Num. 11:10-17,24-30; 12:1-15, Moses: Unity’s Double-Whammy

In order to understand this post you need to have some knowledge of the great theologian, Lil’ Abner.  Perhaps you’ve never heard of him.  The daily comic strip that featured Abner is no longer politically correct.  He was part of a hillbilly family in the depression era (1930’s).  He had a grandma who ran the family.  You always wanted to be aware of her “double whammy.”  She could hurt you with the single but could destroy you with the double. 

Pardon my senseless digression, but there’s a “double whammy” in the Bible that can destroy God’s people.  JEALOUSY AND ENVY!  Look what they can do.

·       Mt. 27:18: For envy the Jews handed Jesus over to be crucified.

·       Acts 7:9: For jealousy Jacob’s sons sold brother Joseph into slavery.

·       1 Sam. 18:8-9: For jealousy Saul pursued David relentlessly.

·       Pr. 14:30: Envy is rottenness to the bones.

·       Job 5:2: Envy destroys the simple minded.

·       Acts 17:1-9: For jealousy the Jews pursued Paul from Thessalonica to Berea.

What are envy and jealousy and how do they work.  Jealousy and envy are basically two sides of the same coin in my view.  Jealousy demands complete devotion (thus the God of the Bible is a jealous God).  Additionally, it treats with suspicion a rival or one who is believed to have an advantage.  Envy is the grudging desire for, or the discontent at the sight of, someone else’s excellence or advantage.  Thus: jealousy wants to deprive another of their advantage while envy wants to take that advantage for itself.

In the list of the “works of the flesh” in Gal. 5:19-21, the order expresses quite well the effect of these two lusts.  Contentions are followed by jealousy.  Factions are followed by envy. In today’s passages there is an interesting flow of events.  The people complained, and Moses finally got tired of it.  Apparently the additional judges that Moses had trained to share the leadership were not sufficient.  So God told Moses to add yet more leaders.  It was then that envy and jealousy became an issue, through Miriam and Aaron. “Has the LORD only spoken through Moses?”  Days later, after Israel’s refusal to enter the land at Kadesh Barnea, men of the priesthood and leaders of the tribe of Reuben (the true firstborn) would also rise in jealousy and envy, asking Moses and Aaron, “Why then do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the LORD” (Num. 16:3).

In the midst of all of this are God’s words about Moses, that he was the most humble man in the world.  His humility did not keep others from lusting after his position as God’s chosen leader of Israel.  But it did enable him not to fight back but, in both cases, to allow God to confirm his calling and position.  And God did that, in the leprosy of Miriam, the death of Korah and his group, and Aaron’s rod that budded.