Miriam was Moses’ older sister, and the sister of Aaron.

Lord elected Moses to lead Israel from Egyptian slavery to the promise land. The Lord always gives people the leaders necessary to perform a certain task. He gives them spiritual authority. Moses received his authority from God.

Having authority does not mean the person is perfect, without faults or flaws. God knew that the only man who would live on this earth without faults or flaws would be Jesus of Nazareth. But Jesus had not yet come. Moses was not an exception; he was not without fault.

Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses. Their reason was that Moses married an Ethiopian woman who was a gentile; she was not an Israelite. But this was not the real reason. The problem was deeper. Read the second verse:

And they said, hath the LORD indeed spoken only by Moses? Hath he not spoken also by us? And the LORD heard it (Num 12:2).

Those two relatives did not come directly to Moses but they talked about Moses to everyone else. They spoke too much and it did not escape the Lord’s ears. The Lord heard it! Words penetrate the spirit realm. The Lord doesn’t appreciate negative people and does not listen to them. This time, however, God noticed it. The Bible teaches us that if we have something against a brother we should go to him and say it directly to him. Even Christians act incorrectly, they go to people, spread the rumor instead going to the person they have something on their hearts. But it is not correct. Guard yourself against spreading any words against your brother. We cannot speak to others without damage to ourselves; we should be especially careful when they are in authority and are anointed by the Lord. If anyone has done this in the past, they should repent. We need to repent each time we find we’ve done it. The problem will occur less and less.

The rebellion which Miriam and Aaron were in was a question of prestige, a question of rebellion against authority. “Who does he think he is?” “We are not less than he.” Then they waited for him to make a mistake hoping to accuse him.

The Lord called a conference and all three were present. The Lord descended in a pillar of cloud; He was standing at the door of the temple and called Miriam and Aaron out.

First, the Lord gave them a teaching; they should know that He Himself elected Moses and He recognized Moses' strong and weak qualities. Moses was faithful in all despite the fact that they thought Moses made mistakes. Moses was the only one to whom the Lord spoke directly to and not in dreams or in mysterious ways.

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? And the anger of the LORD was kindled against them; and he departed. And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous (Num 12: 8-10).

When Aaron saw that Miriam was leprous, he immediately repented from his rebellion. He realized that he acted foolishly.

We have to underline that when the Lord departed, Miriam became leprous immediately. We do not read that the Lord put leprosy on her but that He left and she became sick. God is not giving sickness. If someone is out of God’s protection, out of His Word he may get sick. He or she becomes unprotected, becomes vulnerable and open to Satan’s attack. This happened to Miriam.

Moses was very meek; he was above all the men which were upon the face of the earth. Instead of saying: “I told you that if you did not listen to the Word of the Lord many things would come upon you.” There would be nothing wrong in saying this; but instead Moses went to cry unto the Lord.

Heal her now, O God, I beseech thee (v. 13).

It was not so simple. It seems as if the Lord would like to say: “I would like to do it for you, but I cannot. My Word is clear; if you do not walk in it, all bad things will come upon you.” God cannot cancel His Word. But He offers a solution.

Miriam was sent out of the camp for seven days. She had to go into the isolation of the lepers. Despite her relationship to Moses, Miriam was sent out just as anyone else would have been, God is not a respecter of persons. He respects only faith in obedience. If believers do not respect God’s Word, they may get sick just as anyone else in the world. There is no difference.

Many wonder why they are sick. “Are we not God’s children?” Many presume it is God’s will to let them be sick. Their presumption is nothing else but ignorance and misinformation regarding God’s Word.

Many do not realize that the trip from Egypt to the Holy Land is approximately a seven days journey. Rebellion against the authority of God’s anointed stopped the trip to the Promise Land, the land of victory. Rebellion against brothers in authority destroys the unity of God’s people. It robs them of a successful entry to the land of victory.

Rebellion is destroys the unity of the Body of Christ.

Breaking of bread is only symbolic during the co memorization of the Lord’s supper. Breaking the unity of the Body of Christ is not acceptable. It is a great offense to God. Israel did a lot of rebellious things against God’s will and was, therefore, stuck in the desert not for seven days but for 40 years. All the generations of unbelievers had to die. Their rebellious thinking had to die with them. Negative thinking in the Promise Land would not be any good. The Promise Land with Egyptian thinking would be transformed to the Egyptian type of slavery. There is no difference who you are a slave to an Egyptian or wrong thinking.

That kind of thinking is still not unusual among religious people. As a result religion is without victory and without blessing (prosperity); it is full of sickness and suffering. Religious thinking does not please God. It is paganism.

To rebel against God’s servants is not advisable even if these servants make mistakes. Whoever walks in the Word is protected.

Some new denominations or fellowships occur because of rebellion. They are not healthy and there is no blessing because they rebel against other brothers in authority. They take rebellion with them and it becomes a seed for more rebellion.

If some are guilty of rebellion they must repent according to biblical principles. They must repent and restore fellowship. Remember, rebellion against the authority which was appointed by God is dangerous and not an advisable move.

In the occlusion, if you have something against your brother, start to pray for him. God answer honest prayer.

No. 21495