We now come to the last
Aliyah of parashat “B’ha’alotcha” Miryam, Moshehs' sister,
spoke negatively of Moshehs' decision to take a Cushite wife. YHVH was highly
displeased by this talk against His servant, and Miryam was stricken with tzara'at
("leprosy") for one week.
Num 12:1 Now Miryam and Aharon spoke against Mosheh
because of the Kushite woman whom he had taken, for he had taken a Kushite
woman.
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א וַתְּדַבֵּר מִרְיָם
וְאַהֲרֹן בְּמֹשֶׁה, עַל-אֹדוֹת הָאִשָּׁה הַכֻּשִׁית אֲשֶׁר לָקָח:
כִּי-אִשָּׁה כֻשִׁית, לָקָח. |
1 And Miryam and Aharon spoke against the
reasons(ahdot) which brought about Moshe’s
taking a Cushite woman – because he (actually)
took a Cushite woman. |
Note the feminine verb (tedaber) employed
in the first part of the passuk (verse) – it is a femine singular verb and it
implies that maybe Miryam instigated this rebellion against Mosheh and Aharon
agreed to go along with it. The Hebrew word “ahdot” implies that Aharon was at
least entertaining his sister’s complaint - they were complaining against Mosheh
for taking a Cushite woman as a companion and wife. Miryam and Aharon obviously
reasoned amongst themselves that it was a gross error of judgment on Mosheh’s
part because they also “heard” from YHVH, “Mosheh needed to consider the error
of his ways.”
Num 12:2
And they said, “Has יהוה spoken only
through Mosheh? Has He not also spoken through us?” And יהוה heard it.
This is a puzzling and
difficult to understand event. What was the reason for their complaint and why
did YHVH not seem to object to Moshe’s decision of taking another wife – a
Cushite wife? We don’t even know her name.
The Torah seems to
deliberately gives few details on the issues surrounding this event. Why?
I believe YHVH deliberately
did this. I believe He wanted to see how we would think and respond to this
event.
Let us consider and midrash
around certain possibilities and reasons for this event:
1. Perhaps the first and obvious reason for their discontentment
was that the Cushite woman was black.
This whole event may appear to be racially motivated.
However, historians and anthropologists claim that racism as we know it today
is a scourge that has its roots in the common error that is the last several
centuries and it relates to various forms of colonialism.
According to historians Africans were greatly respected.
The prophet Isaiah was familiar with Africans and their
land. In Isaiah 18:1-2 he described them as swift messengers and smooth-skinned
people, and people who are feared far and wide:
Isa 18:1 Woe to the land shadowed with
whirring wings, which is beyond the rivers of Kush,
Isa 18:2 which sends envoys by sea, even in
vessels of reed on the waters, saying, “Go, swift messengers, to a nation tall
and smooth-skinned, to a people dreaded from their beginning onward, a nation
mighty and trampling, whose land the rivers divide.”
2.
Perhaps
the main reason for Miryam and Aharon’s actions was jealousy. Miryam and Aharon were jealous because Mosheh
had two wives and because more of his attention would have been taken by the
newly married woman. It is not unusual in an African setting for relatives and
friends to be jealous when husbands are too occupied with two or three wives.
Perhaps Miryam and Aharon were shocked because Moshe did not consult Miryam and
Aharon before consummating his marriage to the Cushite woman and then claimed
that Yahweh told him to marry her. Perhaps as co-prophets, Moshe usually
consulted Miryam and Aharon before taking such an important prophetic decision,
but on this occasion, they were not consulted.
Although the ancient Yisraelite culture relegated women
or wives to the background, one would be correct to say that this Cushite woman
must have contributed to the achievement of Moshe as a law-giver, as prophet
and as a deliverer. It is rather profound that one of the greatest leaders of
ancient Ysrael had an African wife.
3. What was the real reason behind Miryam’s discontentment?
Num 12:3 And the man Mosheh was very humble, more than all men who were on
the face of the earth.
The English word “humble”
comes from the Hebrew word “anah” and can also mean “depressed and afflicted.”
This carries a Messianic tone
of suffering and laying down one’s life for others.
There is also an interesting
variation of the spelling of the Hebrew word - “anav”(from anah) is used in this passuk.
This word can also be spelled with a “yud” (anaiv). The word contains a “yud”
we can speculate that there is a humility that comes from YHVH’s Hand. There is
also a humility that comes from man’s hand.
