In Numbers 12, we see Moses’ own brother and
sister, Aaron and Miriam, speaking against him because he has taken another
wife, in addition to Zipporah, a Cushite woman from Ethiopia. Notice, Aaron and
Miriam do not state their main complaint, they state another one instead: “Has
the Lord spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?”
Apparently, they were jealous of Moses’ position and resentful of it, as well
as being unhappy about his new wife, perhaps for racist reasons since her skin,
as an Ethiopian, would have been a darker color than their own skin.
We read in Numbers 12:3, “Now the man Moses was
very humble.” This is curious because Moses does not come across as humble in
what we have read of him so far. Perhaps he grew in humility through having to
bear such a great burden of leadership. This verse also indicates that at least
this part of Numbers was not written by Moses. One cannot claim humility for
oneself, even in the third person, and at the same time actually be humble.
As
I have indicated in previous blog posts, I agree with the majority of scholars
of the Hebrew Scriptures who hold to at least a four-source theory of
authorship of the Torah. These sources are known as J, E, P, and D. J stands
for the Yahwist source, J being the German equivalent of the English letter Y.
This source is so called because it uses the name Yahweh for the deity. E
stands for Elohist because this source uses the name Elohim for the deity. P
stands for the priestly source. D stands for the Deuteronomist source which
includes Deuteronomy and some of the books that follow it. Some scholars think
that J was put together around 950 BCE in the southern Kingdom of Judah. E was
composed around 850 BCE in the northern Kingdom of Israel. D was put together
around 600 BCE in Jerusalem, and P was composed around 500 BCE by Jewish priests
in exile in Babylon. For a very readable and enjoyable exposition of this
documentary hypothesis I would highly recommend reading Who Wrote the Bible? by Richard Elliott Friedman.
The story of Aaron and Miriam’s complaint ends
with the Lord noting that he speaks with Moses unlike anyone else, “face to
face,” and Miriam is judged by having her skin turned leprous, white as snow.
This appears to be a punishment that fits the crime since she judged Moses’
second wife by the color of her skin. Apparently, Aaron does not suffer any
punishment because he is the high priest. Moses begs the Lord to heal Miriam,
which he does after seven days.
Numbers 13-14 tells the story of the tribal
leaders of Israel who are sent to spy out the Promised Land. Ten bring back a negative
report. Two bring a positive report (Caleb and Joshua). The people of Israel
are condemned to wander in the desert for forty years (one year for each day of
the spies’ expedition) because they listen to the negative report instead of
the positive one.
It seems to be of the essence of our sin nature
that we listen to negative reports and believe them more than positive ones,
whether those reports are about situations, other people, or about ourselves.
By contrast, we need to develop “different spirits” like Caleb who followed the
Lord wholeheartedly. I believe the only way we can do this is with the help of
the “second Joshua,” Jesus Christ.
Numbers 15 presents an interlude in the narrative
dealing with offerings. Toward the end of the chapter, we read about a man who
is condemned to death for gathering wood on the Sabbath. The punishment may
seem very harsh to us, but it shows how important the Sabbath was to ancient
Israelites.
Though many Christians talk about the importance of the Ten
Commandments, we certainly do not abide by the fourth commandment in the way
that the ancient Israelites were expected to do. The reason for this most
likely has to do with Jesus who demonstrated a different attitude toward the Sabbath
when he said, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.” (Mark
2:27) I will have a sermon about this passage in Mark in the coming weeks. You
can listen to it here: http://willvaus.com/mark.
At the end of Numbers 15, we read about the blue
cord that the Israelites were supposed to put on the fringe of their garments. Friedman
notes, “The blue string in the fringe of every Israelite’s clothing is an
element of the holy in everyone’s daily life. The fringe in general is a
reminder to keep all the commandments; the blue string is a reminder of holiness.”[1]
What reminder to follow Jesus might we keep in
our everyday lives?
Comments