For the past several Sundays, I have been pushing the premise that At Times, All of Us Project A Stubborn Opposition, even Resistance, to Authentic Authority and Leadership.
That stubbornness is manifested in our Opting For Kadesh (Sacrilegious Sanctuary of Satan) rather than Canaan (Sacred Sanctuary of the Sovereign Savior), and our Personal Preference of Prominent People from our Perspective. We all have some ‘Miriam’ in us.
Our last Sunday we learned that the name Miriam means “Rebellious.” “She who stubbornly resists Authority or Leadership.” On last Sunday, we detected hints of this rebellious spirit in Miriam as she defiantly rebelled against the fiat of Pharaoh in aiding his daughter. We looked at how the Lord had elevated Miriam from a Maid to a Matron, from a Domestic to a Prophetess.
But lest we forget that “we have this treasure in jars of clay,” I must here press the claim that Perturbing Perils Are Paired With Persons Who Are Positioned in Prominent Places of Power.
In Numbers 12, we confront Two Prominent People who are Poised and Positioned by God for Greatness, Paired with the Perturbing Peril of Arrogant High-Mindedness! Verse 1 of chapter 12 of Numbers says:
“And Miriam and Aaron Spake Against Moses ….”
It would greatly enhance our understanding of this part of the Script if you and I would give strict scrutiny to the Word Order of this Main Clause. For Miriam is mentioned first in word-order, not incidentally or accidentally, but purposefully, intentionally. The prominence of her name in the first position indicates that Miriam is the one who is actually doing the Speaking Against and Aaron is there as a silent partner. We need to understand here that it is Miriam who is voicing her displeasure with Moses and Aaron gives his consent with his silent attendance.
Now the last snap-shot we have of Miriam is in Exodus 15:20 & 21 where, as a prophetess under divine inspiration, she has a tambourine in her hand exhorting the women of Israel to Sing to the Lord. As a Prophetess, she Blesses the Name of the Lord; she Praises the Prince; she Sings to the Savior; she Dances to the Deliverer; she Prophesies of God’s Awesome Power.
But the very next snap-shot we have of Miriam is in Numbers 12:1 where she is Speaking Against Moses!! She has gone from Playing a Tambourine to Striking Notes of Discord; from Prophesying to Protestation; from Praise to Pejorative; from Blessing to Blaming; from Dancing to Damning; from Compliment-er to Critic.
Which all underscores How Frequently Our Moods Migrate! We migrate from Blessing to Blaming; from Praising to Finger-Pointing; from Complimenters to Critics; from Inspiration to Imprecation; We Navigate from the Holy to the Horrible, from the Heights to the Depths much-too-much and way-too-often!!!
That’s one of our perennial problems: we cannot Master Our Moods; we fail to Remain Constant!!! One moment we are Speaking Well Of and the next we are Speaking Against. That’s why its imperative that we yield ourselves to the mastery and ministry of the Holy Spirit. We need Him to regulate our minds and monitor our moods. We need His hand on the reigns of our emotions and mind-sets.
The Madness and Mess of our Mood Swings is further exasperated by the Tenses of our Temperaments. It would appear from the context of our text that our Blessing or Praising Mood is of the Qal Kind, the Aorist Kind, the Past Tense Kind of Momentary Action, whereas our Blaming and Hypocritical Mood is of the Piel Kind, the Imperfect of Repeated Action Kind. For back in Exodus 15:20-21, the Tense of Miriam’s Praise is a One-Time Momentary Past Act. Which is to say that Miriam only Praised, Sang and Danced that once. It was not a repeated, protracted maintained mood; just a fleeting feeling. Whereas in Numbers 12:1, the Tense of Miriam’s Criticism is a Repeated, from time-to-time Act. Which is to say that Miriam Kept-On-Speaking Against Moses.
I wonder, can you relate? From our own practical experience from day to day, we find, after retrospection, that our Praise, our Blessing, our Speaking Well Of is much too often a One Time Act. For our Praise, our Worship, our Blessing seems to be compartmentalized. We have designated our Praise Mood to Sunday Mornings. We put on our Worship Face and Blessing Clothes on Sunday Mornings and pull them off after church. Momentarily, we Speak Well of God and our Brothers and Sister with whom we come in contact. But after the 11 o’clock hour, we re-compartmentalize our Praise Mood.
