Numbers 12
Numbers 12 opens with a situation that most anyone who has served in a leadership role has experienced: opposition and resistance from their followers. “Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman. And they said, ‘Has the LORD indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?’” (vv. 1-2; emphasis added). Moses marrying a foreign woman was not really the issue at hand here. Rather, it is clear from the latter part of these verses that Miriam and Aaron were interested in a more prominent role among the Israelite community and thought that by discrediting God’s appointed leader in Moses, they could exalt themselves. As the days get darker, it is no surprise that this tactic still plays out in various settings in the present.
God hears the voiced displeasure from Miriam and Aaron and summons them, along with Moses, to the entrance of the tabernacle:
And the LORD came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the tent and called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forward. And he said, “Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the LORD make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream. Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” And the anger of the LORD was kindled against them, and he departed (vv. 5-9).
God’s punishment toward Miriam and Aaron involved her being stricken with leprosy, but in a display of grace, Moses intercedes on her behalf, pleading that God would heal her. God mercifully restores her health, but only after she was shut out of the camp for seven days, thus delaying the progress of the people toward the Promised Land (vv. 10-15).
There are several takeaways from this chapter that I would share with you:
· It’s important for us to remain focused on the race God has prepared for us individually, rather than letting our eyes wander to someone else’s journey. Otherwise, envy, jealousy, and bitterness may likely be prone to creep into our hearts.
· Our fleshly tendency, when stones are thrown our way, is to pick up a larger rock and hurl it back at our accuser. But we could learn from Moses here, in that we do not have to address or correct every false word said about us. Instead, be reminded that God is our Avenger (Psalm 94:1, Romans 12:19; Deuteronomy 32:35), and with that in mind, we can rest in confidence that He will right any wrong done toward us.
· Not only did Moses not offer a rebuttal to Miriam and Aaron, but he also prayed for the well-being of the one who was hurling insults his way. In His Sermon on the Mount, Jesus instructed those listening (and by extension, us reading His words) to “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…” (Matthew 5:44). This may seem like a hard command to put into practice, but recall that God now lives in you and is empowering you to live according to His design (Philippians 2:13).
· You know by now that Miriam and Aaron were siblings of Moses, so don’t you think that these accusations had to cut deeper in Moses’s heart than if a random Israelite had uttered these words? Jesus said in Matthew 13:57 that “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.” Friends, do not be surprised if those closest to you question or don’t understand the path God has called you to. Remain steadfast as you seek the approval of One instead of the crowd.
· Miriam’s punishment negatively affected the rest of the Israelites, as they could not progress toward Canaan until she was brought back into the camp (v. 16). We have seen several times already in Scripture that our sin affects others, and Miriam’s opposition of her brother’s God-ordained leadership role only stands to further validate that assertion.
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Journal responses to the following prompts:
· What should be our response when we disagree with a person who God has appointed over us?
· Has there been an instance when you have let your eyes wander to someone else’s race? What emotions crept into your heart when you did so?
Numbers 13
Numbers 13 provides us with an account of faith (and a lack thereof) in action, as we read about 12 men tasked with a reconnaissance mission to go into Canaan to determine the lay of the land. In verses 1-2, it appears that the LORD initially instructed Moses to send out these spies, but if you turn over to Deuteronomy 1:22, we see that it was actually the people of Israel who concocted the idea in the first place. Moses appears to agree with the people’s plan (Deuteronomy 1:23), and after identifying the leaders from each tribe who would seek out more information on the Promised Land, he charged them with their specific responsibilities while on the journey (vv. 17-20).
At first glance, this all may appear to be an innocent series of events orchestrated by God’s people. However, we must remember that God had already promised the Israelites safe passage and inheritance of the area in which they were to travel (Genesis 12:1-3; Exodus 3:17). If that was the case, why did the Israelites feel the need to scope out the territory for themselves? Matthew Henry comments accordingly on the Israelites and, in doing so, the emphasized points below provide us with a poignant reminder as well:
They would not take God’s word that it was a good land, and that he would, without fail, put them in possession of it. They could not trust the pillar of cloud and fire to show them the way to it, but had a better opinion of their own politics than of God’s wisdom. How absurd was it for them to send to spy out a land which God himself had spied out for them, to enquire the way into it when God himself had undertaken to show them the way! But thus we ruin ourselves by giving more credit to the reports and representations of sense than to divine revelation.[i]
Candidly, there have been times when God has given me a promise, but I have found myself in the ditches quickly when I tried to rationalize and forecast how He would do what He said He would do. There have also been other times when I may have missed an intimate experience with God, because, as Henry states of the Israelites, I had a loftier opinion of my own limited knowledge than of God’s infinite wisdom. I love how the Amplified Bible elaborates on Hebrews 11:1, stating that “faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses.”[ii] God calls His people to trust Him beyond our comprehension, so the question we must ask ourselves is: What is the point of having faith in God if we already have all the answers? (Just to be clear, no matter how smart we think we are, our combined knowledge still falls well short of God’s omniscience.)
After forty days on the road, these 12 spies returned with a report that further solidified their confidence in their own understanding instead of in God:
And they came to Moses and Aaron and to all the congregation of the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran, at Kadesh. They brought back word to them and to all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit. However, the people who dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites dwell in the land of the Negeb. The Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites dwell in the hill country. And the Canaanites dwell by the sea, and along the Jordan” (vv. 26-29).
These men recognized the land flowed with milk and honey (as God said in Exodus 3:17), but they also noticed something else—fearsome inhabitants (the Hebrew word for Anak in this passage can best be rendered into the English word for “giant”[iii]). So, yes, the Promised Land was just as God had described, but to settle there, the Israelites were very likely to encounter some intimidating people along the way.
Now, to his credit, Caleb—one of the 12 chosen to survey the land—added on to the scouting report in Numbers 13:30, urging the Israelites to “go up at once and occupy it, for we are well able to overcome it.” Yet poor Caleb was quickly silenced by the majority of his fellow explorers, who kept their eyes on their circumstances, comparing their own stature to “grasshoppers” among their enemies to further dissuade God’s people from taking hold of what their Creator had already provided for them (Numbers 13:31-33).
Writing on this chapter, David Guzik comments: “Unbelief often presents itself as being ‘factual’ or ‘practical’ or ‘down to earth.’ Yet, the most factual, practical, and down to earth thing we can do is trust the word of the living God.” He goes on to state, “faith or unbelief does not spring from circumstances or environment, but from our hearts, which God must change.”[iv] For those whose faith in God is anything but resolute, I encourage you to plead with Jesus now, “I believe; help my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24).
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Journal responses to the following prompts:
· Do you have a loftier opinion of your own knowledge than of God’s infinite wisdom? How would someone who watches and listens to you respond to this question?
· How would you respond if you were like Caleb, the only one to stand firm in your faith while the whole crowd had a differing opinion?
[i] Henry, M. (2014). Matthew Henry’s commentary on the whole Bible. (Vol. 1). Hendrickson Publishers. p. 465.
[ii] Amplified Bible. (2015). YouVersion (Version 11.22.0) [Mobile app]. https://www.youversion.com/the-bible-app/ (Original work published 1965)
[iii] Blue Letter Bible. (n.d.). Ânâq. In Blue Letter Bible. Retrieved February 23, 2021, from https://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=H6061&t=NIV
[iv] Study Guide for Numbers 13. (n.d.). Blue Letter Bible. Retrieved May 7, 2026, from
https://www.blueletterbible.org/comm/guzik_david/study-guide/numbers/numbers-13.cfm