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Context No. 3286 of 4322 · Numbers

Context · Reflection

Numbers 12:10-16: in context

10The cloud departed from over the Tent; and behold, Miriam was leprous, as white as snow. Aaron looked at Miriam, and behold, she was leprous. 11Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord, please don’t count this sin against us, in which we have done foolishly, and in which we have sinned. 12Let her not, I pray, be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he comes out of his mother’s womb.” 13Moses cried to the LORD, saying, “Heal her, God, I beg you!” 14The LORD said to Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, shouldn’t she be ashamed seven days? Let her be shut up outside of the camp seven days, and after that she shall be brought in again.” 15Miriam was shut up outside of the camp seven days, and the people didn’t travel until Miriam was brought in again. 16Afterward the people traveled from Hazeroth, and encamped in the wilderness of Paran.

After Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses, the cloud lifts and Miriam is struck with leprosy, white as snow. Aaron immediately confesses: my lord, do not hold this sin against us, in which we have done foolishly. And Moses, the very brother they had wronged, does not gloat or demand justice; he cries out to God on her behalf, heal her, O God, I beg you.

Two responses stand out. Aaron owns the sin at once, without excuse. And Moses, the offended one, becomes his sister's intercessor, returning good for the wrong done him, pleading for the very one who had slandered him. The wronged brother prays for the offender's healing. And even so, there is a consequence: Miriam is shut out of the camp seven days, and tellingly, the whole people wait for her; no one moves on until she is brought back in. Sin against a brother wounds the whole community, which must wait; and the mercy of the wronged one is what carries the offender through.

When I am wronged, do I respond like Moses, interceding for the one who hurt me rather than seeking their downfall?

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