Beware Lest You Fall
By Pastor Jim May
Miriam, the sister of Moses and of Aaron, is a perfect picture of what it means to be both led of God, blessed of God, used of God, and then cursed by God if allow sin to enter our lives.
Even more importantly, through Miriam and God’s dealing with her, we will re-discover how God forgives and, by His grace, we find restitution so that we can pick up the pieces of a shattered life and a damaged testimony and continue on in God’s grace to be victorious in the end.
Of course it would be better to serve God without ever leaving His side, but all too often, that is exactly what happens to many of God’s people.
In Exodus chapter 2 we are given our first glimpse of this little girl named Miriam, even though she is not really named specifically, we know from the scriptures that Moses only had one sister and so this had to be Miriam.
Exodus 2:3-7, "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. And his sister stood afar off, to wit what would be done to him. And the daughter of Pharaoh came down to wash herself at the river; and her maidens walked along by the river’s side; and when she saw the ark among the flags, she sent her maid to fetch it. And when she had opened it, she saw the child: and, behold, the babe wept. And she had compassion on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews’ children. Then said his sister to Pharaoh’s daughter, Shall I go and call to thee a nurse of the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for thee?"
Miriam was just a little girl here, but we can already see the kind of character that she was going to have for most of her life. She was first of all, obedient, doing what she was asked to do or told to do without putting up an argument.
Just try telling a modern teenager to walk along a crocodile infested river to keep an eye on a baby brother, and you will probably hear a lot of moaning, groaning and every excuse in the book. But Miriam didn’t say a thing. She just stepped out in obedience.
Secondly, we see that she had courage; courage to leave home alone; courage to brave the crocodiles; courage to be faithful to her work and courage to look her enemy eye to eye when it became necessary.
Thirdly, she was smart: she figured out how to get Moses’ own mother as his nursemaid, even while he was raised as the son of Pharoah’s daughter in the palace of Egypt.
Jochebed, Moses’ mother, had not had time to train Moses in the faith of Israel and to teach him of the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but she had taught Miriam well. It is taught by most scholars that Miriam was at least 7 years older than Moses and had time to learn about God.
As Miriam stood near, guarding her baby brother in the ark made by their mother, she held true to her job. Even though she was only 7 or 8 years old, she showed poise, intelligence and courage while she waited for the daughter of Pharoah to discover Moses, the same Pharoah that had decreed the death of every male child that was newborn in Israel.
Miriam also knew what not to say because she never said anything about being Moses’ brother, or of his origins in Israel. She didn’t try to ride Moses’ basket into the Pharaoh’s palace.
Through this whole scenario, Miriam was a rock, and an obedient servant of both her mother and her God.
Let us learn from God’s dealing in Moses’ and Miriam’s lives at this moment that God takes care of his own. He can cause our enemies to become our strongest supporters if it becomes necessary to fulfill his will in our lives. Whom shall I fear? Of what should I be afraid? Regardless of who wins an election, or who loses, God is still in control and nothing will be done without him allowing it to.
The scripture doesn’t say anything about Miriam while Moses was growing up in the Pharaoh’s house, nor do we hear about her when Moses is pleading with Pharaoh to release the people. But we can be sure that as she grew, she was serving her people and her God, and she was thought of very highly among the Children of Israel.
The prophet Micah speaks of her among the leadership of Israel when they were delivered out of the land of Egypt.
Micah 6:3-4, "O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? testify against me. 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."
The next time we read of Miriam is when God is bringing the Children of Israel out of their captivity. As Moses and Aaron led the people of Israel out of Egypt, toward the Promised Land, Miriam was in a very unique position. She is known as the very first prophetess in the Bible and is called such in the scriptures.
Exodus 15:19-21, "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. 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. 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 the very next scene where we see Miriam, she is at the pinnacle of her ministry unto the Lord and his people.
A strong wind had opened up the waters of the Red Sea, and Miriam, went along with them as Moses and Aaron led the people across on dry ground.
As the army of Egypt was drowning in waters of the sea, we can see Miriam standing on the shore with her face beaming in the hour of triumph and deliverance.
Suddenly Miriam begins to lead all the women of Israel in a great Halleluhah chorus of praise and worship to the Lord God.
Exodus 15:20-21, "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. 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."
Miriam is the first woman praise leader on record and all of Israel was blessed by her ministry on that day.
How often can a single word we say, or a song we sing, be uplifting and encouraging for those around us! Her praises brought new found faith and trust in God to all who could hear as she sang about what God had done that day.
I can only imagine how exiting that day would have been! I can just imagine that this was Miriam’s greatest hour! I believe that as she watched her brother float down the Nile, as she prayed for him throughout the years, and later heard of all the great things that he and Aaron were a part of at the hand of God that an excitement grew within her.
