Exodus 2: 1-9
Now [Amram] a man of the house of Levi
[the priestly tribe] went and took as his wife [Jochebed] a daughter of Levi.
2 And the woman became pregnant and bore a son; and
when she saw that he was [exceedingly] beautiful, she hid him three months.
3 And when she could no longer hide him, she took for
him an ark or basket made of bulrushes or papyrus [making
it watertight by] daubing it with bitumen and pitch. Then she put the child in
it and laid it among the rushes by the brink of the river [Nile].
4 And his sister [Miriam] stood some distance away to
learn what would be done to him.
5 Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at
the river, and her maidens walked along the bank; she saw the ark among the
rushes and sent her maid to fetch it.
6 When she opened it, she saw the child; and behold,
the baby cried. And she took pity on him and said, This is one of the Hebrews’
children!
7 Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, Shall I
go and call a nurse of the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?
8 Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, Go. And the girl
went and called the child’s mother.
9 Then Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, Take this
child away and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages. So the woman
took the child and nursed it.
- Miriam, Moses’ sister played a very important role in helping her brother fulfil God’s destiny for his life.
- The deliverance of the entire Hebrew race
depended, so to say on Miriam’s faithfulness.
- Her labour was outstanding – beginning from
the birth of her baby brother, labouring all the way till he was safely
brought back to the mother to nurse for a while.
- Such wisdom, such tenacity of commitment,
risking her own life – being young herself also.
- As a result we can understand her devotion to
her brother…..
However, as can be observed in the narrative of
Numbers chapter 12, this devotion had been carried too far:
Numbers 12: 1- 15:
1 Now Miriam and Aaron talked
against Moses [their brother] because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a
Cushite woman.
2 And they said, Has the Lord indeed spoken only by
Moses? Has He not spoken also by us? And the Lord heard it.
3 Now the man Moses was very meek (gentle, kind, and
humble) or above all the men on the face of the earth.
4 Suddenly the Lord said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam,
Come out, you three, to the Tent of Meeting. And the three of them came out.
5 The Lord came down in a pillar of cloud, and stood
at the Tent door and called Aaron and Miriam, and they came forward.
6 And He said, Hear now My words: If there is a
prophet among you, I the Lord make Myself known to him in a vision and speak to
him in a dream.
7 But not so with My servant Moses; he is entrusted and faithful
in all My house.
8 With him I speak mouth to mouth [directly], clearly
and not in dark speeches; 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 And when the cloud departed from over the Tent,
behold, Miriam was leprous, as white as snow. And Aaron looked at Miriam, and,
behold, she was leprous!
11 And Aaron said to Moses, Oh, my lord, I plead with
you, lay not the sin upon us in which we have done foolishly and in which we
have sinned.
12 Let her not be as one dead, already half decomposed
when he comes out of his mother’s womb.
13 And Moses cried to the Lord, saying, Heal her now,
O God, I beseech You!
14 And the Lord said to Moses, If her father had but
spit in her face, should she not be ashamed for seven days? Let her be shut up
outside the camp for seven days, and after that let her be brought in again.
15 So Miriam was shut up without the camp for seven
days, and the people did not journey on until Miriam was brought in again
- She’s been throwing her weight around in
Moses’ life.
- I see a subtle attitude of “you owe your life
to me” in her meddling in her brother’s life.
- She failed to recognise that she was only an
instrument in GOD’s hand in fulfilling destiny.
- She failed to withdraw after her work was done
as Mordecai did. – Esther 6: 6-12.
- She now presumed to play God in Moses’ life,
as a result of which she incurred God’s anger.
Beloved I noticed two other women in the Bible who
did not recognise that they were only instruments in God’s hand, thus, failing
to see that the special men God had brought their way were ‘larger’ than their
domestic affairs:
- Michal failed to recognise that David was no longer the poor
shepherd, errand boy used by her father at his will and whom she had
helped to escape her father’s attempted murder on several occasions. 2Sam
6: 20-23, 1Sam 19: 11-17.
- Mary the mother of our Lord Jesus Christ seeking to forcefully take him home, away from fulfilling destiny. Luke 8: 19-21, Matt. 12: 46-50, Mark 3: 31-35.
32 And a crowd was sitting around Him, and they said
to Him, Your mother and Your brothers and Your sisters are outside
asking for You.
33 And He replied, Who are My mother and My brothers?
34 And looking around on those who sat in a circle
about Him, He said, See! Here are My mother and My brothers;
35 For whoever does the things God wills is My brother
and sister and mother!
Join this HeartCry Prayer- Every Wednesday 11.30am-2.30pm (UK time)
PRAYERS:
- Dear Father God, the reason I ask to be filled
afresh with the Holy Spirit is for the fruit and not the ‘gift’. God
testified of Moses that he was MEEK and FAITHFUL (fruit). Miriam
was only referred to as a ‘Prophetess’ (gift) – Exodus
15: 20-21.
- Please Father, do not allow ‘the labour of my
hands’ (to my husband, children, heartcry, etc) to become my undoing in
Your sight. Help me to not see as an advantage to hold on to whatever You
have accomplished or will accomplish through this life. – Phil 3: 7-8.
- Help me to see Your singular purpose for my
life: Phil 3: 10 & 14 – TO KNOW CHRIST and THE UPWARD CALL OF GOD IN
HIM.
- Help me Lord, to seek the FRUIT of the Holy
Spirit always and not the GIFT. – The gift will dazzle and puff up but
fruit will nourish me always.
- Help me Lord, never to touch Your glory in any
labour or in anyone’s life, not even mine!!
Join this HeartCry Prayer- Every Wednesday 11.30am-2.30pm (UK time)
