The Life of Moses

THE DANGER OF GOSSIP

N UMBERS 12 & M ICAH 6:4 & O THERS
Text: Micah 6:4

Micah 6:4
4
For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and
redeemed thee out of the house of servants; and I sent
before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.

Introduction:

As we have seen many times over the last several

weeks the children of Israel on their way to Canaan had
mastered murmuring.

In our passage today the cycle of murmuring continues,

however it now leads to gossiping.

Note what we read in Leviticus:

Leviticus 19:16
16
Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer
among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the
blood of thy neighbour: I am the LORD.

The criticism of Moses was a continual problem but the

most painful of the criticism occurred shortly after

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Israel left Sinai. This criticism and its result is the
subject of this chapter.

Notice:

 The Source of the Criticism and Gossip

The source of this criticism was a surprising source.

So often the critical often reveals the faults of the one

who is criticism more than the faults of the criticized
one.

Those who were involved in this was Miriam and

Aaron.

Numbers 12:1
1
And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because
of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he
had married an Ethiopian woman.

Miriam and Aaron were the older sister and older

brother of Moses.

Moses was the baby of the family.

Miriam was the leader of this criticism and gossip.

Several things let us know this.

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  First – she is mentioned first.

 Secondly – the verb “spake” in our text is a

feminine verb

 Thirdly – she was the one who was punished the

most for the criticism and gossip.

It is Miriam that we will focus on this morning as we

will consider in more detail Aaron in the future.

Criticism always hurts when strangers criticizes us,

however it’s never as painful as when those close to us
criticize, especially our own family.

Note how Miriam began well but ended poorly:

1. HER WATCHING BY THE RIVER (EXODUS

2:1-4)
Exodus 2:1-4
1
And there went a man of the house of Levi, and took
to wife a daughter of Levi. 2 And the woman conceived,
and bare a son: and when she saw him that he was a
goodly child, she hid him three months. 3 And when she
could not longer hide him, she took for him an ark of
bulrushes, and daubed it with slime and with pitch, and
put the child therein; and she laid it in the flags by the
river's brink. 4 And his sister stood afar off, to wit what
would be done to him.
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Notice

At the very beginning of Moses’ life the Lord used his

older sister, Miriam, in a specific way to watch over
him and bring him safely back home.

In her willingness to bravely approach Pharaoh’s

daughter, Miriam played a strategic role in her baby
brother’s return to his family.

She was emboldened by the faith she had seen in her

parents.

Moreover in watching the Lord rescue Moses from the

Nile River, Miriam herself was being prepared for the
day when she would see God deliver her people from
their bondage.

What Lessons Can We Learn?:

 We too should allow the Lord to use us.

 As parents we should display strong faith in God.

 We can be emboldened by faith in God.

 We too should be aware of the opportunities

that God gives us.

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  Realize the Lord is often preparing us for greater
things in the future in the present.

Notice not only Her Watching By the River but also:

2. HER WAITING FOR DELIVERANCE

Moses now lives in the palace for 40 years. The Bible
doesn’t tell us much about what Moses did during his
days as an Egyptian prince. All we really know we read
in Acts 7:

Acts 7:22
22
And Moses was learned in all the wisdom of the
Egyptians, and was mighty in words and in deeds.

But even as a prince, he never forgot where he came

from. He continued to identify with the Hebrew
people.

Note:

Exodus 2:11-14
11
And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was
grown, that he went out unto his brethren, and looked
on their burdens: and he spied an Egyptian smiting an
Hebrew, one of his brethren. 12 And he looked this way
and that way, and when he saw that there was no man,
he slew the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand. 13 And
when he went out the second day, behold, two men of
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the Hebrews strove together: and he said to him that
did the wrong, Wherefore smitest thou thy fellow?
14
And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge
over us? intendest thou to kill me, as thou killedst the
Egyptian? And Moses feared, and said, Surely this thing
is known.

We read in Acts 7:25 his motivation behind what

seemed to be a reckless action.

Acts 7:25
25
For he supposed his brethren would have understood
how that God by his hand would deliver them: but they
understood not.

Apparently he was eager to deliver Israel, but it was

not yet God’s time.

When Pharaoh heard what Moses had done he sought

to kill him.

Through all of this Miriam was waiting for her brother

to be made ready by God to be used as a deliverer.

Moses was forty years old when he left Egypt, and he

spent another 40 years in Midian being prepared by
God meaning that he was now 80 years old when he
finally returned.

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Exodus 7:7
7
And Moses was fourscore years old, and Aaron
fourscore and three years old, when they spake unto
Pharaoh.

For 8 decades Miriam had waited.

She had always known that Moses was man that God
could use to deliver them from their bondage, but she
didn’t know when that deliverance would begin.

What Lessons Can We Learn?

 We are not to grow impatient with God.

 Remember that God’s ways are not our ways and

His thoughts are not our thoughts.

 We should never try to work things out on our

own without God’s leading like Moses did.

