Numbers 12:11-14 (ESV)
Originally published 08/13/2015

God chose Moses as the leader of his people, but Miriam demanded that she and her brother Aaron be equal spiritual leaders with Moses. God told her that he had chosen Moses and no one else. "And Aaron turned toward Miriam, and behold, she was leprous. And Aaron said to Moses, 'Oh, my lord, do not punish us because we have done foolishly and have sinned. Let her not be as one dead, whose flesh is half eaten away when he come out of his mother's womb.' And Moses cried to the LORD, 'O God please heal her---please.' But the LORD said to Moses, 'If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be shamed seven days? Let her be shut outside the camp seven days, and after that she may be brought in again'" Numbers 12:11-14 (ESV). God gave her the death penalty for the most serious spiritual crime that a person can commit - the rejection of God as ruler of the world. Moses should have been angry at his sister for trying to overthrow him, but we see why God chose Moses. In compassion he appeals to God to reverse his judgment on the person who would have taken Moses' authority away from him. Lord, teach me to be humble like Moses and to always return good for evil done to me.

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