NUMBERS: Aaron and Miriam Punished for Speaking Against Moses; "He is faithful in all My house. I speak with him face to face, even plainly, and not in dark sayings; and he sees the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?”

Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married; for he had married an Ethiopian woman. (Numbers 12:1) 

Anyone who teaches that people of different races aren't to marry each other is a false teacher. When Moses fled from Egypt, he dwelt in the land of Midian;... Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. ... Then Moses was content to live with the man, and he gave Zipporah his daughter to Moses. (Exodus 2:15-21)

Zipporah and Moses had two sons, and when the Lord God called Moses to return to Egypt to lead the children of Israel from there, Moses took his wife and his sons and set them on a donkey, and he returned to the land of Egypt. (Exodus 4:20) While traveling to Egypt, Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son... (Exodus 4:25) Even though she didn't agree, for circumcised their oldest son because that's what the Lord God required. 

After leading the children of Israel out of Egypt to Mount Sinai, Jethro, the priest of Midian, Moses’ father-in-law, heard of all that God had done for Moses and for Israel His people—that the Lord had brought Israel out of Egypt. Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took Zipporah, Moses’ wife, after he had sent her back, with her two sons,...; and Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness, where he was encamped at the mountain of God. (Exodus 18:1-5)

During his visit, Jethro said, “Blessed be the Lord, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh,and who has delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians. Now I know that the Lord is greater than all the gods; for in the very thing in which they behaved proudly, He was above them.” Then Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, took a burnt offering and other sacrifices to offer to God. And Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses’ father-in-law before God. (Exodus 18:10-12)

So why now, after all of that, did Aaron and Miriam decide to show racism towards Moses' wife? It wasn't just about Moses' wife being Ethiopian. It was also about the Lord God using Moses solely as His mediator between Him and the people. So they said, “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also?” And the Lord heard it. (Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth.) (Numbers 12:2-3) 

The problem Aaron and Miriam had with Moses is the same problem the Jews and many people today have with Christ Jesus. "Is Jesus really the only way to God?" The answer is YES! "Don't all paths lead to God?" The answer is NO! Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." (John 14:6) Remember, Jesus was the Word [which] became flesh... (John 1:14) And the same way we are saved since Christ Jesus came in the flesh is the same way people were saved before Christ Jesus came in the flesh; Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? (Galatians 3:5)

Just as Abraham “believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” Therefore know that only those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, “In you all the nations shall be blessed.” So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham. (Galatians 3:6-9) We are saved because we believe the Word of God, whether we believe when it was spoken by God before Christ Jesus, or we believed after it was manifested in Christ Jesus.

Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. (II Corinthians 6:14) Moses' wife and father-in-law came to believe and know that the Lord is greater than all the gods. Therefore, regardless of race, their marriage was under covenant by God just as if Moses would have married an Israeli woman who believed. They were Gentiles justified by faith, so then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham, just like anybody else.

Suddenly the Lord said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, “Come out, you three, to the tabernacle of meeting!” So the three came out. Then the Lord came down in the pillar of cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam. And they both went forward. (Numbers 12:4-5) 

Then He said, “Hear now My words: if there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, make Myself known to him in a vision; I speak to him in a dream. Not so with My servant Moses; he is faithful in all My house. I speak with him face to face, even plainly, and not in dark sayings; and he sees the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?” (Numbers 12:6-8) 

How powerful to have the Lord God speak up for you against those who speak against you! When people attack our character, our calling and our faith, we are to remain like Moses, very humble. Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. ... Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men. If it is possible, as much as depends on you, live peaceably with all men. Beloved, do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath; for it is written, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in so doing you will heap coals of fire on his head.” Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. (Romans 12:14, 17-21)

Moses didn't have to say a word back to Aaron or Miriam. They heaped coals of fire on his head, and the Lord God avenged Moses. So the anger of the Lord was aroused against them, and He departed. And when the cloud departed from above the tabernacle, suddenly Miriam became leprous, as white as snow. Then Aaron turned toward Miriam, and there she was, a leper. So Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord! Please do not lay this sin on us, in which we have done foolishly and in which we have sinned. Please do not let her be as one dead, whose flesh is half consumed when he comes out of his mother’s womb!” (Numbers 12:9-12) 

So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “Please heal her, O God, I pray!” Then the Lord said to Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, would she not be shamed seven days? Let her be shut out of the camp seven days, and afterward she may be received again.” So Miriam was shut out of the camp seven days, and the people did not journey till Miriam was brought in again. And afterward the people moved from Hazeroth and camped in the Wilderness of Paran. (Numbers 12:13-16)

We've stated it so many times before, that God is a Loving God, but He is also a Just God! He will forgive us for our sins, but we will still have to deal with the consequences. But thanks be to God, He is gracious and merciful, so that the consequences don't have to last forever; and just as He cleansed Miriam an allowed her back in the camp, If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (I John 1:9)