Bible Lesson: Intercessory Prayer:
Moses Intercedes For His Sister, Miriam.
Bible Text:
Numbers 12:1-15 NLT
1 While they were at Hazeroth,
Miriam and Aaron criticized Moses because he had married a Cushite
woman.
2 They said, “Has The Lord
spoken only through Moses? Hasn’t He spoken through us, too?”
But The Lord heard them.
3 (Now Moses was very humble—more
humble than any other person on earth.)
4 So immediately The Lord called to
Moses, Aaron, and Miriam and said, “Go out to the Tabernacle, all
three of you!” So the three of them went to the Tabernacle.
5 Then The Lord descended in the
pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the Tabernacle. “Aaron
and Miriam!” He called, and they stepped forward.
6 And The Lord said to them, “Now
listen to what I say: “If there were prophets among you, I, The
Lord, would reveal Myself in visions. I would speak to them in
dreams.
7 But not with My servant Moses. Of
all My house, He is the one I trust.
8 I speak to him face to face,
clearly, and not in riddles! He sees The Lord as he is. So why were
you not afraid to criticize My servant Moses?”
9 The Lord was very angry with them,
and He departed.
10 As The Cloud moved from above the
Tabernacle, there stood Miriam, her skin as white as snow from
leprosy. When Aaron saw what had happened to her,
11 he cried out to Moses, “Oh, my
master! Please don’t punish us for this sin we have so foolishly
committed.
12 Don’t let her be like a
stillborn baby, already decayed at birth.”
13 So Moses cried out to The
Lord, “O God, I beg you, please heal her!”
14 But The Lord said to Moses, “If
her father had done nothing more than spit in her face, wouldn’t
she be defiled for seven days? So keep her outside the camp for seven
days, and after that she may be accepted back.”
15 So Miriam was kept outside the
camp for seven days, and the people waited until she was brought back
before they traveled again.
Miriam was a
prophetess.
Exodus 15:19-21 NLT
19 When Pharaoh’s horses,
chariots, and charioteers rushed into the sea, The Lord brought the
water crashing down on them. But the people of Israel had walked
through the middle of the sea on dry ground!
20 Then Miriam the prophet,
Aaron’s sister( And Moses'), took a tambourine and led all the
women as they played their tambourines and danced.
21 And Miriam sang this song: “Sing
to The Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously; He has hurled both
horse and rider into the sea.”
Miriam had
instigated a coup against her brother...
Numbers 12:1,2
NLT
1 While they were at Hazeroth,
Miriam and Aaron criticized Moses because he had married a Cushite
woman.
2 They said, “Has The Lord spoken
only through Moses? Hasn’t He spoken through us, too?”
Miram's
accusation, “he had married a Cushite
woman,” who
was Ethiopian, and “not,” Jewish, as was the command of God for
the Jews. Therefore, Miriam protested, if God can speak through him,
He can speak through us as well!
Moses
wife, Ziporah was from Midian (Cush or Ethiopia – North Eastern
Africa.)
The Command of
The Lord:
Deuteronomy
7:1-11 NLT
1“When The
Lord your God brings you into the land you are about to enter and
occupy, He will clear away many nations ahead of you: the Hittites,
Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and
Jebusites. These seven nations are greater and more numerous than
you.
2 When The Lord
your God hands these nations over to you and you conquer them, you
must completely destroy them. Make no treaties with them and show
them no mercy.
3 You
must not intermarry with them. Do not let your daughters and sons
marry their sons and daughters,
4 for they will
lead your children away from Me to worship other gods. Then the anger
of The Lord will burn against you, and He will quickly destroy you.
5 This is what
you must do. You must break down their pagan altars and shatter their
sacred pillars. Cut down their Asherah poles and burn their idols.
6 For you are a
holy people, who belong to The Lord your God. Of all the people on
earth, The Lord your God has chosen you to be His own special
treasure.
7 “The Lord
did not set His heart on you and choose you because you were more
numerous than other nations, for you were the smallest of all
nations!
8 Rather, it
was simply that The Lord loves you, and He was keeping the oath He
had sworn to your ancestors. That is why The Lord rescued you with
such a strong hand from your slavery and from the oppressive hand of
Pharaoh, king of Egypt.
9 Understand,
therefore, that The Lord your God is indeed God. He is The Faithful
God who keeps His covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes
His unfailing love on those who love Him and obey His commands.
10 But He does
not hesitate to punish and destroy those who reject Him.
11 Therefore,
you must obey all these commands, decrees, and regulations I am
giving you today.
QUESTION: Was Miriam, and Aaron wrong?
ANSWER: Absolutely not! (In Miriam's case, she was both right
and wrong, at the same time.)
“Pastor if they were not wrong, why, oh why did The Lord come down
on Miriam in judgment?”