For some fleeting moments in the sanctuary, we refrain, sometimes, from Speaking Against Anyone else, and we just Speak Well Of, Praise the Lord. For one momentary moment, we enjoy the peace of God and the joy of the Lord. But that Mood does not last Long! It appears that we cannot sustain Speaking Well Of the Lord for protracted periods of time. It appears that our Praise dies on our lips and brotherhood is confined to one hour of the week.
For more often than not, we Keep-On-Speaking Against One Another from Sunday to Sunday. We Talk About Folk. We Criticize People. We Find Fault with Folk. We Tear them Down Repeatedly. We live more in the Kadesh of Criticism than we do in the Canaan of Praise!!!
One of the intentional issues raised and addressed by our text is this: WHY DO WE HURTING HUMAN PERSONALITIES SPEAK AGAINST ONE ANOTHER WITH SUCH REGULARITY? WHY DO WE CRITICIZE EACH OTHER UNJUSTLY? WHY DO WE TALK ABOUT OUR PASTOR SO MEAN SPIRITEDLY? WHY DO WE ATTACK ANOTHER’S CHARACTER AND CALLING? WHY? WHAT IS THE REASON?
Perhaps Verse 1 will offer us an answer in that “Because” clause. It seems to suggest that the reason Miriam spoke against Moses was “because of the Ethiopian woman whom he has married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman.” Now hardly anyone would argue with that conclusion because that’s what it says in verse 1.
But let me suggest to you that that is not the Only Cause, it’s only A Cause; One of Several Reasons.
What are you talking about Harris? You must understand that in the Hebrew Text the word translated “because” is Plural in Number. Thus, it does not posit One Cause, but Causes. In fact the translation reads in the Hebrew Text, “for the causes of,” and mention another Cause in verse 2 with that conjunction “And because ….”
Thus, the First Reason Given why Miriam Spoke Against Moses in Verse 1 Is THE OTHER WOMAN!!!
You thought I was going to say “Racism” didn’t you? Let’s examine this Problem of THE OTHER WOMAN for a moment, because if we do I think it would perhaps aid us in defeating this Speaking Against Thing that is Paired with us to our Peril.
The Problem of THE OTHER WOMAN seems to bring to the forefront Our Personal Preference of People Who Are Like Us and thus Who Remind Us Of Us.
You must bear in mind that up until this point, it was M A M: Moses, Aaron and Miriam. Miriam was the Only Woman of Prominence within the Leadership Circle. But Now, it is no longer M A M but M A M E, Moses Aaron, Miriam and the Ethiopian Woman. There is Another Woman in the picture Now!!!
Moses’ wife is now raised to the level of national consciousness. She is the wife of the nation’s leader, the first lady of state. The mere fact of her marriage to Moses bring the spotlight on her as well as on Moses. And sometimes, THE OTHER WOMAN, THE PASTOR’S WIFE BECOMES A PROBLEM FOR SOME FOLK.
Why? Because SHE IS NOT LIKE US AND THEREFORE, DOES NOT REMIND US OF US. SHE’S DIFFERENT!!! She is not the kind of woman they would have picked to be the pastor’s wife. So, she becomes a Problem.
Often times People we Prefer makes Decisions that Anger us. Many a parent has vented their frustration that a child has married beneath them. Many a sibling has expressed their disappointment in the choice of a brother/sister in marriage. To us it seems all too clear that the person has made a mistake; has married beneath them, and therefore, its just a matter of time and the marriage will dissolve in divorce.
Perhaps, that explains, in part, why some of us are speaking against a child or a brother or sister. Because we don’t like their Marriage-Choice!
Why is that? In part, its because we feel THE OTHER WOMAN is Not Like Us!!! Listen again to the First Explanation given in verse 1 that accounts for Miriam’s Bad Mouthing Her Brother: “And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses Because of the Ethiopian Woman whom he has married: for he had married an Ethiopian Woman.”
