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Numbers 12:12."Let her not be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he comes out of his mother's womb." 

 

Moses' sister Miriam has been struck with leprosy in punishment for her and Aaron speaking jealously and pridefully against Moses. Aaron is pleading with God not to punish her "as one dead" for their mutual wrongdoing. Moses will pray for Miriam's healing and, after seven days of isolation outside the camp, she will be healed and brought back. (Numbers 12:1-15)

 

Aaron uses some pretty graphic language to describe the curse of leprosy. He says that Miriam will be "as one dead" if the disease continues. This is what sin does to us, it makes us as ones dead by separating us from God, the source of life.

 

I can only imagine how Aaron must have felt when he turned to his sister after they both were corrected by God and saw her stricken with leprosy. It was, I'm sure, a stark lesson for both of them on the effects of pride and sin. It also reinforced to them the power of God. They had certainly seen His power before, they had left Egypt through the parted Red Sea, after all, but now it was personal. Now they saw the connection between not keeping His laws and being as ones dead. God must have known this scare was needed to bring Aaron and Miriam back into proper relationship with Him, but upon Moses' intercession, God also showed His mercy, healing Miriam telling them Miriam would be clean in seven days. 

 

Aaron and Miriam had been grousing about Moses' marriage and special relationship with God before this ordeal. They had thought themselves both worthy and able to speak to and for God as well as Moses. God put an end to their presumption in a frightful but effective way. He was quick, though, to also show His mercy and confirm His special relationship with Moses by promising to heal Miriam in response to Moses' prayer. 

 

Moses is a vivid "type" for Jesus, and this story is a lesson for us, as well as Aaron and Miriam. We sin, we are jealous, we grow prideful, we grouse, and when we do, God allows us to experience the the effects of our drawing away from Him. But Jesus intercedes for us, always, asking God to show His mercy, and God is always quick to do so when we have shown repentance.

 

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(On a lighter note, I can never read Aaron's name anymore without thinking of this skit!)