Good question:
Are you in a church or religious gathering, that you don't see eye to
eye with, you think maybe the pastor has little or no education, and
you are going to get your friends together to get the guy discharged!
WARNING,
WARNING, TAKE WARNING, THE JUDGMENT OF GOD IS NEAR!
If you do not agree with a pastor and his teaching do what The Lord
has told you to do!
II Corinthians
6:17 KJV
Wherefore come
out from among them, and be ye separate, saith The Lord, and
touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you.
Whether they are right or wrong in their doctrine!
Why was Miriam judged, when she and Aaron were correct?
Miriam had forgotten one thing, just one thing.
Moses was a
called of God leader of Israel, God's people!
Exodus 3:1-10
KJV
1 Now Moses
kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and
he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the
mountain of God, even to Horeb.
2 And The Angel
Of The Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of
a bush: and he looked, and, behold, the bush burned with fire, and
the bush was not consumed.
3 And Moses
said, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush
is not burnt.
4 And when The
Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the
midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I.
5 And He said,
Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the
place whereon thou standest is holy ground.
6 Moreover He
said, I am The God of thy father, The God of Abraham, The God of
Isaac, and The God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face; for he was
afraid to look upon God.
7 And The Lord
said, I have surely seen the affliction of My people which are in
Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I
know their sorrows;
8 And I am come
down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring
them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land
flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and
the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites,
and the Jebusites.
9 Now
therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel is come unto Me:
and I have also seen the oppression wherewith the Egyptians oppress
them.
10 Come now
therefore, and I will send thee unto Pharaoh, that thou
mayest bring forth My people the children of Israel out of Egypt.
Revelation 1:16
KJV
And He had in
His right hand seven stars..."
Revelation 1:20
KJV
The mystery of
the seven stars which thou sawest in My right hand, and the seven
golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels* of the
seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the
seven churches.
*Angels-Greek: Anggelos: Messenger, agent.
The anggelos of the church, are it's pastors (leaders).
Moses the called of God, leader of God's people, was himself in the
very hand of God!
Miriam, though correct, had “no,” right to strike out at the Man
of God, and so God judged her accordingly.
Romans 12:19 KJV
Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, saith The Lord.
Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is Mine; I will repay, saith The Lord.
How very careful we must be if we a vigilante force of one or many,
come against a God ordained pastor or leader of God's people, be
warned, whether your right or wrong in your motives, to do so will
end in judgment.
So, what happened?
Numbers 12:2 NLT
“... The Lord
heard them.”
Moses, had done wrong, according to The Lords commands of His people,
but The Lord didn't need Miriam to inform Him, as how to judge or
discipline.
Romans 11:33,34 KJV
33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!
34 For who hath known the mind of The Lord? or who hath been His counsellor?
33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!
34 For who hath known the mind of The Lord? or who hath been His counsellor?
The Lord knew Moses....
Numbers 12:3-12
NLT
3 (Now Moses was very humble—more
humble than any other person on earth.)
4 So immediately The Lord called to
Moses, Aaron, and Miriam and said, “Go out to the Tabernacle, all
three of you!” So the three of them went to the Tabernacle.
5 Then The Lord descended in the
pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the Tabernacle. “Aaron
and Miriam!” He called, and they stepped forward.
6 And
The Lord said to them, “Now listen to what I say: “If there were
prophets among you, I, The Lord, would reveal Myself in visions. I
would speak to them in dreams.
7 But not with My servant Moses.
Of all My house, He is the one I trust.
8 I speak to him face to face,
clearly, and not in riddles! He sees The Lord as He is. So why were
you not afraid to criticize My servant Moses?”
9 The Lord was very angry with them,
and He departed.
10 As The Cloud moved from above the
Tabernacle, there stood Miriam, her skin as white as snow from
leprosy. When Aaron saw what had happened to her,
11 he cried out to Moses, “Oh, my
master! Please don’t punish us for this sin we have so foolishly
committed.
12 Don’t let her be like a
stillborn baby, already decayed at birth.”
Aaron, confessed
their sin, Miriam was leprous.
Aaron, begged Moses,
for Miriam's deliverance from leprosy.
Number 12:13-15
NLT
13 So Moses cried out to The
Lord, “O God, I beg you, please heal her!”
14 But The Lord said to Moses, “If
her father had done nothing more than spit in her face, wouldn’t
she be defiled for seven days? So keep her outside the camp for seven
days, and after that she may be accepted back.”
What an example of
…
Galatians 6:7
KJV
Be not deceived; God is not mocked:
for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.
15 So Miriam was kept outside the
camp for seven days, and the people waited until she was brought back
before they traveled again.
God forgives sins
yes, but nowhere does it state that He negates the evil crop we have
sown!
This is why we
should live so carefully to please The Living God!
Galatians 6:8
KJV
For he that soweth to his flesh
shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to The Spirit
shall of The Spirit reap Life everlasting.
