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Patriarchs and Prophets
highly honored by God in the appointment of his family to the sacred
office of the priesthood; yet even this now added to the desire for
self-exaltation. “And they said, Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by
Moses? hath He not spoken also by us?” Regarding themselves as
equally favored by God, they felt that they were entitled to the same
position and authority.
Yielding to the spirit of dissatisfaction, Miriam found cause of
complaint in events that God had especially overruled. The marriage
of Moses had been displeasing to her. That he should choose a woman
of another nation, instead of taking a wife from among the Hebrews,
was an offense to her family and national pride. Zipporah was treated
with ill-disguised contempt.
Though called a “Cushite woman” (
Numbers 12:1
, R.V.), the wife
of Moses was a Midianite, and thus a descendant of Abraham. In
personal appearance she differed from the Hebrews in being of a
somewhat darker complexion. Though not an Israelite, Zipporah was
a worshiper of the true God. She was of a timid, retiring disposition,
gentle and affectionate, and greatly distressed at the sight of suffering;
and it was for this reason that Moses, when on the way to Egypt, had
consented to her return to Midian. He desired to spare her the pain of
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witnessing the judgments that were to fall on the Egyptians.
When Zipporah rejoined her husband in the wilderness, she saw
that his burdens were wearing away his strength, and she made known
her fears to Jethro, who suggested measures for his relief. Here was the
chief reason for Miriam’s antipathy to Zipporah. Smarting under the
supposed neglect shown to herself and Aaron, she regarded the wife
of Moses as the cause, concluding that her influence had prevented
him from taking them into his counsels as formerly. Had Aaron stood
up firmly for the right, he might have checked the evil; but instead of
showing Miriam the sinfulness of her conduct, he sympathized with
her, listened to her words of complaint, and thus came to share her
jealousy.
Their accusations were borne by Moses in uncomplaining silence.
It was the experience gained during the years of toil and waiting in
Midian—the spirit of humility and long-suffering there developed—
that prepared Moses to meet with patience the unbelief and murmuring
of the people and the pride and envy of those who should have been
his unswerving helpers. Moses “was very meek, above all the men