Num 12:4 And suddenly
יהוה said to
Mosheh, and Aharon, and Miryam, “You three, come out to the Tent of Meeting!”
So the three came out.
Num 12:5 And יהוה came down in
the column of cloud and stood in the door of the Tent, and called Aharon and
Miryam. And they both went forward.
Num 12:6 And He said, “Hear now My words: If your
prophet is of יהוה, I make Myself known to him in a vision, and I speak to
him in a dream.
Num 12:7 “Not so with My
servant Mosheh, he is trustworthy in all My house.
Num 12:8 “I speak with him mouth to mouth, and plainly, and not in riddles. And
he sees the form of יהוה. So why were you not afraid to speak
against My servant Mosheh?”
Note
the effective use of the ‘’chiastic structure’’ in YHVH’S response. YHVH is
making an emphatic statement about how He regards His servant Moshe.
A If your prophet is of יהוה
B I
make Myself known to him in a vision
C I speak to him in a dream
D Not so with My servant Mosheh
D He alone is trusted in all My
Household – Heb 3:2,5
C I speak with him mouth to mouth
B plainly, and not in riddles
A And
he sees the form of יהוה
Act
3:22 “For Mosheh truly said to the fathers, ‘יהוה your Elohim shall raise up for you a
Prophet like me from your brothers. Him you shall hear according to all
matters, whatever He says to you.
Act
3:23 ‘And it shall be that every being who does not hear that Prophet
shall be utterly destroyed from among the people.’ Deu_18:15-19.
Act
3:24 “And likewise, all the prophets who have spoken, from Shemu’ěl and
those following, have also announced these days.
Act
3:25 “You are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which Elohim made
with our fathers, saying to Aḇraham, ‘And in your seed all the nations of the
earth shall be blessed.’ Gen_12:3, Gen_22:18, Gen_26:4.
Act
3:26 “To you first, Elohim, having raised up His Servant יהושע, sent Him
to bless you, in turning away each one of you from your wicked ways.”c
Footnote: cAlso see Act_2:38.
Num 12:9 And the displeasure of יהוה burned against
them, and He left.
Num 12:10 And the cloud turned away from above the
Tent, and look: Miryam was leprous, as white as snow! And Aharon turned toward
Miryam, and look: a leper! - (Punishment
for “the sin of la shon ha ra” – evil speech)
Num 12:11 And Aharon said to Mosheh, “Oh, my master!
Please do not hold against us the sin in which we have done foolishly and in
which we have sinned.
Num 12:12 “Please do not let her be as one dead when
coming out of its (Heb ‘’his’’) mother’s womb, with our (Heb – ‘’his’’) flesh
half consumed!”
Num 12:13 And Mosheh cried out to יהוה, saying, “O
Ěl, please heal her, please!”
Num 12:14 And יהוה said to Mosheh, “If her father had but spit in her face, would she not be ashamed seven days? Let her be shut out of the camp seven days, and after that let her be readmitted.”
Ve’avee’ah yarok, yarak…spit he shall surely spit… cough or spit out (phlegm) from the throat or lungs
It is significant to note that
this custom of spitting in your daughter face was not a known custom in those days.
This was very unusual according to some scholars and implies that Miryam’s
actions were a symptom of a far more serious underlying issue of wanting to
usurp Moshe’s authority. This possibly also explains why YHVH emphatically
elevates Moshe above all the other prophets.
Num 12:15 And Miryam was shut out of the camp seven
days, and the people did not set out until Miryam was readmitted.
For seven days – this is
possibly a prophetic revelation that this problem of insubordination and rebellion
against appointed authority will continue in this redemptive age of 7000 years.
Num 12:16 And afterward the people departed from
Ḥatsĕroth, and they camped in the
Wilderness of Paran. (Paran is
a place of caves)
Additional Midrash for Pesach:
Note context of 1 Cor 10 - 1Co 10:11 And all these came upon them as examples, and they were written as a warning to us, on whom the ends of the ages have come,
1Co 11:1 Become imitators of me, as I also am of
Messiah.
Head Coverings – it’s about submission and not speaking evil of authority even if you disagree with authority.
Rom 13:1 Let every being be in subjection to the
governing authorities. For there is no authority except from Elohim, and the
authorities that exist are appointed by Elohim.
Rom 13:2 So he who opposes the authority withstands the
institution of Elohim, and those who withstand shall bring judgment on
themselves.
1Co 11:2 And I
praise you, brothers, that you remember me in every way and keep the traditions
as I delivered them to you.
