Numbers 12  As if the griping and greediness were not enough.. as if the plague weren't enough of a warning that the Lord disciplines those who sin against Him... Aaron and Miriam take up their complaint about Moses.. "Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us as well?"

"And the Lord heard it." 

Moses, we are told, was a very humble man.. and did not speak up to defend himself.  Instead.. the Lord calls Aaron, Mariam and Moses to the door of the tent of meeting.  The Lord, Himself appears in the pillar of cloud.  It is the Lord who speaks:

"Hear now My words; If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, shall make Myself known to him in a vision. I shall speak with him in a dream. Not so with My servant Moses.  He is faithful in all My household. With him I speak mouth to mouth, Even openly, and not in dark sayings, And he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant, against Moses?" 

When the cloud lifted Mariam was completely covered with leprosy.  Aaron turns to Moses to beg forgiveness and to ask for healing for Mariam.   Here is Aaron, the high priest of Israel.. and he doesn't even know how to pray.. he has to turn to the same one that he just challenged regarding his position of leadership.. Moses..  It is Moses who seeks the Lord's help.. "O God, heal her, I pray!"

The Lord sentences Mariam to 7 days of isolation, outside the camp.. to "bear her shame".. a light sentence for the sinfulness she had in her heart...  sins of envy, jealousy.. pride.. arrogance..unbelief. But, He does answer Moses' prayer. 

After the 7 days of Mariam's exile.. the people moved out again. 

The Lord heard the words of Aaron and Mariam. He pays attention to all our words. As I used to tell my grandsons when they were little.. "Words matter".  We need a guard on our tongues.  and we need a guard on our hearts.  The Lord had a powerful message for Aaron and Mariam.. they didn't even qualify to be called prophets.. they had not received visions or dreams, let alone meet with the Lord face to face as Moses did.  They didn't seem to know the Lord at all.. yet challenged Moses who was "faithful" in the Lord's household! 

Both Mariam and Aaron died in the wilderness. They would never see the Promised land.  Little is said about the death of Mariam.  The people did mourn after the death of Aaron.  We are not told what their lives were like after this event.  Hopefully they humbled themselves before the Lord and sought to serve Him with all their hearts. 

May we also learn from the words of the Lord.. remembering that wherever the Lord puts us is where He can use us to do His will. Let us give thanks to Him who has a perfect plan for each of His children and let us learn to be content to trust in Him and walk humbly with our God... no matter what. 

Father in heaven, fill our hearts with Your Spirit.. the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, of counsel and strength, of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.  When we are weak.. when we envy or complain.. when we fail to be content.. or when we grow weary, Lord God be our strength.  Let the power of Your love fill us and overflow from our lips.. words of grace and encouragement.. words of humility and obedience. May we know You and draw near to You, like Moses. Keep our hearts clean and pure before You we pray. In Jesus' name. Amen.