In Numbers 12 Aaron and Miriam reviled God's deputy authority. Aaron was the eldest brother, and Miriam was the eldest sister. Even though Moses was Aaron and Miriam's younger brother, God appointed him as the deputy authority. It was wrong for Moses, as a descendant of Shem, to marry a Cushite, that is, a descendant of Ham. Both Miriam and Aaron were older than Moses, and they reviled him for marrying the Cushite woman. They were brother and sister within the same family, and for them it did not seem out of place to rebuke Moses concerning their unhappiness over their sister-in-law. But their dissatisfaction ultimately involved more than a family dispute; it touched God's work. In verse 2 Aaron and Miriam said, "Has Jehovah indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?" Once they said this, the situation changed. They moved the controversy from the realm of a family dispute to the realm of God's work. Within the realm of their own family, it might have been all right for Aaron and Miriam to utter their dissatisfaction with Moses' marriage, but once the matter was moved into the realm of God's work, they overstepped. God entrusted the authority of the work to Moses, not to Aaron or Miriam. It might have been all right if they had limited their complaint to within the family or before God alone. But as soon as they touched God's work, they fell into great error. God had not chosen them to be the authority. Instead, God had chosen Moses to be the authority. God alone was qualified to rebuke His servant. No one else was qualified to rebuke him. In His work only God had the position to rebuke Moses. Neither Moses' brother nor his sister could do this. Many people mix family affairs with God's work. This is a great mistake. The Jews made the same mistake. This is the reason they did not believe in Christ. They rejected Him because they thought they knew His brothers and sisters. They thought they knew His family.
Aaron and Miriam challenged Moses, saying, "Has he [Jehovah] not spoken through us also?" Then the Bible says, "And Jehovah heard it" (Num. 12:2). This may be considered as a parenthetical word. It is not the main body of the text. It seems as if Moses did not hear Aaron and Miriam's word; he did not say anything, but Jehovah heard it. Concerning Moses' reaction, the Bible only says, "Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all men who were on the face of the earth" (v. 3). Suddenly Jehovah spoke to all three of them. He asked them to come to the tabernacle, and He spoke to Aaron and Miriam: "Hear My words: If there is a prophet among you, I Jehovah make Myself known to him in a vision; in a dream I speak with him. Not so with My servant Moses; he is faithful in all My house. With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in obscure words; and he beholds the form of Jehovah" (vv. 6-8). God said that had Aaron and Miriam been prophets, He would have spoken to them in a vision or in a dream. But He was different with respect to Moses; He spoke with him mouth to mouth. Here we should consider what deputy authority is. Deputy authority is God's authority; it is authority given to man by God, and it is something initiated by God. No one can touch Moses lightly. As soon as he touches Moses, he touches God in Moses. It seems as if God was saying, "Miriam, even if you are a prophetess, at the most I would have spoken to you in a vision or in a dream. But with Moses I speak mouth to mouth." Then the Lord said, "Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant, against Moses?" (v. 8). God's anger was kindled against them. It is not a small thing to speak against God's deputy authority. It invites God's wrath.
May the Lord open our eyes to see that all authorities are of God and issue from God. No one on earth can take any authority away. No self-assumed authority is real authority, and no one can take away any authority. All authorities come from God. We must see that every authority is from God. Moses' brother and sister did not trespass against Moses; they trespassed against the authority he represented. This is the reason that God's anger was kindled. Once a man touches deputy authority, he touches God, because all authority is from God. Aaron could discipline Moses for his marriage because Moses was the younger brother in their family. God respected Aaron's place. Aaron, however, needed to see that his brother was God's servant in God's work. It was God who gave his brother the authority. If a man offended Moses, he did not offend Moses himself but God who had chosen Moses. It is a frightful thing to touch God's authority. I would like to repeat one word over and over again: Touching God's deputy authority is the same as touching God's authority. We should not presume that we can afford to offend deputy authority. No one should offend God's authority, and no one should offend God's deputy authority. Offending God's deputy authority is the same as offending God's own authority. An offense against God's deputy authority is the same as an offense against God's own authority. Many people say that they will only listen to God, not to any deputy authority. Please remember, however, that if we do not listen to God's deputy authority, we are not listening to God's authority. If we offend God's deputy authority, we are offending God. Deputy authority is God's authority. We do not need to know anything about the person who is acting as the deputy authority. All we have to ask is whether or not he is a deputy authority. A man cannot say that he bows to God yet refuses to obey His deputy authority. If a man is afraid of offending God's authority, he equally should be afraid of offending God's deputy authority.