The result for Moses after the trial, though found wanting during the time, is blessing. He did not despise the manna, but there was righteous judgment for those that did despise it, longing for Egypt's food. Moses, though desponding and unbelieving, carried his trouble to God and was delivered. With the people it was very different; they simply lusted after flesh, and God in His displeasure gave them their desire. Solemn indeed the condition when the granting of our requests becomes a judgment. There was abundance given till they loathed it “Because that ye have despised Jehovah who is among you and have wept before Him, saying, Why came we forth out of Egypt?” This loathing was not the mere natural effect of surfeiting, it had a feature which marked it as a special judgment. Nor was that all: direct and immediate wrath fell upon them. There was no delay, for “while the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of Jehovah was kindled against the people, and Jehovah smote the people with a very great plague.” There was both the plague and the wrath.
This is God's righteous way of dealing with people under law. Later on in their history there was more forbearance shown them; but forbearance at this particular time would have compromised the righteousness of God. There was a divine necessity for immediate judgment. The ways of grace had been largely displayed. If they choose law, they must learn God's ways as a Righteous Governor. And where grace is despised, judgment is always heavier.
Saints now may fall into something analogous to Israel's sin. When the heart is drawn away from Christ, and becomes dissatisfied with the portion of grace, that which drew the heart aside soon becomes naught but a disappointment and a loathing. When the pleasant things of this life, its riches, honors, or even its quiet ease become an object of desire, not subject to the will of God, their Egypt character is practically forgotten and in heart like Israel saints go back into Egypt. In such a condition of soul Christ is displaced as the object of our affections; the love of the things of the world grows in the heart which necessarily brings upon the soul chastisement from the Father. A not uncommon form of chastening is disappointment in the things once coveted, then acquired, and afterward loathed. Disappointments like this are found among men, but with them it is simply the reaction of nature. With saints God uses these disappointments to wean them from the love of the world and draw them nearer to Himself. He gives the consciousness that fellowship with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ is practically lost. Next He creates a longing in the soul for a renewal of intercourse, and then He leads again to the green pastures and still waters, and the dross character of Egypt's fare appears. Many saints have to go through such disappointments.
We have had a glimpse of the inner life of Moses, and we have seen the gracious way in which God dealt with his native unbelief, so that after the process he appears again as the faithful servant and special messenger of Jehovah to the people. Circumstances, though no excuse, hid from Moses for a moment the power of God to meet all need. The time for faith without sight was not yet come, and God in accordance with His dispensational dealings, says “thou shalt see.” The superior blessedness of believing without seeing is the privilege of saints now. The characteristic of faith under the law was to see and believe. Moses did believe before he saw, but he waited to see as the confirmation of his faith. Not so with as. We truly wait to see, not confirmation while here below of the absolute certainty of God's promises, but their fulfillment in the glory, when the church in heaven and Israel on the earth shall prove how trim the word of God is. Yea, fulfillment will unveil more onto our eyes than we can now discern in the fullest promise.
Here in Num. 12 we have two different lessons to which we will do well to take heed. The one is to beware of spiritual pride, and to bow to God's will in the order of His house; the other, God's intervention on behalf of His despised servant. “And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married.” Moses rejected by Israel (Acts 7:2727But he that did his neighbor wrong thrust him away, saying, Who made thee a ruler and a judge over us? (Acts 7:27)) and in exile marrying a Gentile was the foreshadowing of the rejection of One greater than he, of One who during the time of His rejection calls His bride from among the Gentiles. It was only a shadow, and the substance was needed to learn its import. The True Light dissolves all shadows. But this marriage affords a specious opportunity for disputing the position of Moses whose meekness, so marked in wishing that all the Lord's people were prophets, does not shelter him from envy and depreciation. Indeed it not infrequently happens that the most meek are the most exposed to the shafts of envy, to the disparaging statements of those who are greatly inferior. And we have an instance here that not even the tie of kindred prevented Miriam and Aaron from speaking against their brother. The pretense is his marriage with the Ethiopian woman. It was only a peg whereon to hang their jealousy. The Pharisees showed a kindred spirit when, in their envy of the Lord and hatred of His grace, they objected to His eating with publicans and sinners. And this spirit is as insidious, as various in its aspects. The Pharisaic brethren in Jerusalem were not free from its influence when they charged Peter with going to men uncircumcised and eating with them.
Miriam and Aaron soon show their real thought, and resent themselves as of equal importance with Moses. Not his marriage but his position offends them. “Hath Jehovah indeed spoken only by Moses? Hath He not spoken also by us?” Whatever the pretext envy may use, how soon it unmasks itself and discovers its naked deformity! If these two gave vent to their jealous feeling in the hearing of the people, they mast have fallen immediately in the estimation of every discerning Israelite. But there is a far more solemn thing than losing the esteem of man. “And Jehovah heard it.” They were not thinking of Jehovah, but of themselves; pride and jealousy swayed them; and when the heart is under the influence of such feelings, it easily finds an excuse for speaking against God's servants. All that is unkind and untrue is unscrupulously used, all that is brotherly is forgotten, under cover of a pretended zeal for God and His truth. But the Lord will soon bring every secret thing into the light, and the hidden, and perhaps in many an instance the unsuspected, spring will appear. Then each will receive according to the things done in the body.
