March 7, 2014 MORNING DEVOTION & SERMONETTES FOR MINISTERS IN TRAINING Daily Bible Reading: DEUTERONOMY Chapters 21-23 Topic: REMEMBER MIRIAMS PUNISHMENT “Remember what the Lord thy God did unto Miriam by the way, after that ye were come forth out of Egypt.” (Deut. 24:9) Periodically Scripture exhorts us to remember certain events and people. In today’s Scripture reading, Israel was told to remember what God did to Miriam and also to remember what Amalek did unto Israel (Deuteronomy 25:17). Our verse focuses on the exhortation to remember Miriam’s punishment. She was punished by God when the Israelites were traveling through the desert. We note the cause, character, and consequences of her punishment. CAUSE OF HER PUNISHMENT. Miriam was punished because she had a bad attitude and mouth. Numbers 12 relates the incident. She, along with her brother Aaron, spoke against Moses. It started by criticizing Moses’ marriage. But the real reason for their criticism was their questioning whether God had spoken only through Moses. There was a lot of sibling pride involved here. Miriam, who was Moses’ sister, was older than Moses. And it was her actions that helped save Moses as a baby and got their mother to care for Moses for Pharaoh’s daughter. She was a real heroine, was later called a “prophetess,” (Exodus 15:20), and became a leader of the women (Ibid.). But Moses had eclipsed her in position. This obviously hurt her pride. So she did what many jealous people do—criticize the one they envied. It was a mean deed that did not go unnoticed by God. CHARACTER OF HER PUNISHMENT. It was severe. Miriam was made leprous instantly (Numbers 12:10); and even though God healed her, she had to be “shut out from the camp” (Numbers 12:15) for a week. All of this would be so embarrassing and humbling for her. But pride does that to people. CONSEQUENCES OF HER PUNISHMENT. Miriam’s punishment came when Israel was journeying through the wilderness after their deliverance from Egypt. The punishment caused the Israelites to have to stay put until Miriam’s time of separation was over (Numbers 12:15). Thus Miriam’s sin caused delay in the journeying of the whole camp. Our sin adversely affects others a lot more than we often think it will. END Daily Bible Reading: Sermonettes #1.
Posted on: Fri, 07 Mar 2014 11:13:47 +0000
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