Chapter 34: Miriam and Aaron Criticize Moses
Q1 - Why was only Miriam punished by God and not Aaron also?
A1 - The scriptures do not tell us the answer to this question. Several commentaries suggest that because Miriam’s name is listed before Aaron’s in this passage, that she was the primary instigator of the complaint against Moses and that Aaron followed her lead. The incident with the golden calf seems to indicate Aaron may well have lacked the character needed to speak against her influence, if that were the case.
At any rate, Aaron immediately cried out when he saw Miriam was leprous. He asked for forgiveness, but there is no record of Miriam being repentant or asking for forgiveness. In fact, Miriam is not mentioned again in scriptures until her death in Numbers 20:1.
Whether Aaron being the high priest played a part in his not being punished is unknown. However, it stands to reason that it would not be a good thing for him to be made unclean by becoming leprous as Miriam was.
Q2 - What comes to mind when you hear someone referred to as meek or humble? Think of Moses’s life and consider the many times he spoke with resolve or acted decisively and powerfully. How did his words or actions exemplify real humility?
A2 - If you look up the words meek and humble in the dictionary, you find definitions such as quiet, submissive, and unassuming. Yet, those descriptions seem inappropriate for a man who became so angry with an Egyptian taskmaster that he killed him. Nor do they fit someone who stood so boldly before the powerful king of Egypt time after time, challenging his authority to hold the Israelites as slaves. Certainly, they fail to characterize someone who was able to lead such a massive horde of people and livestock out of Egypt, through the waters of the Sea and back to the Mountain of God.
Moses exhibited real humility in that he conformed his will to the will of God. He often acted forcefully, but he did so as God directed and guided him to do. Moses was meek and humble, but not in the ways that the world would consider someone to be. He was meek and humble before God.
When God called Moses to be the leader of the Israelites, Moses felt he lacked the qualifications, particularly in regard to his speaking ability. It’s interesting to note that later the Apostle Paul would also describe himself as someone who lacked eloquence of speech. In his first letter to the church at Corinth, he wrote this: “…When I came to you, I did not come with eloquence or human wisdom as I proclaimed to you the testimony about God…I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling. My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power, so that your faith might not rest on human wisdom, but on God’s power” (1 Corinthians 2:1–5, NIV).
Paul went on to become one of God’s most powerful mouthpieces in all of Christianity, just as Moses had been under the Old Law. In their great humility, they both relied on God to guide them rather than on their own abilities. They serve as examples for us today to not let our own feelings of inadequacy keep us from doing the work God has called us to do. Our weaknesses only make God’s wisdom and might all the more evident.
Q3 - In Hebrews 3:1–6, the writer compares Moses to Jesus. How are they similar? How is Jesus superior to Moses?
A3 - In your study of this scripture, you will want to go ahead and read all of Hebrews 3, as the writer of Hebrews uses the Israelites’ unbelief as an example for us today.
Both Moses and Jesus were faithful to God who appointed them. However, Moses was faithful as a servant in all of God’s house, testifying to what would be said in the future. Christ was faithful as a Son over God’s house, and He was the future. He was the One to whom the Old Testament scriptures pointed.
In verse 1, Jesus is called both an apostle and a high priest. (Evidently, this is the only place in the scriptures where Jesus is referred to as an apostle.) According to the Encyclopedia of the Bible, the word apostle means one sent out. Moses was sent to lead the Israelites and to bring the Law to them. The mission Jesus was sent out to perform was much broader in scope. He would make eternal salvation available to the whole world, and upon His death He would usher in a New Covenant.
While both Jesus and Moses were sent out from God, only Jesus would also be able to become our high priest. According to the Law, that was not a role that Moses could fulfill. God had appointed his brother, Aaron, and his descendants instead. They were earthly high priests, and they were all fallible. Jesus, after becoming our perfect sacrifice, sat down at the right hand of God. There he continues to act as our spiritual high priest, a role that he fulfilled once and for all time (see Hebrews 10:11–14).