The prominency given to Moses when God miraculously confirmed His word by him in providing flesh for the people seems that which so particularly stirred up the envy of Miriam and Aaron. But such an outbreak was the result of feelings which had been permitted to grow and take form in their heart. It is well to remember that, if we allow and do not judge the root, God will make the fruit manifest, and to our shame. It is evident that the indulgence of evil in their hearts had rendered them both incapable of estimating the true position of Moses. His despondency at the beginning might have been known to them; but they knew not the secret dealing of God with him. And when he with renewed faith in the power of God went to the people with the words of Jehovah, the great change from unbelief to faith, from despondency to confidence, may have surprised them. The immediate confirmation of the word spoken by Moses in the wrath that fell upon the people only helped to bring out the unholy feeling of jealousy. Why should he be so distinguished? Is he the only one to whom Jehovah gives His word for the people? why should he be so preeminent? “hath He not spoken by us also?”
God confirms Moses in his place, and asserts His own sovereignty as to whom He speaks and the manner of communication. He assigns to each his place in His house. Aaron would intrude into the office God had given to Moses. There was not merely envy and pride, but the spirit of disobedience against God. Therefore the anger of Jehovah was kindled against Aaron and Miriam.
It was a solemn moment when Jehovah said “Come out, ye three, unto the tabernacle of the congregation.” The tabernacle received that name when Moses set it up outside the camp as a witness against an idolatrous people, and against Aaron and his calf (Ex. 33). The question then was between Jehovah and the people. Moses acts at once, in separation, apart from the established order. All that sought the Lord resorted to it. And Moses was most prominent, for it was then no personal slight. The majesty and truth of God were assailed. In meekness he leaves that in the hand of God. What a lesson here for the servants of the Lord in the face of depreciation, or even calumny! And Moses is held up by the word as a pattern. What a testimony the Spirit gives of this man! “Now the man Moses was very meek above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.” Yet afterward he failed in meekness (Num. 20:1010And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock? (Numbers 20:10)). There was but one perfect Man the earth ever saw, who never failed, who with divine truth could say of Himself, “I am meek and lowly in heart.” Moses was only a man, and to have asserted his own meekness would have proved the contrary. If we may so say, he asserted his meekness by saying nothing But the Holy Spirit declares it: none so meek as he. Enough for him that Jehovah heard the injurious words of Miriam and Aaron. The question now apparently is between Moses on the one side, and Miriam and Aaron on the other. He who was prompt to act and be foremost in separation, when the question was between Jehovah and idolatry, is now meek and silent in the presence of his depreciators. But as he formerly stood for God, now God appears for him. God takes the matter up as His own, and calls the three unto the tabernacle of the congregation, and the two guilty ones are made to know that it is not so much against Moses as against God they have spoken. And mark how God puts honor upon His faithful and meek servant. Moses on the former occasion stood boldly for the honor of God; now God appears for him and puts honor upon him. None has such intimacy with God as he. “If there be a prophet among you, I Jehovah will make myself known unto him in a vision and will speak unto him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. With him will I speak mouth to mouth even apparently [visibly] and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of Jehovah shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?”
Miriam is smitten with leprosy and only restored at the intercession of the man she had depreciated. And Aaron also has to bow and acknowledge the superior place of Moses. “Alas, my lord, I beseech thee, lay not the sin upon us wherein we have done foolishly, and wherein we have sinned.” “Moses cried unto Jehovah saying, Heal her now, O God, I beseech Thee,” and an immediate proof of his intimacy with God is given. After the necessary seclusion of seven days Miriam was brought in again. And thus Moses necessarily stands higher than he did before. God knows how to bring down pride, and provide for the honor of His servants when they are meek; and not less in this day than when Moses lived. Only let not servants attempt to vindicate themselves. The right way and the right time are known to God alone. Till then “in patience possess ye your souls.”
The whole congregation feel the consequences of Miriam's position; while she is shut up, the people journey not. She was one of the leaders. “I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam” (Mic. 6:44For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and redeemed thee out of the house of servants; and I sent before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. (Micah 6:4)). It was “Miriam the prophetess” (Ex. 15:2020And Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in her hand; and all the women went out after her with timbrels and with dances. (Exodus 15:20)) who led the dance with timbrel and song when Jehovah triumphed over the Egyptian foe. But the more prominent, the more responsible; and the more marked is the judgment. This is a principle not peculiar to the dispensation of the law, it is ever seen in God's government. In God's first recorded act of government in the garden, it is most evident. Eve, seduced by the serpent, seduces Adam. Though Eve was the first transgressor, God begins with the man as the more responsible. He points to the woman, and she to the serpent, as the true culprit; but God comes back to the man and finishes with him. And it is to the man that death is pronounced; the woman was included surely, but the solemn word that he should return to dust after a life of sorrow and toil was spoken to him. And I gather that Miriam seduced Aaron as Eve did Adam. Miriam takes the lead in the sin. It was “Miriam and Aaron” that spake against Moses. But when God calls them, it is “Aaron and Miriam” (ver. 5). The word of God is as precise in the order of words as in their choice. The woman is prominent; it is one mark of sin that it always interferes with God's order of things, and where God as Creator enjoined subjection, there to assume the command. Had Aaron maintained his place, he would not have followed his sister in sin against God. But God pits her in her place; and in judgment Aaron, as the more responsible person who should have rebuked his sister, stands first. He is the guiltier before God.
