God now gently rebuked Aaron and Miriam for their transgression, and
did not give vent to His wrath until He had shown them their sin. This
was an example to man never to show anger to his neighbor before giving
his reason for his anger. The effects of God's wrath were shown as soon
as He had departed from them, for while He was with them, His mercy
exceeded His anger, and nothing happened to them, but when He was not
long with them, punishment set in. Both Aaron and Miriam became
leprous, for this is the punishment ordained for those who speak ill of
their neighbors. [494] Aaron's leprosy, however, lasted for a moment
only, for his sin had not been as great as that of his sister, who
started the talk against Moses. His disease vanished as soon as he
looked upon his leprosy. Not so with Miriam. Aaron in vain tried to
direct his eyes upon her leprosy and in this way to heal her, for in
her case the effect was the reverse; as soon as he looked upon her the
leprosy increased, and nothing remained but to call for Moses'
assistance, who was ready to give it before being called upon. [495]
Aaron thereupon turned to his brother with the following words: "Think
not that the leprosy is on Miriam's body only, it is as if it were on
the body of our father Amram, of whose flesh and blood she is." Aaron
did not, however, try to extenuate their sin, saying to Moses: "Have
we, Miriam and I, ever done harm to a human being?" Moses: "No." Aaron:
"If we have done evil to no strange people, how then canst thou believe
that we wished to harm thee? For a moment only did we forget ourselves
and acted in an unnatural way toward our brother. Shall we therefore
lose our sister? If Miriam's leprosy doth not now vanish, she must pass
all her life as a leper, for only a priest who is not a relative by
blood of the leper may under certain conditions declare her clean, but
all the priests, my sons and I, are her relatives by blood. The life of
a leper is as of one dead, for as a corpse makes unclean all that comes
in contact with it, so too the leper. Alas!" so Aaron closed his
intercession, "Shall our sister, who was with us in Egypt, who with us
intoned the song at the Red Sea, who took upon herself the instruction
of the women while we instructed the men, shall she now, while we are
about to leave the desert and enter the promised land, sit shut out
from the camp?"
These words of Aaron, however, were quite superfluous, for Moses had
determined, as soon as his sister became diseased, to intercede for her
with God, saying to himself: "It is not right that my sister should
suffer and I dwell in contentment." [496] He now drew a circle about
himself, stood up, and said a short prayer to God, which he closed with
the words: "I will not go from this spot until Thou shalt have healed
my sister. But if Thou do not heal her, I myself shall do so, for Thou
hast already revealed to me, how leprosy arises and how it disappears."
This prayer was fervent, spoken with his whole heart and soul, though
very brief. Had he spoken long, some would have said: "His sister is
suffering terribly and he, without heeding her, spends his time in
prayer." Others again would have said: "He prayeth long for his sister,
but for us he prayeth briefly." God said to Moses: "Why dost thou shout
so?" Moses: "I know what suffering my sister is enduring. I remember
the chain which my hand was chained, for I myself once suffered from
this disease." God: "If a king, or if her father had but spit in her
face, should she not be ashamed seven days? I, the King of kings, have
spit in her face, and she should be ashamed at least twice seven days.
For thy sake shall seven days be pardoned her, but the other seven days
let her be shut out from the camp." For want of priest who, according
to the tenets of the law, must declare a leper clean after the healing,
God Himself assumed this part, declaring Miriam unclean for a week, and
clean after the passing of that period. [497]
Although leprosy came to Miriam as a punishment for her sin, still this
occasion served to show how eminent a personage she was. For the people
were breaking camp and starting on the march when, after having saddled
their beasts of burden for the march, upon turning to see the pillar of
cloud moving before them, they missed the sight of it. They looked
again to see if Moses and Aaron were in the line of procession, but
they were missing, nor was there anywhere to be seen a trace of the
well that accompanied them on their marches. Hence they were obliged to
return again to camp, where they remained until Miriam was healed. The
clouds and the well, the sanctuary and the sixty myriads of the people,
all had to wait a week in this spot until Miriam recovered. Then the
pillar of cloud moved on once more and the people knew that they had
not been permitted to proceed on their march only because of this pious
prophetess. This was a reward for the kind deed Miriam had done when
the child Moses was thrown into the water. Then Miriam for some time
walked up and down along the shore to wait the child's fate, and for
this reason did the people wait for her, nor could they move on until
she had recovered. [498]