Monthly Archives: February 2021

The month of February is Black History month across North America. This year the goal is to bring focus and increased awareness of racialized issues in society, and the call to us is to listen, learn, share and act to make society a better place.

Non-acceptance and devaluation of humans based on racial differences, specifically blackness, has existed since Bible times. In this blog, I reflect on one such incident from the Bible.

Sitting at a primary intersection of gender and ethnicity in chapter 12 of the book of Numbers is the figure of the Cushite woman. Meet Zipporah, the Midianite wife of one of the Bible’s most celebrated leaders – a black woman whose name means “a little bird” or “sparrow”. It was at a well that Moses met Zipporah. After killing an Egyptian in Egypt for harshly beating a Hebrew slave, he fled to the land of Midian to escape his shame.

The Midianites were a group of people, made up of different tribes – descendants of Midian (a son of Abraham and his wife Keturah), who lived in the Arabian Peninsula on the eastern side of the Gulf of Aqaba of the Red Sea. The location is considered to be part of modern-day Saudi Arabia. Some, however, also came from Nubia, and this is where Zipporah came from somewhere between Ethiopia and Sudan. Her father, Jethro (also known as Reuel) was a priest of Midian, a shepherd, and a wise man.

You would recall that it was Jethro’s recommendation that Moses select judges to help govern the people. Moses would teach the judges and they would hear the simpler cases leaving the more challenging ones for his attention.

We learn in Numbers that one day when the Israelites were at Hazeroth, Miriam and Aaron, Moses’ older siblings, blindsided him when they “spoke against Moses because of the Cushite[1] woman whom he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman” (Numbers 12:1).

The most explicit criticism is about his marriage to a black woman as the two siblings called out Zipporah’s distinct trait – her skin colour which, apart from her race, also symbolized that she was not Hebrew but a foreigner. On top of that they had the nerve to question Moses’ authority. They hinted that they deserved to be prophets on par with the unsuitably married Moses, and God “heard them”.

In response to Miriam’s criticism, God does not get angry with Moses. “His anger was kindled against them”, Miriam and Aaron. The bible says that God spoke suddenly to the three siblings, summoning them to the door of the Tabernacle where he came down in a cloud to meet them. God does not meet them inside the Tabernacle where he would customarily meet with them because, in my view, he intends to punish them and in so doing He does not want to desecrate the Tabernacle.

He then calls Aaron and Miriam forward to set the record straight. He does not tolerate them bad-mothing Moses. He tells them that Moses is nothing like them but a “servant of his household who talks to Him face to face.” God does not wait for an answer from Aaron and Miriam but departs as soon as He had given his testimony about Moses.

“When the cloud lifts from over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, like snow” (Numbers 12:10). Having criticized Zipporah’s dark skin, her punishment in the form of white, leprous skin was now visible for all to see – skin for skin. Moses, a type of Christ, intercedes on her behalf, asking God to have mercy on her and to heal her. It is important to note that God hears This prayer, and He answers. Miriam must, however, wait seven days outside the camp, returning only after she heals. “…The effectual fervent prayer of s righteous man avails much” (James 5:16, NKJV).

In contrast, God does not punish the weak-willed, traitorous Aaron possibly because leprosy was a symbol of sin’s spread and horrible consequences, and Aaron the High Priest symbolized Jesus, our sinless High Priest who would come to redeem sinful man. In a sense, he was punished when he saw Miriam, his sister stricken with leprosy for Numbers 12:10 says “… and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, [she was] leprous.”

There are a number of takeaways from this story.

• Anti-black racism exists at the highest levels – in leaders and even in family members as is shown in this story of Miriam, Aaron, Moses and Zipporah. Further, it must be rooted out because it is sin. “…when the cloud departed from above the tabernacle, suddenly Miriam became leprous ….” Aaron turned toward her and saw that she had a defiling skin disease, and he said to Moses, “Oh, my lord! Please do not lay this SIN on us, in which we have done foolishly and in which we have Please do not let her be as one dead, whose flesh is half consumed when it comes out of his mother’s womb!” (Numbers 12:10-12, NKJV).  Aaron calls his and Miriam’s act, sin. Racism is a sin and God hates it. In some form or another, when one is racist, whether they be White, Black, Asian, Latino or Indigenous and they hate another race, the Bible calls it out as There is no room for racism or hatred toward foreigners in God’s family, and He has little tolerance for it.

• The Lord hears when we criticize others based on race, and He comes down to deal with these racial situations on earth. I am sure God has taken note of all the faithful ones who have suffered because of race. Some have already received justice. All will receive at Christ’s second coming. Moreover, it is a dangerous thing to tear down the character of those anointed of God. The thing Miriam judged became her judgment, and that was skin color.

• Racism is not only a skin color issue; it is a heart issue. The only one who can root it the sin of racism is God. This happens through an encounter with him and a full transformation. After Moses pleads with God to heal his sister, God says send her outside the camp for seven[1] For her complete body and heart transformation, God makes her live in isolation with this skin disease.

• In looking at the account of Moses’ siblings’ racism towards his wife, we see that the Hebrews were held back from moving forward until Moses’ sister’s heart was sanctified and transformed. Racism does not just hold back the racist, it holds back the subjugated as well.

• God supports inter-racial marriage. The implications of Moses’ marriage to a Cushite woman are significant.  Moses is one of the leading figures in the Old Testament. As the story unfolds in Numbers 12:1-16, it is clear that God approves of this marriage, for he rebukes Miriam and Aaron for opposing it, and then He strongly reaffirms Moses as his chosen leader.

We are living in a moment of deep suffering, arising out of a history of incalculable suffering, for black people, bi-racial people, indigenous people: the modern Zipporahs. Too many, like Miriam, think and speak with bias against others because of their race or racial connections. Too many, like Aaron, go along with it, whether through agreement, laughter, shrugging or silence. Too often, people turn these thoughts and words into damaging deeds, even lethal deeds – against George Floyd and others; against 400+ years of names.

The Bible does not let us deny the problem of racism. Black lives mattered in the time of Moses and Black lives matter now. We all must work to root it out – to speak against it; to oppose it and, most importantly, to act against it. All people are created in the image of God, and therefore all races and ethnic groups have equal status and equal value before God. The gospel demands that Christians carry compassion and the message of Christ across ethnic lines. The New Testament, in particular, teaches that as Christians we are all unified together “in Christ,” regardless of our differing ethnicities.

Moreover, our primary concept of self-identity should not be our ethnicity, but our membership as part of the body and family of Christ. The Apostle John, the author of the book of Revelation, gives us a picture of God’s people at the climax of history – a multi-ethnic congregation from every tribe, language, people, and nation, all gathered together in worship around God’s throne. I look forward to that day. What about you? By God’s grace, let’s purpose to be there – together.

[1] A Cushite is from Cush, a region south of Ethiopia, where the people are known for their black skin.

[2] Seven is the number for completion in the Bible.

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