It is manifest that Moses endured in silence the domestic obliquity which his sister drew down upon him, patiently committing his justification to God, until her would-be pious zeal assumed a more alarming aspect. Since Aaron had made common cause with Miriam, Aaron, who wore the breast-plate, Urim and Thummim, and Miriam, who, as a prophetess, had already led the chorus of the women of Israel, must have held high places in the minds of the people; hence, when they raised the question, “Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us?” there is no telling where this sedition of Miriam and Aaron might have ended, had not the Lord Himself taken it promptly in hand.
But the Lord heard that complaint, which implied that the prophetic gift was exercised by them also, that they were prophets, vested with authority, and if they even suffered Moses, since his objectionable marriage, to remain in the prophetic college, they could at least outvote him. So Moses, Aaron and Miriam were suddenly cited to the tabernacle of the congregation. When the three presented themselves at the place appointed, the Lord came down in a cloud at the door of the tabernacle, and “called Aaron and Miriam” apart from Moses, and there, at the door of the tabernacle, administered a stern rebuke to both of them. They had lived with Moses so long, and yet knew so little of his exalted position. As a brother he stood too near to them, and they themselves, with their self-consciousness, stood too much in their own light.
“And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle.” As Aaron saw the cloud lifting up and moving off, he must have been inwardly crushed at this punishment. The fires on his altar went out, the pillar of smoke no longer mounted up as a token of grace, the divine presence was withdrawn, and it was as if an interdict of Jehovah lay on the services of the Sanctuary. But this was not all. “Miriam became leprous, white as snow.” There seems to be a singular connection between the punishment of Aaron as the representative of the Church, and Miriam, who had thought herself and Aaron above Moses, snow-white in righteousness, while she looked down on him as unclean. She would dominate the Church, for she dominated Aaron, and now, as a leper, she must be excluded from the Church.
When Aaron looked upon his afflicted sister, though High Priest, the Lord having withdrawn the symbol of his favor from the altar of sacrifice, was as helpless as Miriam, and he now implores Moses, as his superior, to intercede. Here only the spiritual high priesthood of a divine compassion can deliver the helpless High Priest himself and his unfortunate associate in the prophetic office. In his appeal, Aaron almost speaks as if Moses could heal the leprosy. Moses, however, understood it as an indirect request to intercede for Miriam.
“And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying: Heal her now, O God, I beseech thee.” The Lord granted the request, accompanied with a sharp reproof, “If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be unclean seven days?” The figurative expression compares her, who desired to be the prophetic regent of the nation, to a dependent maiden in whose face her father had spit on account of unseemly behavior. Such a one must conceal herself seven days on account of her shame. The same treatment was dictated for Miriam, and she was “shut out from the camp seven days.” The silent grief of the nation must have been profound, for the people remained encamped at Hazeroth during the seclusion of Miriam, and not until she was pronounced clean, and the prescribed sacrifices required on her reception back again, were made, did the Lord’s host depart from their encampment. All these are proofs of the high place she held in the affections of the people.
This sad stroke, and its most gracious removal, is the last public event of Miriam’s life. She died toward the close of the wilderness wanderings at Kadesh, and was buried there. According to Jewish tradition, the burial took place with great pomp on a mountain in the edge of the wilderness of Zin, and the mourning of the whole camp of Israel lasted for thirty days, Jerome tells us that her tomb was shown near Petra.
According to Josephus she was the wife of Hur and the grandmother of Bezaleel, the inspired artisan of the Tabernacle. According to the Targum, the miraculous supply of water at Rephidim was given in her honor. It failed when she died at Kadesh, and was restored only at the second stroke of Moses’ rod, and later, by the digging of the princes with their staves of office, while the people sang a hymn of praise and faith.
These traditions are of but little value except to show in what high esteem she was held.
A long, beautiful, eventful, inspired life—one of patient waiting, intense activity, deep enthusiasm and triumphant faith—transformed the brave little slave girl into the mighty princess and leader of the Lord’s hosts. But for the one assumption of unwarranted authority at Hazeroth, her record would have come down to us untarnished.