Now that refrain of “Ethiopian Woman” is a key ingredient in the Mood of Miriam. It was not the fact that Moses, her brother, married. But the fact that Moses, her brother, married an Ethiopian Woman!!!
Perhaps, Rebellious - Miriam, had a Problem with Racism. Perhaps she judged a person not on the Content of their Character, but solely on the Color of their Skin. You see, to Miriam, the Blackness of her skin, testified that that Woman Was Not Like Them!!!
Could it be that the reason you are constantly Bad-Mouthing someone else is that you have a Problem with Their Outer Appearance? Perhaps to you, they are too Black; or too White; or too Fat; or too Thin; or too Ugly. But Oh, think about what you are denying yourself of. What sweet fellowship, what closeness could have been cultivated.
We can’t judge a book by its cover. My father always told me that if you want to get the ‘Goodie’ you have to crack the shell. If you really want to get to know someone, you have to get past the outer imperfections and embrace the hidden man of the heart.
It is not our outer appearance that commends us to God. It is not the color of our skin, the shape of our bodies, the texture of our hair or our physical features which calls forth the grace of God on any of us. For the clear testimony of Scriptures is that we are not saved by Race but by Grace. We are not saved by our Color but by God’s Color-Blindness. We are not saved by Ethnicity but by Election.
Let’s Celebrate our Diversity. Let’s embrace our Differences. For it testifies to the Grace of God. It was Charles R. Brown who said:
“We are not hen’s eggs, or bananas, or clothespins,
To be counted off by the dozen. Down to the last detail
We are all different. Everyone has his own fingerprints.
Recognize and rejoice in that endless variety. The
White light of the divine purpose streams down from heaven To be broken up by these human prisms into all the colors of The rainbow. Take your own color in the pattern and be just that.”
Let’s steer clear of the Blame-Game and Hypo-criticism.
It was John Ruskin who said: “The question is not what a man can scorn, or disparage, or find fault with, but what he can love, and value, and appreciate.”
It was George Herbert who said: “He who cannot forgive breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass.”
It was Baruch Spinoza who said: “I have made a ceaseless effort not to ridicule, not to bewail, not to scorn human actions, but to understand them.”
Abraham Lincoln said: “He has the right to criticize who has the heart to help.”
Thomas Kempis said: “Be not angry that you cannot make others as you wish them to be, since you cannot make yourself as you wish to be.”
It was Francis Willard who said: “I cannot help believing that the world will be a better and a happier place when people are praised more and blamed less; when we utter in their hearing the good we think and also gently intimate the criticisms we hope may be of service.”
Our challenge then is to steer clear as much as possible of that Blaming Mood and dwell in that Blessing Mood.
Perhaps we ought to practice that principle of David as stated in Psalm 34. “I will Bless the Lord at All Times: His Praise shall Continually be in My Mouth. My soul shall make her boast in the Lord: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad. O Magnify the Lord with me, and Let Us Exalt His Name Together.”
We cannot Bless the Lord at all times and Speak Against our Brother at the same time.
Speak Well Of the Lord and you won’t Speak Against Another. Bless the Lord and you Bless your Brother. Praise the Lord and you Uplift your Brother.
Let’s Practice this Protracted Imperfect Tense of Continual Praise.
Remember. “Be not deceived, God is not mocked; whatsoever a man sows that shall he also reap.”
Sow Blame and you shall reap Blame. Show Criticism and you shall reap Criticism. Sow Blessing and you shall reap Blessing!!!
SPEAK WELL OF SOMEBODY. LIFT THEM UP. COVER THEM WITH
PRAISE. SPEAK WELL OF!!!
Now there seems to be an Additional Reason for Miriam bad-mouthing Moses on a continuous basis. Verse 2 seems to posits a Second Reason indicated by that Conjunctive “And.” Which seems to says ‘And in addition to the Other Woman, Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because “they said, Has the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? Has He not spoken also by us?”’
I. SO A SECOND REASON FOR MIRIAM’S HYPOCRITICISM SEEMS TO BE ARROGANT HIGH-MINDEDNESS.
