Numblers

I was struck last week with a story that unfolds in Numbers 12. The lowdown: Moses’ brother and sister are jealous of his unique position with the Israelites, they are upset that he married a foreigner. God steps in and busts Miriam and Aaron and Miriam is cursed with leprosy. We learn that leaders should not squabble, that Moses’ position is special because he has a unique relationship with God, and it is a really bad idea to anger the Creator of the universe. The thing that captured my heart in this passage is how God’s character is exposed in Moses’ response.

The New Testament talks about “having the mind of Christ”. How do you get the mind of Christ? Is it not through the Holy Spirit, studying the scriptures, and maintaining a heartfelt relationship with God? The O.T. fathers walked in a special relationship with God that is in some ways similar to the relationship we have through Christ. They did this by living a life of faith. This is what God says about Moses in this chapter.

        •        The Lord said, “Hear now my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known to him in a vision; I will speak with him in a dream.

        •        My servant Moses is not like this; he is faithful in all my house. With him I will speak face to face, openly, and not in riddles; and he will see the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?”

I would say many modern [Western] Christians fall into the first camp. We ought to live according to the relationship available to us as was given to Moses and shown by Jesus and the apostles. I digress.

        •        For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when the perfect comes, the partial will be done away. When I was a child, I used to speak as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man, I did away with childish things. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I shall know fully just as I also have been fully known.

Did Moses prophesy in part? Suffice it to say that Moses foreshadowed many thing that Christ would later do for us, that he had an amazing relationship with God, and that Moses was given the Law (i.e., a whole swath of the Old Testament) by God for the people of Israel. In a very special way that is rare Moses was given the “inside scoop” with God. It was Moses’ job to lead the people in the ways of God–he had to have a direct and personal relationship with God.

The Holy Spirit is given to Christians today to draw us into relationship with the Father. This produces us fruit as we begin to reflect God’s characters. Even lovers are transformed by the connection they have–one begins to shows traits of the other. Moses maintained an extremely intimate relationship with Jesus. Out of this relationship God grew in Moses the character that he needed to lead the people of Israel. Out of that relationship the Law of God was be given to the people. Out of that relationship Moses reflected God’s heart for Miriam and Aaron.

God needs to God, and God is holy. No, it should be God is HOLY, or maybe HOLY would suffice? Why else would the Old Testament read like a story of God nuking Israel and every nation that touchers her over and over again? One way that I begin to appreciate the work of Christ, the greatness of what is meant by God’s Love, and other hard to grasp concepts like “how could a God be both Just and Merciful?” is by starting with God’s holiness.

;God curses Miriam with leprous condition–boils, sickly skin, the works (and a chapter earlier God nuked the Israelite camp with a plague for despising the provision of God). Moses heeded God’s invitation to intercede for Miriam and Aaron–he was not obligated to do this, yet he did. He did because he was showing God’s character. He cries out to God for her to be restored.

        •        So Aaron said to Moses, “O my lord, please do not hold this sin against us, in which we have acted foolishly and have sinned! Do not let her be like a baby born dead, whose flesh is half-consumed when it comes out of its mother’s womb!”

        •        Then Moses cried to the Lord, “Heal her now, O God.” The Lord said to Moses, “If her father had only spit in her face, would she not have been disgraced for seven days? Shut her out from the camp seven days, and afterward she can be brought back in again.”

Jesus is the perfect mediator for us folks; I am so glad to not have to worry about being plagued with boils for being audacious. Even in the N.T. our sins are dealt with us. God loved Miriam too too much to not correct her attitude problem and He would not be a wishy-washy father figure, so she was banned outside the camp until restoration was made complete.

        •        As for the diseased person who has the infection, his clothes must be torn, the hair of his head must be unbound, he must cover his mustache, and he must call out ‘Unclean! Unclean!’ The whole time he has the infection he will be continually unclean. He must live in isolation, and his place of residence must be outside the camp.

This part of the passage is interesting because I see both the purity laws of Moses at play and God’s punishment for sin at work. In a way this reminds me of the verse in the N.T. “Turn this man over to Satan for the destruction of the flesh, so that his spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord.” which shows the punitive side with a bit more clarity. The purpose is for eventual restoration. Miriam is restored back to the community after seven days, restored back into relationship with Moses and the camp.

Lean into God and gain His character and by that be led how to respond. Intercede, express the heart of God in the face of His justice, be sorrowful, be hopeful for reconciliation, and most importantly, love.

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P.S. Here is a link on typology from a catholic apologetics magazine: it describes some interesting foreshadowing of the NT in Moses’, and other OT figures, life.

P.P.S. Scripture references taken from the NET bible