Bible Study with Jairus - Numbers 12

睚鲁的圣经世界

Does God still love me, despite my past? Can I really experience a personal relationship with him? Why do my sinful desires keep tripping me up? Numbers 12 has some fascinating metaphors that will help us understand our relationship with the Lord. God’s unconditional love for all people. In this chapter, we hear a puzzling piece of news: Moses has married a Cushite woman. Why did he marry her? Is his current wife dead? Did he have more than one wife, like Jacob? Did he marry her out of greed? The Bible doesn’t tell us, so we have no way of knowing. We also are left wondering why Miriam and Aaron spoke out against Moses because of this (Numbers 12:1). Verse one says that Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because he married a Cushite woman. But in verse 2, what they really said was this: "Has the Lord spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also?" (ESV) Is this really what they wanted to say? Why didn't they just come out and say it directly: "Why did Moses marry a Cushite woman"? Biblical scholars generally believe that the Cushites are black people, based on Jeremiah 13:23, "Can the Cushite change his skin?" (CSB) Psalm 68:31 also says, "Nobles shall come from Egypt; Cush shall hasten to stretch out her hands to God.” (ESV) Stepbible.org explains that Cush is in the area of modern-day Ethiopia, so the word “Cushite” means “black.” When we are dissatisfied with people, we often fail to say the real reason for our dissatisfaction. Instead, we find some of their shortcomings or mistakes to blame. This seems to be human nature. Why did Miriam and Aaron speak against Moses saying, "God did not speak only through Moses," just because Moses married a Cushite woman? The essence here is the rebellion of Miriam and Aaron - to challenge Moses' leadership. As a result, God punished Miriam with leprosy. What is the spiritual meaning of this story? A lady who was leading our Bible Study asked these questions. I prayed for God's help, and suddenly I got an inspiration in the Spirit. This inspiration came in the form of a question: "Think about where this black woman came from before coming to the wilderness." Immediately, I was inspired. I felt that there was a close connection between this chapter and Numbers 11. Numbers 11:4 tells us, “Some foreigners among the Israelites had a strong craving for other kinds of food. Even the Israelites started crying again and said, ‘If only we had meat to eat!’” (God's Word Translation. GTW) The complaints of the Israelites and the strong craving of the foreigners brought the discipline of the Lord. His fire even burned some outlying parts of the camp. That place is called Taberah, and the word means "burn," because the fire of the Lord had burned among them (Numbers 11:3). In the end, the Lord struck some people with plague. That place was called "Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had the craving" (ESV, Numbers 11:34). ("Kibroth-hattaavah" means "graves of craving.”) Read More: https://jbwm.org/bible-study-with-jairus-numbers-12/