1Co 11:3 And I wish
you to know that the head of every man is the Messiah[a] and the head of woman
is the manb and the head of Messiah is Elohim.[c] Footnotes: a Eph_1:22,
Eph_4:15, Eph_5:23. b Gen_3:16. c 1Co_3:23, Joh_14:28.
1Co 11:4 Every man
praying or prophesying, having his head covered,(when a man brings a prophetic
word – he does so under the authority of YHVH, not in submission to man or to
please man – if he does he brings shame to his Master – his Head) brings shame
to his Head. (2Cor 13:1)
1Co 11:5 And every
woman praying or prophesying with her head uncovered brings shame to her head,
for that is one and the same as if her head were shaved.
1Co 11:6 For if a
woman is not covered, let her also be shorn. But if it is a shame for a woman
to be shorn or shaved, let her be covered. d Footnote: d Num_5:18.
1Co 11:7 For a man
indeed should not cover his head, since he is the likeness and esteem of
Elohim, but woman is the esteem of man. (the emphasis on submission of
authority can become a doctrine of demons – see 1 Cor 11:1)
1Co 11:8 For man is
not from woman, but woman from man.
1Co 11:9 For man
also was not created for the woman, but woman for the man.
1Co 11:10 Because of
this the woman ought to have authority e on her head, because of the
messengers. Footnote: eSome say “a symbol of authority.”
1Co 11:11 However,
man is not independent of woman, nor woman independent of man, in the
Master.
1Co 11:12 For as the
woman was from the man, even so the man also is through the woman. But all are
from Elohim.
1Co 11:13 Judge for
yourselves: is it proper for a woman to pray to Elohim with her head
uncovered?
1Co 11:14 Does not
nature itself teach you that if a man indeed has long hair, it is a disrespect
to him?
1Co 11:15 And if a
woman has long hair, it is an esteem to her, because the long hair has been
given to her over against a veil.
1Co 11:16 If,
however, anyone seems to be contentious, we do not have such a habit, nor do
the assemblies of Elohim.
The Master's Supper
1Co 11:17 And in
declaring this I do not praise you, since you come together not for the better
but for the worse.
1Co 11:18 For in the
first place, I hear that when you come together as an assembly, there are
divisions among you, and to some extent I believe it.
1Co 11:19 For there
have to be factions even among you, so that the approved ones might be revealed
among you.
1Co 11:20 So when
you come together in one place, it is not to eat the Master’s supper.
1Co 11:21 For, when
you eat, each one takes his own supper first, and one is hungry and another is
drunk.
1Co 11:22 Have you
not houses to eat and drink in? Or do you despise the assembly of Elohim and
shame those who have not? What shall I say to you? Shall I praise you in this?
I do not praise!
1Co 11:23 For I
received from the Master that which I also delivered to you: that the Master יהושע in the
night in which He was delivered up took bread,
1Co 11:24 and having
given thanks, He broke it and said, “Take, eat, this is My body which is broken
for you; do this in remembrance of Me.”
1Co 11:25 In the
same way also the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the renewed covenant
in My blood. As often as you drink it, do this in remembrance of Me.”
1Co 11:26 For as
often as you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the death of the
Master until He comes.
1Co 11:27 So that
whoever should eat this bread or drink this cup of the Master unworthily shall
be guilty of the body and blood of the Master.
1Co 11:28 But let a
man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread and drink of that
cup.
1Co 11:29 For the
one who is eating and drinking unworthily, eats and drinks judgment to himself,
not discerning the body of the Master.
1Co 11:30 Because of
this many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep.
1Co 11:31 For if we
were to examine ourselves, we would not be judged.
1Co 11:32 But when
we are judged, we are disciplined by the Master, that we should not be
condemned with the world.
1Co 11:33 So then,
my brothers, when you come together to eat, wait for one another.
1Co 11:34 And if
anyone is hungry, let him eat at home, lest you come together for judgment. And
the rest I shall set in order when I come.
Baruch atah
YHVH, Eloheynu, Melech ha-‘Olam, asher natan lanu Toraht-emet, v’chay-yeh o’lam
nata-b’tochenu. Baruch atah YHVH, noteyn ha-Torah. Ameyn.” Blessed are you Yahveh,
our Elohim, King of the Universe, you have given us your Torah of truth, and
have planted everlasting life within our midst. Blessed are you, YHVH giver of
the Torah – Ameyn.