Numbers 12:10 - Meaning and Application

Here is God’s judgment on Miriam (Numbers 12:10). The cloud left that part of the tabernacle, showing God’s displeasure, and at once Miriam became leprous. When God withdraws, trouble quickly follows, and no good should be expected when he departs. Leprosy was often seen as a direct punishment from God for a specific sin, as with Gehazi for lying and Uzziah for taking a priest’s role.

The disease likely showed itself in her face, so everyone could see that she had been struck. Scripture says she was leprous as snow, not only white, but also soft and decaying, as flesh becomes when it begins to rot. Her rude tongue, as Bishop Hall said, was rightly answered by a ruined face, and her foolish claim to stand beside Moses was exposed to all. Moses needed a veil to hide his glory, while Miriam needed one to hide her shame.

Any bodily trouble that disfigures us should remind us to humble our pride and fight against it. If the body is struck low and the heart stays proud, that is a serious sign of hardness. This plague on Miriam may also have served as a living lesson for the law about leprosy (Leviticus 13), since that law is later referred to in Deuteronomy 24:8-9. Miriam was struck, but Aaron was not, because she was the first to sin, and God made a difference between the one who led the wrong and the one who was led astray.

Aaron’s priestly office did not protect him from God’s displeasure, but it may have kept him from this particular sign of judgment. If he had been struck with leprosy, he would have been unable to serve for the time being, and the shame would have clung to him and his family. As priest, Aaron had to judge the case of leprosy, and when he looked at Miriam and saw that she was leprous, it must have deeply humbled him. He was wounded through her side, and he could not declare her unclean without feeling his own guilt and weakness.

This judgment on Miriam warns us to take seriously any insult offered against the Lord Jesus. If she was punished for speaking against Moses, what will happen to those who sin against Christ?

Aaron then submitted himself to Moses (Numbers 12:11-12). He humbled himself, admitted the wrong, and asked for pardon. Only a short time earlier, he had joined Miriam in speaking against Moses, but now he had to make a penitent appeal to the very man he had dishonored. In doing so, he greatly honored Moses, almost as if Moses had the power of God to forgive and heal.

Those who trample on God’s people may one day be glad to seek their favor. At the farthest, they will do so in the next world, like the foolish virgins asking the wise for oil, or the rich man begging Lazarus for water. Sometimes they must do it even in this life, as Job’s friends sought his prayers, and Aaron sought Moses’ help. This also fits the warning in Revelation 3:9.

Aaron’s submission had three parts. First, he confessed the sin of both himself and his sister. He spoke respectfully to Moses, calling him his lord, and he owned, “We have sinned, we have done foolishly.” People sin and act foolishly when they speak evil of others, especially of good people or those in authority. Repentance is the taking back of words wrongly spoken, and it is better to unsay them than be ruined by them.

Second, he begged Moses not to count the sin against them: “Do not lay this sin upon us.” Aaron was to bring his gift to the altar, but if his brother had something against him, he needed to be reconciled first. In that way, he would be fit to offer his gift. Some think this quick readiness to humble himself was what kept him from being struck with leprosy too.

Third, he pleaded for his sister’s miserable condition (Numbers 12:12). He said, in effect, “Do not let her be like one dead,” meaning let her not remain cut off from everyone, spreading defilement by touch, and wasting away like a corpse above ground. He described her suffering in a moving way to awaken Moses’ pity.

Then Moses cried to the Lord with a loud voice, because the cloud, the sign of God’s presence, had moved away, and he prayed with urgency, “Heal her now, O Lord, I beg you” (Numbers 12:13). By doing this, Moses showed that he truly forgave the wrong done to him. He had not carried the matter to God to demand vengeance, and now, after God had defended his honor, he was the first to ask that the judgment be lifted.

This teaches us to pray for those who treat us badly, and not to rejoice even in the most deserved punishment that comes on those who have hurt us. Jeroboam’s withered hand was restored when the prophet who had opposed him asked for it (1 Kings 13:6). So Miriam was healed through the prayer of Moses, whom she had abused, and Abimelech was healed through Abraham’s prayer (Genesis 20:17). Moses could have stood back and thought, “She deserves this,” but instead he earnestly asked for mercy. We should study both Moses’ example and our Savior’s words, “Father, forgive them.”

God arranged this matter so that mercy and justice both had their place. Mercy came first, because Miriam was healed. Moses forgave her, and God would also forgive in that sense (2 Corinthians 2:10). Yet justice still stood, because Miriam had to be humbled (Numbers 12:14). She was shut out of the camp for seven days so that she would feel her fault more deeply and repent, and so that everyone in Israel would see the punishment and take warning against rebellion.

If Miriam the prophetess was so openly humbled for one rash word against Moses, what should we expect for our own complaints and murmuring? If this is done to the green tree, what will be done to the dry? Sin lowers people and takes away their honor. It stains their beauty and brings their glory down into the dust. When Miriam praised God, she stood at the head of the people and was one of the brightest ornaments of the camp (Exodus 15:20). But when she argued against God, she was pushed out as unclean and cast aside.

A reason is given for her being kept outside the camp for seven days: she should accept the punishment for her sin. If her father, her earthly father, had only spit in her face to show his displeasure, would she not have been deeply troubled? Would she not have been sorry that she had deserved it, and would she not have shut herself away for a time, too ashamed to come before him or show her face in the family? If such respect is due to the fathers of our bodies when they correct us, then how much more should we humble ourselves under the mighty hand of the Father of spirits, that is, God, the giver of our souls (Hebrews 12:9).

When God shows signs of displeasure because of sin, we should take shame to ourselves and lie down in that shame, admitting that confusion of face belongs to us. If our own sin and foolishness bring on the reproach and contempt of people, the proper discipline of the church, or the rebukes of God’s providence, we must admit that our Father has rightly spit in our face, and we should be ashamed.

The passage then shows how Miriam’s judgment slowed the people’s journey. The people did not move on until Miriam was brought back in again (Numbers 12:15). God did not lift the cloud, so they did not break camp. This was meant, first, as a rebuke to the people, who knew they had sinned in the same kind of way as Miriam, speaking against Moses. So they also shared in her punishment, because it delayed their march toward Canaan. Many things oppose us, but nothing hinders us on the way to heaven like sin does.

It was also a mark of respect for Miriam. If the camp had moved on while she was under suspension, her shame would have been even greater. So, out of compassion for her, they stayed until her excommunication was lifted and she was brought back in, likely with the usual cleansing rites for lepers. Those who are under church discipline or rebuke for sin should be treated with great tenderness. They should not be loaded with more shame than they already deserve, and they should not be treated as enemies, but forgiven and comforted (2 Thessalonians 3:15; 2 Corinthians 2:7). Sinners must be put out with grief, and repentant people must be received back with joy.

When Miriam was forgiven and readmitted, the people moved forward into the wilderness of Paran, which bordered the south side of Canaan. That would have been their next move, had they not placed a barrier in their own way.