Dissension of Aaron and Miriam

Well, good morning, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This is where every day you and I, we get together. We have a little bit of... Coffee. Coffee. We get into God's Word and we grow in our love for the Lord together. And this year, 2024, Lord willing, we'll make it through the books of... Dumbles, to the army, to the heavers. Heavers, that's right. Let's have some coffee. We'll pray and we'll get into God's Word. Let's pray. Father, we thank you so much for this day. Please help us, God, to love you, to trust you, and to walk in your ways. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, so we are at the book of Numbers, chapter 12. Numbers, chapter 12. It's one whole story. And so we will read Numbers chapter 12, the whole part together. So Nathan, why don't you read 1 through 5, and I'll read 6 to 16.
Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman who had married, for he had married an Ethiopian woman. So they said, How has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also? And the Lord hollered in. Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all who were on the face of the earth. Then suddenly the Lord said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, come out, you three, to the tabernacle of meeting. So the three came out. Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle and called Aaron and Miriam, and they both went forth.
Then he said, Hear my words. If there is a prophet among you, I, Jehovah, make myself known to him in a vision. I speak to him in a dream. Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. I will speak with him face to face, even plainly and not in dark sayings. And he sees the form of Jehovah. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?
So the anger of Jehovah was aroused against them, and he departed. And when the cloud departed from above the tabernacle, suddenly Miriam became leprous, as white as snow. Then Aaron turned towards Miriam, and there she was, a leper. So Aaron said to Moses, Oh my Lord!
Please do not lay this sin on us, in which we have done foolishly, and in which we have sinned. Please do not let her be one as dead, whose flesh is half consumed when he comes out of his mother's womb." So Moses cried out to Yahweh, saying, Please heal her, O God, I pray.
Then Yahweh said to Moses, If her father has put spit in her face, would she not be shamed seven days? Let her be shut out of the camp seven days, and afterward she may be received again. So Miriam was shut out of the camp seven days, and the people did not journey till Miriam was brought in again. And afterward the people moved from Hazeroth and camped in the wilderness of Paran."
Alright, so we got three questions. What is this about? What's calling? What's the best verse? And calling. And what are we called to do? Good, so A, B, C. So, what do you think this is about? I think it's about Aaron saying, like, why can't I be the guy? Yeah, right. They want to be the head honcho, right? Aaron and Miriam. Do you know who Aaron and Miriam are? Nope. So Aaron and Miriam are Moses' brother and sister. This doesn't sound like a fight siblings have, does it? Yeah, that's insane. Right? No, I want to be first. No, I want to be first. Why does Moses get to be first? And they're both mad at Moses because what has he done?
He's brought them into the wilderness? We brought them into the wilderness, but look at verse 1. There's an Ethiopian woman he's married to. Yeah, he's married an Ethiopian woman. So in Africa, Egypt is up here. Ethiopia is just below it. That's a modern country of Ethiopia. But often the word Ethiopia is meant for like any type of really dark-skinned person kind of in the interior of Africa. Right, so south of Egypt, darker skin. And so Moses marries a darker-skinned woman.
And are they happy about this? Nope. No, it's kind of like... Hey, hold on, we're Jewish people and you just married this black lady, this African woman. And so they start complaining against Moses because of this. Now, this was really common in Egypt for things like this to happen. But we also know that Moses actually has two wives.
It's one of those historical realities. People were polygamous back then, is that the way it's supposed to be? Nope. Nope, but that is what happened. But they're complaining. And they complain, and who's the one who answers? God. The Lord himself, that's right. And what's the Lord say? He's not very happy. Yeah, the Lord's not very happy at all, right? He actually kind of goes to bed.
I could imagine Moses writing this, right? I think that Moses actually wrote the first five books of the Bible. Maybe Joshua helped edit them. But in verse 3, Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all the men who were on the face of the earth. Could you imagine Moses writing that? Like the Lord telling him to write that? Moses being like, what? And God being like, I said write it boy.