She was a leader in Israel and was held in high esteem. She was able to share with Moses and Aaron the victory of freedom for themselves and her people.
Then something changed in her heart. The third time we see Miriam is under very different circumstances and it happened a long time after the crossing of the Red Sea and that great worship service.
Her whole attitude had changed. Her spirit had grown sour over the passing years. What had caused such a thing in her? What had happened that changed her so much? What could have brought this woman of strength to the place in her life where she would be rebuked by God?
Miriam’s problem was a spiritual problem. She had lost her relationship with God, and her brother, Aaron was right there along with her.
How sad it is when we have done so much good, been known to many as a leader, have been a good instrument in teaching the joys of the Lord to others, Only to see everything go sour.
Miriam is still a leader. The same people are listening and watching ... but now she is about to destroy all the good she has done in their eyes. When this happens, how many will turn from God because of her failure? How many will have their faith shattered by Miriam’s time of weakness and rebellion?
Although we are not to look at man but rather God, our flesh is weak and we tend to allow ourselves to let people and their walk with God dictate how we walk don’t we?
How many times have we stumbled because a "Hero" of our faith has fallen? I was attending his church when one of the greatest Evangelists of our time fell in 1988. The youth department at his church went from 2500 in attendance down to less than a few hundred at best very quickly. Where did all the rest go? The church would run as many as 10 to 12,000 in some services, but now there are much fewer. Where did all the rest go? Some for sure found other places to worship and other ways to serve the Lord. Some eventually returned to that ministry, and I sincerely hope that they will be what God intended for them to be from the beginning. But I wonder how many people were so deeply wounded by the failure of their hero that they walked away from God and from the church forever. No matter how much he has repented, or what he has tried to do since that day, it is all affected deeply, and will likely never be what it used to be before that day.
If we fall, how many lives will be destroyed because of us? Your family, friends, co-workers and others are watching you. They may not tell you, but I guarantee that many of them are looking at you as their hero of the faith whether you want them to or not.
It seems that through the years Miriam had developed a spirit of envy or jealousy. We spoke about those things just a few weeks ago and we saw how that these sins can utterly destroy a life.
You can sense her jealousy in Numbers 12:1-2, "And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman. And they said, Hath the LORD indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us? And the LORD heard it."
In this bitter side of Miriam’s character, we have one of the most perfect examples in the Bible of our mixed nature of good and evil. We are all capable of this type of sin. That is what God is showing us here, "Take heed lest ye fall".
It is sometimes difficult to watch others succeed. It can be especially hard to celebrate the success of a sibling. Such was the case of Miriam, the older sister of Moses. Miriam had stood by as Moses was raised in the luxury of Pharaoh’s palace. She had watched as God used her kid brother to lead the Israelites out of Egyptian bondage. She had remained at the foot of Mount Sinai with the people of Israel, while Moses got to go up on the mountain and enjoy a face-to-face discussion with God. Moses always enjoyed the spotlight, along with Aaron, her other brother, while Miriam was always in the background, out of the real limelight, less visible to the people and receiving less praise and recognition for who she was. Pride had entered her heart and ruined her spirit and her relationship with God.
There was another reason for Miriam’s conflict with Moses. He had married a Cushite woman. It is likely that Miriam, who considered herself older and wiser than Moses, had expressed herself quite freely about Moses marrying an idol worshipper.
It was more than she could bear to see that an idol worshipping Ethiopian woman would receive more recognition and praise than she did as a daughter of Israel and faithful servant to her people and her God for all these years.
Her great mistake was that she made her complaint public. It tended to break down the authority of Moses and to imperil the hope of the Israelites. She was not alone in her thinking though because Aaron complained right along with her.
I want you to note that God does things in His Word and says things in such a way to make sure that we catch the point of the matter. If you will notice, Miriam’s name was placed first. I believe that this is because she was the real instigator against Moses’ leadership and she had influenced Aaron to go her way.
Have you felt the power of influence in your life to make you change your views or to think differently? How about with our spouses? Has your husband or wife ever proved you wrong or influenced you to believe things their way? How about those who teach and administer our kids in school; do they carry and influence? You’d better believe they do. In fact, statistics say that nearly 90% of Christian youth who attend a secular university lose their faith in the first year. And what about in our churches? How many people are told that they are right when they aren’t? How many are being led down a primrose path to destruction by influential preachers? The numbers are frightening. If we don’t have influence over others, then why do we even teach or preach. That’s what it’s all about. The point is to make sure that we are having the right kind of influence to do the right things.
