Numbers 12: One Mediator

Key Verses
7 Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. 8 With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?
 
​Meditation
Jesus Christ is the one Mediator between God and humanity (1 Timothy 2:5-6). He alone brings us to the Father (John 14:6), and through His finished work believers can confidently enter God’s presence (Hebrews 10:19-20).
 
Today’s reading records another wilderness rebellion. Miriam and Aaron speak against their brother Moses (v. 1), ultimately challenging the Lord: “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses?” (v. 2). Like desert sand, sin works its way into the cracks of even our closest relationships. Their complaint against Moses was ultimately a challenge to God’s appointed means of revealing Himself to His people.

God responds by emphasizing Moses’ unique role. Unlike other prophets who received dreams and visions, with Moses God spoke “mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles” (v. 8). Miriam is struck with leprosy. Still, Moses responds to her rebellion by interceding: “O God, please heal her- please” (v. 13). The one Miriam opposed becomes the one who pleads for her restoration.
 
Moses points beyond himself to our greater Mediator, Jesus Christ. Moses faithfully served in God’s house, but Jesus rules over God’s house as the Son (Hebrews 3:1-6). Jesus is not merely one who receives God’s word; He is the Word made flesh. He does not merely pray for sinners; He bears our judgment, heals our deepest disease, and “always lives to make intercession” for His people (Hebrews 7:25).
 
Our rebellion deserves separation from God, but our Mediator took our judgment to bring us near. Jesus alone reveals the Father, reconciles us to the Father, and forever represents us before the Father. Our confidence before God rests completely in Him.
 
Today’s Reading
Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman. 2 And they said, “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?” And the Lord heard it. 3 Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth. 4 And suddenly the Lord said to Moses and to Aaron and Miriam, “Come out, you three, to the tent of meeting.” And the three of them came out. 5 And the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the tent and called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forward.6 And he said, “Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the Lord make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream. 7 Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. 8 With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” 9 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and he departed.

10 When the cloud removed from over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, like snow. And Aaron turned toward Miriam, and behold, she was leprous. 11 And Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord, do not punish us[b] because we have done foolishly and have sinned.12 Let her not be as one dead, whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes out of his mother's womb.” 13 And Moses cried to the Lord, “O God, please heal her—please.” 14 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.” 15 So Miriam was shut outside the camp seven days, and the people did not set out on the march till Miriam was brought in again. 16 After that the people set out from Hazeroth, and camped in the wilderness of Paran.
 
Richly Dwelling
-What stands out to you from today’s reading, especially the demarcation of Moses as Mediator?
 
-What are other ways you seek to “hear from God” outside of His word? Where do you see “intercession” to God outside of Christ’s work? How do you try to relate to God in another way than through Jesus Christ? How is all of this working for you?
 
-To embrace Jesus as the only mediator between God and man is to see Scripture as sufficient, know Christ as necessary, and embrace prayer and worship as the primary way to be with God. Where, specifically, do you need to grow in trusting Jesus as Mediator through living out this invitation?
 
Key Verses
7 Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house. 8 With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?