And they said, Has the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? Has He not spoken also by us? And the Lord heard it. – Numbers 12:2, Amplified Bible (AMP)

When The Lord addresssed His people in Micah Chapter 6, He identifed the three siblings Moses, Aaron, and Miriam as His instruments of deliverance from Egypt. Of course, everyone in Israel knew that Moses was the sibling at the top of the food chain, and at one point Miriam and Aaron got fed up with playing second fiddle.

In Numbers 12, Miriam and Aaron became disgruntled with Moses’ leadership, and the Bible cites their reason for doing so as “the Ethiopian [also translated “Cushite”] woman whom he had married.” Although commentators disagree as to the meaning behind this reason, the most plausible explanation I have found was written by John Gill.* Gill writes that the woman in question was:

…Zipporah herself…indeed she was really one [an Ethiopian]; not a native of Ethiopia, the country of the Abyssines, but she was a Cushite, a native of Arabia Chusea, in which country Midian was, from whence she came; hence the tents, of Cushan, and the curtains of Midian, are spoken of together, ( Habakkuk 3:7 )… 

Gill continues:

Now it was not on account of Moses’s marriage with her that they spoke against him, for that was an affair transacted in Midian some years ago…but rather…because of a suspicion they had entertained, that she had interested herself in the affair of the choice of the seventy elders [from Numbers 11], and had prevailed upon Moses to put in such and such persons into the list she had a mind to serve…they were angry with him, because he transacted that affair without them, and chose whom he pleased, without consulting them; and therefore, though they cared not to ascribe it entirely to him, and his neglect of them, they imputed it to his wife, as if she had over persuaded him, or her brother through her means…

In short, Miriam and Aaron were apparently mad because Moses consulted his wife, and not them, in the choosing of the seventy elders in Numbers 11, and they didn’t take too kindly to being left out of the decision-making process.

Whether or not Gill’s explanation is correct, one thing is for certain. Miriam and Aaron became jealous of Moses’ authority, so they granted themselves the same leadership status as their brother. God, as Numbers 12 details, wasn’t too happy with their rebellion, and after God struck Miriam with leprosy, both Aaron and Miriam repented of their sin.

When you are in a position of leadership, someone around you may eventually display some level of envy towards you. If and when that time comes, you’ll be tempted to respond in a human way, but don’t. Responding to envy with anger, bitterness, or revenge will only make matters worse. Instead, put the situation before The Lord, and let God Almighty bring about the change of heart needed to re-establish peace in your relationship.  Plead for your enemy to be healed of his envy as Moses pleaded for Miriam to be healed of her leprosy. Through your pleading with God you can help your enemy exchange a bitter soul for a harmonious one, and in the end you just might regain your friend rather than lose him/her forever. 

* John Gill’s Exposition of the Bible, Numbers 12:1

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