Rather than accepting her place in God’s plan and serving with gladness as a backseat prophetess, Miriam allowed herself to be overcome by feelings of resentment. First, she and Aaron attacked Moses’ choice of a wife.
Then they got around to their real complaint. Numbers 12:2, "And they said, Hath the LORD indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us? And the LORD heard it." It was a clear case of rebellion against the leadership of Moses, and God’s sovereign power to choose his own spokesman. God quickly ended their rebellion by inflicting Miriam with leprosy.
The foul sin of envy had spread over Miriam’s whole character, like the disease which had overtaken her. Her sharp words made more real the words James spoke many centuries later in James 3:6, "And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity: so is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body, and setteth on fire the course of nature; and it is set on fire of hell."
Leprosy, the deadly plague had it’s origins in eastern Africa, possibly out of Egypt itself, was regarded as God’s judgment against slander and it had smitten Miriam.
Why not Aaron? Why only Miriam? Aaron didn’t get leprosy, just her.
Well some scholars say that both of them were, but the scripture does not say that. So why wasn’t Aaron smitten?
It is probably because Aaron was the leader of the Levites, the priests of Israel. To strike him with leprosy would have brought dishonor to the entire priesthood and cause much doubt in the hearts of the people. In addition, there is the fact that Aaron wasn’t the instigator of the rebellion against Moses. He was drawn into it by Miriam and he was also quick to repent of his sin. It must be noted that, as a priest, he was the one whose duty it was to declare his sister unclean and to cast her out of the camp. I can only say that it was by God’s sovereign design and that Aaron was not guiltless, yet God’s wrath was tempered by mercy for the sake of Israel and the priesthood.
How many priests and preachers who deserved to be exposed to reproach and infamy, have been spared for the sake of the holy office that they bore, so that the ministry might not be blamed! Does not every priest caught in child molestation cast a dark shadow over every priest? Does not the unscrupulous, greedy and immoral preacher cast a shadow upon all preachers? Does not the worldly living and ungodly ways of a professing Christian cast a shadow upon all Christians?
For this reason alone, Aaron wasn’t stricken with leprosy lest it bring a reproach upon the priesthood. It had nothing to do with his quilt or innocence. God would correct Aaron another way through having to judge his own sister knowing that he deserved no less than she did.
Numbers 12:10-13, "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. And Aaron said unto Moses, Alas, my lord, I beseech thee, lay not the sin upon us, wherein we have done foolishly, and wherein we have sinned. Let her not be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he cometh out of his mother’s womb. And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, Heal her now, O God, I beseech thee."
Even in her sin, Miriam was to receive grace from God.
Even though she had held a grudge against him, Moses acted toward her in a spirit of love. Probably when he saw his sister leprous, he remembered that he had once been stricken with leprosy too. When Moses was questioning the call of God to lead the Children of Israel out of Egypt, God had proven his power though this means.
Exodus 4:6, "And the LORD said furthermore unto him, Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow."
We can assume that the heart of Miriam was touched by her brother’s love. Though she was shut out of camp for seven days, in accordance with the regulations of the Law that God had given on Mt. Sinai, she was not shut out of the hearts of those she had led in their triumphant hour.
Though they were tired from their long time of wandering and impatient at every delay in reaching the Promised Land, Numbers 12:15 says that,"… the people journeyed not till Miriam was brought in again."
I believe that the leprosy of envy and jealousy of Miriam’s mind was healed at the same time her body was. God gave her a second chance. Praise God for a second chance, but what will it cost you to fail even though you can go on? The cost can be the loss of your family, the loss of your testimony or the loss of a soul. It can be a lot to bear. Is the price worth taking a chance?
We need to serve in the place where God has put us, with the abilities he has given us. Instead of worrying about others, we need to "worry" about our own faithfulness. When we regularly thank God for the gifts he has given us, we find that we don’t have the time to be envious of others--not even our siblings!
Like her brothers Aaron and Moses, Miriam did not reach the Promised Land but died in the wilderness; however, her cry of exultation, "Sing unto the Lord," which had signaled freedom for the newborn Israel, could not die.
Praise God for people like Miriam. Although she fell into sin she rose again to declare God’s wondrous works.
HOWEVER, coming back to God doesn’t always negate the effects of our fall. There must have been days when Miriam prayed and cried after her spiritual fall. She looked into the eyes of those around her and wanted to take back all that she had spoken against her brother. She could only ask for forgiveness. Granted God forgave her and most likely the people did too.
BUT does anyone ever really forget? We must keep looking up, being grateful and desiring to be used of God, not to be noticed but so when we stand before God we can hear "Well done thou good and faithful servant".
