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Q2. Miriam and Aaron Speak Against Moses


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Q2. (Numbers 12) What was Miriam's and Aaron's motivation for speaking against Moses? Why do people seeking power feel a need to discredit the existing leader? How did Moses handle this provocation? How might he have handled it if he were a proud man? How did the Lord handle it?

Numbers 12:1 is the only passage in the Old Testament where Moses

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Q2. (Numbers 12) What was Miriam's and Aaron's motivation for speaking against Moses? Why do people seeking power feel a need to discredit the existing leader? How did Moses handle this provocation? How might he have handled it if he were a proud man? How did the Lord handle it?

Answer:

1 What was Miriam's and Aaron's motivation for speaking against Moses?

We really don't know the motivation beyond Miriam and Aaron action.It never mentioned anything,in Chapter 11,the cause of their action,..then all of the sudden in the first verse of Numbers 12,verse 1...And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman

When Moses gathered 70 leaders,in Chapter 11,it never mentioned that Aaron and Miriam are among the chosen one.This despite the fact that God also had spoken to them..It must have hit their pride,when Moses did not include them as one of the chosen 70 leaders.

2.Why do people seeking power feel a need to discredit the existing leader?

To prove that they are much better,and to destroy the leader credibility.

3. How did Moses handle this provocation? How might he have handled it if he were a proud man?How did the Lord handle it?

We did not see Moses reaction,only it says that He is... Numbers 12:3 (Now the man Moses was very meek , above all the men which were upon the face of the earth .)

Before Moses can react,God immediately intervened,and settle the issue once and for all,to whom he is in favor:

Numbers 12:7-8--My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house . ; 8 With him will I speak mouth to mouth , even apparently , and not in dark speeches ; and the similitude of the LORD shall he behold : wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses ?

So before Moses can show his reaction,the Lord come to His rescue,and show unto Aaron and Miriam who is His annointed one.

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Mariam's and Aaron's motivation for speaking against Moses was because of his wife. Whether she was Zipporah or another wife,scriptures don't really say. However the real issue was that both of them were challenging Mose's role as God's spokesman.

People seeking power feel the need to discredit the existing leader because they feel they can do a better job.

Moses handles this provocation by remaining humble and allowing God to handle the situation.

If Moses was a proud man he might have publically denounced Aaron and Miriam in front of the people.

The Lord handled the situation by having all 3 of the siblings come to the Tent of Meeting. God reminds the other two about His personal relationship with Moses. God punishes Miriam by inflicting her with leprosy for 7 days and having her remain outside the camp until she is healed.

I oftern wonder why just Miriam was inflicted with leprosy for complaing against Moses. Why didn't God strike Aaron with leprosy as well? It could be that being older than Aaron she was the institigator. Aaron was more or less just following her lead.

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
  • 4 months later...

1.because he had a cush wife.

2.well they want it to be about them and no one else pride is the root of it they dont want to summit to leadership.

3.moses was humble and meek and he talked with the lord about it.

4.he probally would have got in his flesh and got real angry and sined.

5.the lord rebukes aaron and miriam and miriam gets leporacy tells moses to put her out for seven days for her disobeince he told them dont touch my annointed ones and do my prophets no harm.

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  • 5 months later...

2a)They felt God spoken through them too,were jealous of special relationship Moses had with God,were insecure of their status with God and sought to be at least equal with Moses in their relationship with..

B)People seeking power want discredit existing leader,so that people will be disloyal to leader not follow their vision for future,&transfer alegance to person seeking power who seeks to be more successful,stronger,more spiritual as existing leader.

C)Moses didn’t react in defense,but allowed God to intervene,and didn’t hold sins against them after Aaron had confessed their sin. Moses still showed care&concern for his sister, asking God to heal her after she had been disciplinend.

d)If he was proud,he may have said they caused the leprosy,killed them or put them outside camp.e)God responded justly giving punishment, and an opportunity for restoration.

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  • 1 month later...

(Numbers 12) What was Miriam's and Aaron's motivation for speaking against Moses? TO ELEVATE THEMSELVES TO HIS LEVEL OF LEADERSHIP.

Why do people seeking power feel a need to discredit the existing leader? LIKE SATAN, TO PROVE THEY ARE JUST AS GOOD.

How did Moses handle this provocation? HE PRAYED TO GOD.

How might he have handled it if he were a proud man? HE COULD HAVE RESPONDED IN REPRIMAND.