But who's elevated Moses? God. God did. Who put Moses in the prince's house? God. Who made Moses to be the leader of the people? God. So what does he kind of tell Moses' brother and sister? Hey, I did this so you can run against me. That's right, I did this so they're rebelling against God himself.
And so what does he do to Miriam? He gives her leprosy. He gives her leprosy, right? Her skin kind of turns white or dead. And how does Aaron respond? Dead! Yeah, right? And so Moses prays. And what does God answer? He says she has to go out for seven days before she can come back in. That's right. He gives seven days, right?
So do you think this is happening at night or day? I don't know if it happens at night or day, but we know that the cloud appears at the door of the tabernacle. God himself calls all three to the tabernacle and he's speaking to them out of the cloud. So if it's a cloud, it has to be day. Because he would have come far at night, right?
Maybe. Sometimes I scratch my head at this. I don't know if it's a cloud with fire or a fire with a cloud. I wasn't there, so I don't know how this looks. But it says that the cloud is there, so it's probably during the day. But yeah, so kind of a scary story, huh?
Yep. So go ahead. We've talked about all that. Now put it into a short one or two sentences. What's this about? People complaining. They want more power. Yeah, right. So the Israelites had just complained. There was a plague. Because they complained, God sent them all to Quail and a whole bunch of people died. And now right after that, it's only been a few days and now other people are complaining. Against Moses and against God putting Moses in charge. Okay, what do you think is the best verse or verses to underline?
I think maybe 6 and 6 and 8. Yeah, I have 6, 7, and 8. That's what I would have too. So what do you think, in your life, what do you think that this kind of calls you to do? Not play. not complain. This might tie into Romans chapter 13. Do we obey all the authorities the Lord has appointed over us? Do we necessarily like all those authorities? No. But are we to be grumbling and complaining and fighting against them? No. No, right? Now, there's limits to power and things like this. This isn't talking about blind obedience, but there's a point in which people are in authority and we've got to listen. We talked about this a little bit this morning though, but who's in charge of all the authorities? God. Right? Jesus is called what? Lord. Lord. But He's not just Lord, He's the what? Lord of Lords. Lord of Lords. Right, and so can rulers do whatever they want? Nope. Who do they have to listen to? The Lord. The Lord Himself, right?
The Lord said unto my Lord, sit at my right hand. Jesus is Lord of Lords. Jesus was David's Lord. Jesus is Moses' Lord. I'm pretty sure when it says here, I will speak with him, I speak with him face to face, even plainly and not of dark sayings, and he sees the form of the Lord. I think the only form that we're given, the icon that we're given of the Lord himself is Jesus. So I think Moses has some type of vision Or some type of way in which he actually sees the second person of the Godhead himself, Jesus.
So he sees the tabernacle right as the Lord is showing him all that stuff. But where is that tabernacle at? It's in heaven. Who is the high priest of that tabernacle? Jesus. Alright, so I think Moses is given a glimpse even of Jesus. And so when Moses leads, it's supposed to be like Jesus.
Pretty cool? Anything you want to add? Nope. I did a lot of talking. Alright, you ready to pray? You want to pray for us? Sure. Okay. Dad, thank you for a good day. Please help us to walk away knowing what we've learned today. Thank you for a wonderful day with the birds singing and the sun shining. In Jesus' name, Amen. Amen. Well, may you follow the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings. May your heart trust in Jesus Christ and may you follow where He leads.
We'll see you next time. Bye. Thanks for listening to this week's message from God's Word for You, a ministry of Sharon R.P. Church in rural southeast Iowa. We pray that the message would be used by God to transform your faith and your life this week. If you'd like to get more information about us, feel free to go to the website, SharonRPC.org. We'd love to invite you to worship with us. Our worship time is 10 a.m. every Sunday at 25204 160th Avenue. Morning Sun, Iowa, 52640. May God richly bless you this week.