Numbers 12 - On The Dangers Of Murmuring

It's been almost three months since my last post. The long break was unintentional but almost unavoidable as well, for I found myself burdened by coaching duties, preparing for the end of the school year, and, most recently, welcoming to the world a niece, who was born just six days ago. Life's events piled up and I lost sight of my Bible-reading. I haven't posted since the day after Easter, and with no posts in May I didn't want to let June go by without anything either. So last night I made it a priority to sit down with the Holy Book and continue where I left off.

And so I read Numbers 12, which is a little chapter about a big event. Moses's siblings, Mary (Miriam) and Aaron, begin to murmur against Moses for reasons that are debated. The passage reads as follows:

"And Mary and Aaron spoke against Moses, because of his wife the Ethiopian,
And they said: Hath the Lord spoken by Moses only? hath he not also spoken to us in like manner?" (Numbers 12:1-2)

Some scholars think Mary and Aaron were angry because Moses had married an outsider (an "Ethiopian"). Others think Mary and Aaron were angry with Moses because he had "put away" his wife and so they were defending Sephora. But what is clear from verse 2 is that there was jealousy involved, as Mary and Aaron felt that Moses was getting special treatment by means of his privileged relationship with God. Throughout the Pentateuch there is a notion of murmuring as a significant human defect. God bestows innumerable blessings upon His people and yet they always seem to thank Him my murmuring or complaining about such trivial things. It seems to be most prevalent whilst the Hebrews are wandering the desert. There is constant murmuring that Moses has to deal with (and now even from his own siblings!). This has to be symbolic of the murmuring we are all guilty of in life. For if the desert wandering of the Israelites is symbolic of our wandering years here on earth, then the grumbling and complaining of the Israelites is symbolic of our thankless behavior as we go through life.

There is an even more interesting symbolism going on in Numbers 12, though. According to many of the early Church Fathers, the whole episode of Mary and Aaron's murmuring can be seen as allegoric of Christ's mission on earth. Moses, who is a figure of Christ, takes to wife an "Ethiopian," an outsider, who can be seen as representative of the Gentiles. Mary and Aaron, who represent the synagogue, murmur against Moses for this act, just as the Jews murmured against the idea of Gentile salvation. In Numbers 12 Mary is punished with disease for her insolence, just as the Jews were punished by the destruction of their city, as Christ had prophesied. Moses is described as meek in Numbers 12, and the same description can be applied to Jesus. Moses compassionately chose the Ethiopian, just as Jesus, through His infinite compassion, extended His saving grace to ALL men by His death and resurrection.