Learning About Racism From Moses’ Black Wife
Miriam and Aaron’s complaints about Zipporah
Race continues to dominate the headlines. We seem to be in an endless cycle with yet another black man getting shot by police, Jacob Blake this week in Wisconsin, followed by riots.
There is also the shocking case of Ota Benga. More than 100 years after the kidnap and exhibition of a 12-year-old Congolese boy in the monkey house, the Bronx Zoo recently apologised. How the cover-ups and silence were maintained this long is chilling.
But surely we can console ourselves that things are getting better? That we have a more enlightened view of race than the past? Or do we seek the answer to racism in party politics and the victory of our political enemies? Numbers chapter 12, set over 3,000 years ago, challenges both views.
Zipporah: Moses’ Ethiopian wife
Miriam and Aaron were envious of the authority held by Moses. So they used the race of Moses’ wife as a weapon against him:
Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife, for he had married a Cushite (Numbers 12:1, NIV).
What makes us think Moses’ wife was black? Cush was an ancient civilization in modern-day Ethiopia. The prophet Jeremiah drew a contrast between the skin colour of Ethiopians (the same Hebrew word — Cushite — used in Numbers 12) and Israelites:
Can an Ethiopian change his skin
or a leopard its spots?
Neither can you do good
who are accustomed to doing evil (Jeremiah 13:23, NIV).
God’s response
Did God side with the tribalism of Miriam and Aaron? Was He impressed with their lighter skin?
The anger of the Lord burned against them, and he left them.
When the cloud lifted from above the tent, Miriam’s skin was leprous — it became as white as snow.” (Numbers 12:9–10, NIV)
The Lord burned with anger (v9). His response was laced with irony. Since Miriam was proud of her skin colour — He turned her white as snow (v10).
Opposition to racism didn’t just pop out of the air in the 21st century. The roots of anti-racism run deep and can be seen several thousand years ago modelled by God Himself.
Repentance and healing
[Aaron] said to Moses, “Please, my lord, I ask you not to hold against us the sin we have so foolishly committed…So Moses cried out to the Lord, “Please, God, heal her!” (Numbers 12:11–13, NIV)
True reconciliation cannot come without repentance and forgiveness. God’s intervention led Aaron and Miriam to see their sin and repent (v11). Moses, in turn, responded with graciousness praying for healing (v13).
God’s wise response was not to minimize the sin of Miriam and Aaron. The sin of racism makes us unclean before God. But at the same time, He provided healing:
The Lord replied to Moses, “…Confine her outside the camp for seven days; after that she can be brought back.” (Numbers 12:14, NIV)
What do we learn?
- Opposition to racism is neither limited to the 21st-century nor a particular political party. The Bible has condemned racism for several thousand years. God burns with anger at racism.
- God blesses inter-racial marriages. He was not concerned that Moses married a black woman. God was more concerned with her faith than her race. Zipporah was a fine wife. She even saved Moses’ life by performing duties he had neglected before God (Exodus 4:24–26). I have at least two things in common with Moses: an inter-racial marriage, and a wife that gets me out of trouble!
- The hatred and discord we are experiencing should open our eyes to the need for repentance and healing.
