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Terrible Grumblings of God’s People
239
Sin of Jealousy
Moses realized his own weakness and made God his counselor,
but Aaron thought of himself more highly, trusted less in God, and
had failed in the matter of the idol worship at Sinai. Miriam and
Aaron, blinded by jealousy and ambition, said, “Has the Lord indeed
spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also?”
Miriam found reason to complain in events that God had espe-
cially directed. The marriage of Moses had been upsetting to her. It
was an offense to her family and national pride that he would choose
a woman of another nation instead of taking a wife from among the
Hebrews. She treated Zipporah with obvious disrespect.
Though called a “Cushite woman,” the wife of Moses was a
Midianite and so was a descendant of Abraham. She was different
from the Hebrews in that her skin was somewhat darker. Though
not an Israelite, Zipporah worshipped the true God. She had a timid,
quiet personality and was greatly distressed when she saw suffering.
This is the reason that Moses, when on his way to Egypt, agreed to
have her return to Midian.
When Zipporah rejoined her husband in the wilderness, she saw
that his burdens were wearing away his strength, and she told her
fears to Jethro, who suggested a way to make Moses’ burdens lighter.
This was the main reason that Miriam did not like Zipporah. Miriam
thought that Moses’ wife was the reason that she and Aaron had
supposedly been ignored. If Aaron had stood firmly for the right, he
might have stopped Miriam’s evil, but instead of showing Miriam the
sinfulness of her conduct, he sympathized with her and eventually
shared her jealousy.
Moses bore their accusations in uncomplaining silence. He “was
very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth,”
and this is why Moses was given more divine wisdom and guidance
than anyone else.
God had chosen Moses. Miriam and Aaron, by their complain-
ing, were guilty of disloyalty not only to their appointed leader,
but to God Himself. “Then the Lord came down in the pillar of
cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and
Miriam.” Their claim to be prophets was not denied, but a closer
communion had been granted to Moses. With him God spoke face