Moses is one of the greatest prophets to ever live, but not everyone likes Moses 100 percent of the time. Even Moses’s own family started to question his authority. In Numbers 12, his brother Aaron and sister Miriam get frustrated with Moses. In the rest of the book, people question Moses’s leadership, claiming that they have a right to lead instead of Moses, but God always comes to his defense. What’s interesting in this story (Numbers 12), the thing that sets Miriam and Aaron over the edge, is that Moses has taken on a new wife.  

One of the details that is made clear in the text but that can be easy to overlook is that his new wife is Cushite and that Moses’s siblings are frustrated that she is Cushite. They aren’t upset he took a new wife; they’re upset because he took a Cushite wife.

“The sins that we participate in today are the same sins our ancestors struggled with. They are ancient, deeply rooted and require the power of God to heal our lives and our communities.”

Cushites were African, from the region we now understand as the Sudan. Most likely, the Cushites were Black with their own distinct culture, and physical features different from the Hebrew people. We can’t claim for sure that Moses’s brother and sister were upset specifically because Moses took a Black wife, but we can see that they peg her as “different” or “other.” They then claim that God has spoken to them too, and that perhaps they also have the authority to lead.

God does not stand for this type of attack on Moses. God defends Moses—the text describes Moses as the “most humble man who ever lived,” and God puts the siblings back in their place. They aren’t the leaders. God even goes so far as to make Miriam’s skin leprous and “white as snow.” Moses intercedes for Miriam and she is eventually healed, but we see Moses’s authority restored.  

It’s very clever storytelling to see a sister frustrated at the black “otherness” of a new sister-in-law to then be afflicted with a skin-altering disease that forces Miriam to be ostracized outside the camp until she is proven to be healthy. It’s also a very powerful way for God to show his power and to teach a lesson that the petty power-grabbing and insults of people are not important in the grand scheme. God takes the squabbling of siblings, gives them a taste of their own medicine and restores Moses’s authority.

The point of this section is to reaffirm Moses’s authority to lead as God’s chosen prophet, but we should also be careful to notice the nuances of race, culture and jealousy. The sins that we participate in today are the same sins our ancestors struggled with. They are ancient, deeply rooted and require the power of God to heal our lives and our communities.  

We need stories like this to remind us of the powerful authority that comes from God and the authority given to His appointed leaders. But we must also be challenged to see our prejudices against those different than us and how those sinful prejudices can derail our focus on following after what God’s intentions are for His people.

Daily Readings

• September 1: Numbers 12; Galatians 3:28
• September 2: Exodus 3
• September 3: Exodus 4:1-17
• September 4: Exodus 4:18-31
• September 5: Exodus 14
• September 6: Exodus 16:1-36
• September 7: Exodus 17:1-7; Galatians 1:1-10
• September 8: Exodus 17:8-16; Galatians 1:11-24
• September 9: Exodus 18:1-12; Galatians 2:1-10
• September 10: Exodus 18:13-27; Galatians 2:11-21
• September 11: Exodus 19
• September 12: Exodus 24
• September 13: Exodus 32:1-16; Galatians 3:1-15-22
• September 14: Exodus 32:17-35; Galatians 3:23-29
• September 15: Exodus 33:1-6; Galatians 4:1-7
• September 16: Exodus 33:7-11; Galatians 4:8-20
• September 17: Exodus 33:12-23; Galatians 4:21-31
• September 18: Exodus 34:1-28
• September 19: Exodus 34:29-35; Galatians 5:1-12
• September 20: Numbers 5:1-4; Galatians 5:13-26
• September 21: Numbers 11:1-3; Galatians 6:1-18
• September 22: Numbers 11:4-35
• September 23: Numbers 14
• September 24: Numbers 16:1-35
• September 25: Numbers 16:36-50
• September 26: Numbers 17
• September 27: Numbers 20:1-13
• September 28: Numbers 20:22-29
• September 29: Numbers 21:4-9
• September 30: Numbers 27:12-23