“Now this man Moshe was very humble, more so than anyone on earth. Suddenly Adonai told Moshe, Aharon and Miryam, “Come out, you three, to the tent of meeting.” The three of them went out.”-Numbers 12:3-4
So we find the real reason for Miriam and Aaron getting all hot and annoyed about Moses’ Ethiopian wife really had nothing to do with his wife at all.
After complaining about Moses wife, immediately afterwards, they said “Is it true that Adonai has spoken only with Moshe? Hasn’t he spoken with us too?”.
Ahh and so the truth reveals itself.
They were envious of Moses’ close relationship with God.
The ancient Rabbinic writings have pointed out something interesting about this incident.
Moses himself did not overhear Miriam and Aaron grumbling about him.
But HASHEM overheard and He wasn’t going to let Miriam and Aaron get away with it.
The takeaway here is simple.
God does not appreciate our grumblings towards those leaders He has decided to place over us for our benefit.
The Lord calls Miriam and Aaron on the carpet for their careless words and lets them know in no uncertain terms that in no way was Moses in the wrong.
The Scripture then goes on to say that Moses was “the humblest man in all the earth“.
The original Hebrew here is ANAV.
Instead of “humble” many other English Bible translations including the King James version will translate ANAV into “meek“.
As difficult as it can be sometimes to achieve a precise rendering of one word from one language into another, I think both “humble” and “meek” are suitable translations.
In terms of modern English though “humble” is probably better.
I can’t remember the last time I used the word “meek” in a normal daily conversation.
So what be the true Biblical meaning of the word “humble“?
Well, think of the opposite of the type of personality that is revered in our society today.
Somebody who is prideful, wealthy and confidently appears to have full control of his or her future is the type of person who is admired in our day.
On the other hand, the Biblical quality of humbleness is quite the opposite.
Biblical humbleness is best exemplified by somebody of very limited means, somebody who is keenly aware that he doesn’t have the power to control his life.
According to Yeshua, it’s not the leaders of the world with all of their wealth and grandiose plans who are going to inherit the earth.
No, Yeshua preached it is the “humble” who will inherit the earth.
He was preaching nothing less than what was already written by the Psalmist many years before.
“But the meek will inherit the land and enjoy peace and prosperity.”
-Psalm 37:11
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“Blessed are the meek,
for they will inherit the earth.”
-Matthew 5:5
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