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, make Myself known to him in a vision; I speak to him in a dream. 7Not so with My servant Moses; he is faithful in all My house. 8I speak with him face to face, even plainly, and not in dark sayings; and he sees the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?”
The bible reports how God was extremely angry to the extent that after He and the cloud departed from the tabernacle, Miriam became suddenly leprous. On seeing her sister’s disease, Aaron begged Moses to forgive them. However, when Moses pleaded with God to heal Miriam, He (God) insisted that she should suffer the consequences and be shut out of the camp for seven days. It was thereafter that she was checked to ensure that she was free from the disease, then readmitted back into the camp. Only then did the children of Israel resume their journey, which meant that they lost seven days travel as a result.