Notice not only Her Watching By the River and Her

Waiting For Deliverance but also:

3. HER WORSHIPPING ON THE SHORE

Following the great miracle at the Red sea where the
children of Israel crossed on dry ground and then the
Egyptian army was drowned the Bible records for us
what then happened in Exodus 15.
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Exodus 15:1-21
1
Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song
unto the LORD, and spake, saying, I will sing unto the
LORD, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and
his rider hath he thrown into the sea. 2 The LORD is my
strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is
my God, and I will prepare him an habitation; my
father's God, and I will exalt him. 3 The LORD is a man
of war: the LORD is his name. 4 Pharaoh's chariots and
his host hath he cast into the sea: his chosen captains
also are drowned in the Red sea. 5 The depths have
covered them: they sank into the bottom as a stone.
6
Thy right hand, O LORD, is become glorious in power:
thy right hand, O LORD, hath dashed in pieces the
enemy. 7 And in the greatness of thine excellency thou
hast overthrown them that rose up against thee: thou
sentest forth thy wrath, which consumed them as
stubble. 8 And with the blast of thy nostrils the waters
were gathered together, the floods stood upright as an
heap, and the depths were congealed in the heart of
the sea. 9 The enemy said, I will pursue, I will overtake, I
will divide the spoil; my lust shall be satisfied upon
them; I will draw my sword, my hand shall destroy
them. 10 Thou didst blow with thy wind, the sea covered
them: they sank as lead in the mighty waters. 11 Who is
like unto thee, O LORD, among the gods? who is like
thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, doing
wonders? 12 Thou stretchedst out thy right hand, the
earth swallowed them. 13 Thou in thy mercy hast led
forth the people which thou hast redeemed: thou hast

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guided them in thy strength unto thy holy habitation.
14
The people shall hear, and be afraid: sorrow shall
take hold on the inhabitants of Palestina. 15 Then the
dukes of Edom shall be amazed; the mighty men of
Moab, trembling shall take hold upon them; all the
inhabitants of Canaan shall melt away. 16 Fear and
dread shall fall upon them; by the greatness of thine
arm they shall be as still as a stone; till thy people pass
over, O LORD, till the people pass over, which thou hast
purchased. 17 Thou shalt bring them in, and plant them
in the mountain of thine inheritance, in the place, O
LORD, which thou hast made for thee to dwell in, in the
Sanctuary, O Lord, which thy hands have established.
18
The LORD shall reign for ever and ever. 19 For the
horse of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and with his
horsemen into the sea, and the LORD brought again the
waters of the sea upon them; but the children of Israel
went on dry land in the midst of the sea. 20 And Miriam
the prophetess, the sister of Aaron, took a timbrel in
her hand; and all the women went out after her with
timbrels and with dances. 21 And Miriam answered
them, Sing ye to the LORD, for he hath triumphed
gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into
the sea.

In response to Moses’ hymn Miriam led the women of

Israel in a joyous song of praise.

These brief comments give us several insights into the

woman Miriam had become.

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  First she is referred to as a prophetess – which
meant one to whom God revealed messages for
the people.

She was the first woman in the Bible to be given that

rare privilege.

 Second her mention in Exodus 15 over any other

person suggests that she played a strategic role
in the events of the exodus.

Her prominence is again noted in the passage we read

in Micah.

Micah 6:4
4
For I brought thee up out of the land of Egypt, and
redeemed thee out of the house of servants; and I sent
before thee Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.

 Third and perhaps most important these verses

gives us a glimpse into Miriam’s soul.

She was one who wholeheartedly worshipped the Lord.

Her song centered on the power and glory of God.

Eighty years earlier, Miriam had watched the Lord

deliver Moses from the waters of the Nile River and
now she experience once again God’s hand of

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deliverance as He rescued His people from the waters
of the Red Sea.

In both cases God demonstrated His unsurpassed

power and unfailing faithfulness to His people and His
promise.

Notice not only Her Watching By the River, Her Waiting

For Deliverance and Her Worshipping On the Shore but
also:

4. HER WEAKNESS IN THE WILDERNESS

When they arrived at Marah they began to grumble
because the only water they could find was bitter.

As members of Moses’ family Miriam and Aaron would

have been exposed to the complaints of the people.

Evidently those complaints began to have a poisonous

effect on their thinking.

Even though they had witnessed God goodness but

also God judgment against those who grumbled Miriam
joined in the dissention and became a burden to her
brother.

In Numbers 12 the story of Miriam turns ugly.

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Resentful of their younger brother, Miriam and Aaron
criticized him for marrying a non-Jewish woman.

Numbers 12:1-2
1
And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because
of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he
had married an Ethiopian woman. 2 And they said,
Hath the LORD indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he
not spoken also by us? And the LORD heard it.

Verse 2 reveals her motive of bitterness – it was

jealousy.
The Lord’s response came swiftly.

Having summoned Moses, Aaron, and Miriam to the

tent, the Lord said to them:

Numbers 12:6-8
6
And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a
prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known
unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a
dream. 7 My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in
all mine house. 8 With him will I speak mouth to mouth,
even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the
similitude of the LORD shall he behold: wherefore then
were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?

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If there had been any question about Moses position as
God’s appointed spokesman and leader it vanished in
that instant.

Miriam then became a leper.

Numbers 12:10
10
And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and,
behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow: and
Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, she was
leprous.

Sadly the lady Miriam who had started well is ending

poorly.

Close:

I close with a few words about her legacy.

As a young slave girl she had watched over her baby

brother when he floated in the Nile.

As a wife and mother she had waited in Egypt for

deliverance to come.

As an elderly woman probably in her nineties she had

seen the power of God at the Red Sea and she led the
women of Israel in a joyful celebration.

Sadly she didn’t finish like she began.

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The challenge is clear today and the lessons are
valuable.

Let’s determine not only to begin right but just as

important let’s determine to finish right.

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