Numbers 12:8 –
I speak to him face to face, clearly, and not in riddles! He sees the LORD as he is. So why were you not afraid to criticize my servant Moses?
Aaron and Miriam were complaining about their brother Moses when God decided to talk to them directly. He took them to task for this and first told them how He communicates through dreams for prophets. But with Moses He speaks face to face! God took this as direct criticism and quickly got offended. To complain about a prophet is one thing since God talks to them in dreams and riddles, but Moses has a special relationship with God.
When Aaron and Miriam spoke against Moses and his actions they were in essence complaining about God. God wanted to put a stop to this and did so quickly. He talked to them clearly and directly then stuck Miriam with leprosy for 7 days. Interestingly, there is no mention of punishment for Aaron. Granted he cried out to Moses to restore her and it caused him great distress, but he did not get punished. Is this another example of God’s bias towards men? Or was it that God knew taking her beauty away would have more impact than doing the same to Aaron?
The key from chapter 11 was God did not like the people complaining so much. This chapter it’s Aaron and Miriam who God gets upset with about their complaining. Makes you wonder when you pray, how much of it becomes annoying complaining to God? This again strikes me as something I need to look at more closely. Often I find myself complaining and whining to God. Often the situations I am complaining about are “self-induced!” The more I think about these last few chapters the more I reflect on my relationship with God and how I have become like the children of Israel. We all need to live like Paul and less like the Aaron and Miriam. We need to find joy and give thanks even in the most desperate of situations!