Num 12:14 | KingComments | STEP | The intercession of Moses receives an answer. The LORD uses an example of everyday life to illustrate His statement. When a father spits his daughter in the face, he expresses his dissatisfaction with her actions. This humiliation by her father must convince her of the disgracefulness of her behavior. Seven days she will hide from her family out of shame. There is no immediate healing after the confession. Miriam first has to stay outside the camp for seven days. A full recovery must take place and a full period, represented by the number seven, is needed for that. Evil can be so serious that the punishment must be imposed, even though forgiveness has already taken place. This will be the case when the public testimony of the Lord has been damaged. The whole people are involved in the exercise of the punishment. They can’t move on. There is no strength when a certain evil becomes public. The whole church must be exercised and come to purity: “For behold what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you: what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what avenging of wrong! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter” ( ). A broken spirit is important in the exercise of discipline. This history shows how seriously God takes it when we speak ill of a brother or sister, especially when it comes to someone who does a service for the Lord (cf. ). Even when it is about real facts, this kind of speaking is nothing more than a form of jealousy.

‏ Numbers 12:14

What to Do with Miriam

The intercession of Moses receives an answer. The LORD uses an example of everyday life to illustrate His statement. When a father spits his daughter in the face, he expresses his dissatisfaction with her actions. This humiliation by her father must convince her of the disgracefulness of her behavior. Seven days she will hide from her family out of shame.

There is no immediate healing after the confession. Miriam first has to stay outside the camp for seven days. A full recovery must take place and a full period, represented by the number seven, is needed for that. Evil can be so serious that the punishment must be imposed, even though forgiveness has already taken place. This will be the case when the public testimony of the Lord has been damaged.

The whole people are involved in the exercise of the punishment. They can’t move on. There is no strength when a certain evil becomes public. The whole church must be exercised and come to purity: “For behold what earnestness this very thing, this godly sorrow, has produced in you: what vindication of yourselves, what indignation, what fear, what longing, what zeal, what avenging of wrong! In everything you demonstrated yourselves to be innocent in the matter” (2Cor 7:11). A broken spirit is important in the exercise of discipline.

This history shows how seriously God takes it when we speak ill of a brother or sister, especially when it comes to someone who does a service for the Lord (cf. 1Tim 5:19). Even when it is about real facts, this kind of speaking is nothing more than a form of jealousy.