There Is No One Like Him :: Numbers 12

Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the woman from Cush that he had taken as his wife ... And (Miriam and Aaron) said, Has YWHH surely only spoken with Moses? Has he not also spoken with us? And YHWH heard it (vv 1-2).

[Introduction]

As Christians, we would like to think that within the church, jealousy, envy, and sinful human pride simply don’t exist. We would like to believe that petty squabbles and childish arguments do not exist within our doors. We would like to imagine that all church workers will always get along perfectly with everyone, that they will always be the most humble people in the world, and will only speak well of one another in the kindest possible way ... right? 

But the fact is, we are all sinful. We are all cursed with pride. We all fall short of the glory of God. We are jealous, envious, and sinful human beings ... who need to constantly hear the call to repent. Not even those who are called and ordained are immune to the influence of original sin ... to jealousy, envy, and petty sinful squabbles.

Today, in our Old Testament reading from Numbers 12, we see this very well. Here, as the people of God wandered in the wilderness along the eastern coast of the Sinai Peninsula, near the Arabian Sea, a place called Hazeroth (11:35), we see the leaders of Israel confronted by jealousy, envy, and sinful human pride. We see brothers and sisters arguing, trying to one up one another. We see Miriam and Aaron versus Moses. We see the age-old question of authority afflicting even the chosen people of God. We see people allowing a minor, self-righteous issue to get their blood flowing so that they become jealous and envious that YHWH speaks with Moses in ways we will never understand on this side of heaven. We see a man and woman trying to assume the office of the prophet ... to presume to be just like Moses. 

4. Except there is no man (or woman) like Moses. 

No other prophet speaks to God mouth to mouth, face to face, like Moses. No other prophet is given a countenance that shines like Moses. No other prophet is able to walk on holy ground like Moses. No other prophet has to veil his face like Moses because the glory of God shines so intensely from his face it literally affects every aspect of his being. No man (or woman) is like Moses. That’s the bottom line in our text.

But all too often, we end up supposing that if anyone would be like Moses, it would be his brother and sister, right? 

That is exactly who Aaron and Miriam are. Aaron, the brother of Moses, was the first high priest of Israel who was given by God to speak in the place of Moses (Ex 7:1), and when the time was right, he was even given to do signs in the sight of the people. Meanwhile, Miriam, the sister of Moses, is called a prophetess in Exodus 15, after she led all the women of Israel out with tambourines to dance and sing the Song of Moses that celebrated Israel’s baptism in the Red Sea. But that doesn’t mean she is like Aaron, let alone Moses.

There is no man or woman like Moses.

Oh, but all too often, we all think we want to be ... like Moses ... don’t we? 

Be honest with me now, how many of us have added to or taken away from God’s Word like Eve in the Garden? How many of us have spoken against God’s desire to give us children, like Sarah? How many of us have spoken against God’s desire to bear patience in receiving children, like Rebekah? How many of us have spoken against God’s desire to uphold and strengthen us through the trial of torment? How many of us have spoken against God’s desire to lead His people toward grace and every blessing through Moses, like Miriam?

3. In our text, Miriam and Aaron want to be like Moses.

Then they began to grumble against their brother because YHWH surely [has] only spoken with Moses ... and not with them.

Their initial complaint is against the woman whom Moses had married. But that complaint is merely a smoke screen. ... It is a twist on God’s word. The text says Moses’ wife was a Cushite ... which you should know is an area today we know as southern Egypt or northern Sudan, aka ancient Ethiopia. Whether this was Zipporah, the first wife of Moses, or perhaps another woman Moses married after Zipporah’s death, is not clear. But there was nothing improper about his marriage. The people of Israel would ultimately be told not to marry the people of Canaan. 

The real issue is what Miriam and Aaron said to each other. And YHWH heard [that]. 

Then our reading says ... Now Moses was more humble than all the men who were upon the face of the earth. And suddenly, YHWH said to Moses and to Aaron and to Miriam, ‘Come you three to the tent of meeting.’ And the three came out. And YHWH descended in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the tent and called Aaron and Miriam (vv 2b-5). And he made it clear in no uncertain terms, there is no one like Moses. 

Whereas ordinary prophets had to be content with receiving God’s Word through dreams and visions and riddles ... in the still small voice on the mountain like Elijah ... through the Spirit ... Moses is in a different class. He is God’s servant entrusted with looking after all of his estate. 

‘He is faithful in all my house,’ YHWH declares. ‘Mouth to mouth I speak to him. ... He sees the form of YHWH. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?’ And the anger of YHWH was incensed against them, and he departed. And when the cloud turned aside from upon the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, like snow. And Aaron said to Moses, ‘Oh, my lord, do not punish us because we have done foolishly and have sinned’ (vv 8-11). 

2. We would all be so wise to recognize the prophet like Moses. 

This is why God had called Moses to be an intercessor. It was through him, God was able to save a remnant of the people of Israel to bring forth a savior out of Egypt, to bless all God’s people, through the wilderness wanderings of life. As Moses does almost every day of his life, he pleads with God to have mercy on us all. 

Whereas Aaron wanted to be like his brother in the latter’s role as speaker for YHWH, he is forced to intercede with Moses who intercedes with God on behalf of Miriam. 

Brothers and sisters in Christ, neither are we like Moses! We are certainly more like Miriam and Aaron … like Eve and Sarah and Rebekah and Job’s wife. We have usurped God’s authority for our own desires. We destroy brother and sister in gossip and discrimination. We lust after the power of obeying God’s Word spoken by Moses, thinking through it you can achieve salvation. 

Therefore, let every one of us repent. 

After Miriam did, YHWH said to Moses, ‘If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be shamed [for] seven days? Let her be shut outside the camp [for] seven days, and after that she may be brought in again.’ 

And so she was.

1. Take heart, dear Christians. You have been brought back into the Camp of God on account of the Gospel of The One Greater that Moses. 

Our Lord Jesus does something much greater than Moses. He bore our shame on the cross. He carried our burdens. He took our illness of death. He ensured it was nailed to the cross. There, he died for you, and was buried outside the camp. And now He is Risen! 

THERE IS NO ONE LIKE HIM

Jesus is The One Greater than Moses. He gives you, the Christian, faith. He cleanses your sin through faith. Jesus feeds and nourishes that faith. He is not just a friend of God, but is True God himself in flesh and blood. While Moses talked face to face and mouth to mouth with God, Jesus is True God and True Man.

We can now in the name of The One Greater than Moses turn in the faith that Jesus has given you ... resting in faith that Jesus has given you ... knowing in faith that because all authority in heaven and earth has been given to him, and Jesus will therefore sustain you ... freeing you ... bringing you back into communion with one another. 

And thanks be to God, Jesus is still interceding for us in a way that is greater than Moses.

Our Living Savior hears our prayer himself and pleads to the Father for us himself. Whereas we couldn’t go to God ourselves, The Word of God has entered our lives to lead us out of our Wilderness Wanderings into his Promised Land with his blessing so that we will once again enjoy the fruit of the Tree of Life forever.

Indeed, blessed is the Lord, the God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting.

Let all the people say, Amen!

Praise the Lord! ... in Jesus’ name.