If so, why is it that Miriam, not he, is smitten with leprosy? Is not God showing here—as in other instances—that the woman represents the position, the result of sin, while in the man we see the unfaithfulness which led to the position? Aaron spiritually was as much a leper as Miriam, but she in the wisdom of God becomes the public witness of His judgment. If Aaron had been a leper, the whole service of the sanctuary would have been interrupted. God in judgment remembers mercy. Moses appears in his highest official character—as mediator. Aaron intercedes for Miriam with Moses. But it is Moses who stands between them and God. So it will be again. The prophet like unto Moses will appear. The leaders of the people have spoken against the MEDIATOR of the new covenant, and again the leaders will have to bow to His supremacy, and the typical Moses is only foreshadowing what the Lord will yet do when He brings in the new earthly covenant for Israel. He will stand between God and the guilty leprous people, and in the due time they all shall be healed.
Another consequence of the leprosy of Miriam is that the native energy of God in leading the people through the wilderness is suspended. God would show the people that it was no ordinary failure, nor was she an ordinary person. Such a sin as hers could only have been by one in her position. Neither she nor Aaron were novices, but they fell into the condemnation of the devil (1 Tim. 3:66Not a novice, lest being lifted up with pride he fall into the condemnation of the devil. (1 Timothy 3:6)). God resented their speaking against His servant; in no other case do we read of God's challenge, “Were ye not afraid?” When a “leader” sins, the consequences for the congregation or for the assembly are far greater than if another fail. The influence of leaders in the assembly of God is a solemn reality, and their position is a weighty factor in the discipline which failure inevitably brings. The body suffers if the least member is injured, much more if it be an important member. Individual members of the church of God may not through a leader's failure lose communion with God, nor cease to grow in grace and in knowledge, even while bearing the common shame on their heart and humbled on account of it. But the assembly as a whole is hindered in the path of public testimony for Christ; and there cannot be greater hindrances to corporate testimony than the spirit that actuated Miriam and Aaron, a spirit that has dared to intrude into the church of God, the church which is called the pillar and ground of the truth. The world may well say—the witnesses are not agreed: of what value is their testimony (John 17:2121That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. (John 17:21)) As a witness for Christ the church of God is like Miriam shut up as a leper. Will the leprosy be healed? Yes, I am fully persuaded that God will bring the simple and faithful into closer intimacy with Himself, and that, by a deeper feeling of dependence upon Him. Thus, though it be a narrowed sphere, and more manifest weakness, grace will produce a brighter and a clearer testimony.
The Holy Spirit (ver. 3) bears testimony to the meekness of Moses, in ver. 7 to his faithfulness, and this last is Jehovah's word to Aaron and Miriam. It is a wonderful testimony. Was he faithful when he doubted God's power? But that was not a public failure. It was the secret exercise of a soul that had not yet learned the all-sufficiency of God for every emergency, and when he appeared before the congregation, every trace of the conflict was gone. God had given him victory. His failure here was not public and official. God says, “faithful in all my house.” It is the public testimony that is meant, as “my house” shows. Up to that time Moses by no outward act had been unfaithful. And how did this commendation of Moses fall upon the ear of Aaron? Was it not a rebuke? If there was ever a time when Aaron recalled with shame the memory of his unfaithfulness in the matter of the calf, it must have been when God commended the faithfulness of Moses. God intended Aaron to feel it, for he when speaking against Moses had forgotten it. If we remember our failures, God will forget them; but if we forget, God will bring them painfully to our remembrance.
In a later day Moses forgot both meekness and faithfulness, when he and Aaron together failed (Num. 20), “because ye believed me not to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel.” This was a great public failure, yet in a still later day the Holy Ghost again records that Moses was faithful in all His house (Heb. 3:55And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; (Hebrews 3:5)). And why in Numbers is it “mine house” and in Hebrews “his house"? Why the change from my, to his? Because the Son was come, and the old “house” is no longer owned. The foundation of the new “house” (Eph. 2:19-2219Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; 20And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; 21In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: 22In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:19‑22)) was laid, and Christ as Son over His own house is not a servant but Lord. And He alone is the Faithful, and His house has put out of sight the old house in which, notwithstanding his eminence, Moses was only a servant. But is it not wonderful, that though Moses failed so that he was not permitted to enter Canaan, yet centuries after the testimony of the Spirit concerning the man is “faithful in all his house?” Such is the reckoning of grace.