1. The whole story of Miriam, as recorded in the Bible, is not a long one. It may be written in a few terse phrases. Our first glimpse of her is during the days of the oppression, by the side of an ark of rushes. She was appointed her brother's guardian, to watch the issue of a last desperate expedient to save his life. How well she watched and how prudently she discharged her mission is known of all. We catch another glimpse of her just after the crossing of the sea, when Pharaoh's horsemen lay stiffening on the shore. It was Miriam who took up the theme of Moses' Jubilate and led the women's song: “Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.” Save for the incident which led to the tragedy of the leprosy we could pass nothing but compliments on Miriam. But, alas for human ideals! This is an integral part of the story. The Miriam of the bondage and of prophetic gift became Miriam the leper.
2. At Hazeroth (Ain Haderah, thirty miles from Sinai), a rebellion arose against Moses, from within his own family. The jealousy of Aaron and Miriam was roused by Moses taking a second wife, an Ethiopian woman. They challenged the exclusive right of Moses to be the mouthpiece of revelation. “Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us?” Moses apparently made no reply. The writer parenthetically calls him “very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth,” a meekness which was certainly not his natural character, but the result of self-discipline and grace. The Divine vindication of Moses is couched in remarkable words. Moses was proclaimed to be more than a mere prophet: his communications with God were more direct than the visions and dreams which were the ordinary channels of prophecy: “And the Lord came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam: and they both came forth. 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. My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house. 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?”
The Divine anger was shown by Miriam being struck with leprosy, “white as snow,” from which she was delivered only after Aaron had confessed their sin and by the earnest prayer of Moses himself. Miriam was shut out from the camp seven days, during which the camp remained at Hazeroth, and was then restored.
3. How did Moses act-he who, years before, had felled an Egyptian with one blow of his fist? Did he pour out a torrent of indignation, assuring himself that he had just cause to be angry? Did he show them the door of the tent, and bid them mind their own affairs? Did he in his anger call on God to strike them down? Nothing of the sort. He answered not a word. In his bearing he reminds us of Christ in the judgment-hall, who, “when he was reviled, reviled not again.”
It may be well to give some rules for the attainment of this meek and quiet spirit, which in the sight of God is of great price.
(1) Let us claim the meekness of Christ.-This, of course, was not possible for Moses in the direct way in which it is for us. And yet, doubtless, in his case also there was a constant appeal for heavenly grace. The humility of Jesus did not forbid His proposing Himself as our model for meekness. “Learn of me,” He said, “for I am meek and lowly in heart.” The likeness of the dove that rested on His head, and the lamb to which He was compared, were the sweet emblems of His heart. And in moments of provocation there is nothing better than to turn to Him and claim His calm, sweet silence, His patience and meekness, saying, “I claim all these, my Lord, for the bitter need of my spirit.”
(2) Let us leave God to vindicate our cause.-Moses trusted God to vindicate him; and the Almighty God “rode upon a cherub and did fly; yea, he was seen upon the wings of the wind.' The Lord heard all that was said, and spake suddenly to the three, and told them that whilst He would speak to others in visions and dreams, it was to Moses only that He would speak face to face, so that he might behold Jehovah's form. “Wherefore then,” said He, “were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” (Num_12:8). This is the secret of rest-to cultivate the habit of handing all over to God, as Hezekiah did when he spread out Sennacherib's letter in the house of the Lord.
(3) Let us give ourselves to intercessory prayer.-“Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, Heal her now, O God, I beseech thee.” When we pray for those who have despitefully used and persecuted us, it is marvellous how soon the soul grows calm and tender. We may begin to do it as a duty, in obedience to the command; we soon discover it to be as snow on a fevered forehead, cooling and soothing the soul. Do not wait to feel an inspiration-act on the sense of what your Lord requires; and as you pray, in the calm and holy presence of God, in the secret where your Father is found, you will find that unworthy thoughts will sink, as silt is precipitated to the river-bed, leaving the stream pellucid and clear.
It was a cold bitter day in December, 1900. We two missionaries sat in a large comfortless room, with two Chinese officials, in the city of Yung P'ing Fu, North China, handing out orders for money and deeds of land which, before our arrival, had been arranged as compensation between Christians who had suffered and Boxers who had persecuted, in the terrible rising of the previous summer. It was a soul-wearying business, for the whole district had been in turmoil for months, and, not to mention smaller losses, thirty-three men, women and children associated with the English Methodist Mission, had died as martyrs for the faith of Jesus.
It had come as a shock to us missionaries on our arrival to learn that a certain sum of money had been already agreed upon as compensation for every life that had been taken, but when it is remembered that in many cases the head of the family had been murdered, and children left unprovided for, the arrangement can, in some measure, be understood. The officials had also expressed their willingness to arrest and punish, according to law, any person who could be proved to have actually committed murder, or actively incited to it. But in not a single case was the extreme penalty demanded, though in two instances, one, where seven members of one family had perished, and the other, where four had died, the decision was not reached without a severe struggle between the old heathen notions and the new faith.
The finest episode in all the ghastly business was reached when our old Bible-seller, Ho Ju Ching, a tall, noble-looking man wearing on to sixty years of age, stood up before the officials, the missionaries, and the eager crowd of onlookers to receive his share of the compensation. His crops had been destroyed, his home burnt down, he and his family had been fugitives beyond the Great Wall for over three months. Worst of all, his daughter, a bright and bonnie lassie of seventeen, had been cruelly done to death in their own village, by men who were neighbours to them. When asked whether he wished the murderers of his child to be arrested, the old man simply and quietly replied, “No, I do not wish that. I know them every one. They know that I know them, but I shall never seek to have them punished. For what they have done I forgive them as I hope to be forgiven, and I prefer now to leave them to the mercy of God, and pray that they may yet be led to forgiveness and salvation.”
Do you wonder that my colleague, who had spent over twenty-five years of his life preaching Christ to the Chinese, should spring from his seat, and cry out triumphantly to the two wondering officials, “That is what Christianity is doing for your people, and for which they have suffered such tortures”?1 [Note: J. Hedlen (English Methodist Mission, Tientsin).]
