Monday 21st August
Read Numbers 12:1-3
“Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite. 2 ‘Has the Lord spoken only through Moses?’ they asked. ‘Hasn’t he also spoken through us?’ And the Lord heard this. 3 (Now Moses was a very humble man, more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.)” (NIVUK)
Where does jealousy come from? Presumptions and misapprehensions concerning one’s own identity, value and worth. It arises from the mindset that others are not actually better than you. Perhaps that is why the narrator makes the observation about Moses’ character? Moses considered everyone as better than himself.
Miriam and Aaron have found reasons to consider themselves, if not Moses’ better, then at least his equal. They considered his marriage to an outsider, a foreigner, to be a mark against him. With respect to spiritual credentials, Aaron was High Priest and delegated as Moses’ mouthpiece before Pharoah (Exodus 4) and Miriam wrote one of the most stirring songs of praise and victory known (Exodus 15). Moses is just not that special and, in fact, is a little tainted.
Unfortunately, jealousy like this is not confined to the ancient past. We have just worked through the last few chapters of the Corinthian correspondence and saw that Paul had precisely the same problems as Moses. Needing to defend himself against those with inflated views of their own significance and importance (2 Corinthians 10-13).
We may not think we are jealous at all. We may not think we run others down to lift ourselves up. We may not think that we are better than many people at all. But the benchmark is higher than we think…
“Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, 4 not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. 5 In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: 6 who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage…” (Philippians 2:3-6) (NIVUK)