How did the Lord handle it? HE QUESTIONED THEM ABOUT THEIR DISRESPECT. HE PUNISHED MERIAM WITH LEPROSY FOR SEVEN DAYS.

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  • 2 years later...

Q2. (Numbers 12) What was Miriams and Aarons motivation for speaking against Moses? Why do people seeking power feel a need to discredit the existing leader? How did Moses handle this provocation? How might he have handled it if he were a proud man? How did the Lord handle it?

They spoke against Moses because of their own need for recognition and power. When you **** for power you become dest​ructive toward others. Moses was a humble man and not desiring of leading a people or being important. When Miriam became leperous Moses prayed to God to heal her. He did not rejoice in Miriam's suffering for what she had done to him. Moses was pleasing to God in this. If he had been otherwise in his heart then he would have dealt with Miriam in a smug and proud manner of himself. The Lord handled this by making an example of Miriam for 7 days of being outside the camp in her unclean condition before healing her.

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  • 2 years later...

lesson 8: Q2

A. Aaron and Miriam motivation was their envy for Moses relationship with God and leadership over Israel.

B. They might feel that by discrediting and destroying their leaders they can gain cheap popularity as the alternative replacement after the existing leader failed.

C. Moses handled the provocation in humility and in obedience to God to the point of interceding on behalf of Aaron and Miriam.

D. If Moses were to be a proud /positional leader he would've seek for ways to kill the two of them.

E. God take it serious with Miriam and Aaron Because rebuked them for criticizing Moses.

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  • 5 years later...

Q2. (Numbers 12)

What was Miriam's and Aaron's motivation for speaking against Moses?

Why do people seeking power feel a need to discredit the existing leader?

How did Moses handle this provocation?

How might he have handled it if he were a proud man?

How did the Lord handle it?

Firstly they criticized him for marrying someone who was not from the "Children of Israel".    If it is Zipporah they are complaining about, then they have no grounds for, as it is, she too was a descendant of Abraham, by Keturah, with whom he had children after Sarah died.   This complaint seems to have been a cover up. The main reason was jealousy.  They wanted to be acknowledged as leaders.

When the existing leader is discredited the position he carries is then legitimately vacant or his authority is discredited.  The seekers of power who have pointed out the fault then have pointed to the fact that they' are not faulty of that characteristic or whatever the problem is and are hinting at the fact that they can carry that authority. 

Moses was a very meek man and he did not fight against his siblings at all.  Meekness is being obedient to God and doing His will.  

The Lord called them one side and asked them if they were not afraid to talk against the Lord's prophet.  Moses was different.  God spoke to him directly, with others He spoke in visions  and  dreams.   Miriam (who seems to have been the instigator of this plot) was afflicted with leprosy.  Aaron begged forgiveness for their foolishness.   Moses interceded for her.  She was healed but had to endure the same treatment that others endured who contracted the disease.  She had to be outside the camp for 7 days.  She was rightly judged.

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  • 1 year later...

I think their disapproval of Moses’ wife was just a ruse or cover for their own pretensions to power. This is a common theme in literature and life – a minor player tries to usurp the power of those above him. From the point of view of Miriam and Aaron, it must have been difficult to watch their brother, who, after all, had been banished from Egypt and out of sight for decades, to suddenly come to power and have status above them. Was theirs, then, jealousy? Maybe. It could also have been the will to power (Nietzsche), a subconscious desire in all humans that seeks to dominate and crush others. So, though Moses may have been the most humble (least power-seeking) man alive, those around him did not seem to possess the same attribute, at least to his degree.

Moses, in my opinion, didn’t handle this well. He should have recognized the plottings of his brother and sister and dealt with their urges to power before they manifested as rebellion. He only interceded to heal Miriam after the fact. Had Moses prayed to God to take away the cravings for power expressed by his siblings, or even asked for the wisdom to deal with them, this entire scene could have been avoided. At the least their stymied rebellion could have served as a example to others who could have also wanted to challenge Moses’ power and preeminence as God’s chosen leader.

 Asking God for protection and wisdom in dealing with those who contest leadership is not a sign of pride, but rather of humility. Had Moses been proud (and morally weak) he could have crushed his usurpers. That's the typical response. Instead, God inflicted Miriam with leprosy, a socially-shunning disease. Because she had this disease, she was removed from contact with others … for a week. Eventually God healed and restored her to fellowship.

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