What about Moses’ brother and sister? Aaron was the ‘high priest’ and Miriam was a ‘prophetess.’ Did they get to see the ‘promised land?’ If not, why not?
Aaron and Miriam in God’s Plan
It’s important to remember the special roles Aaron and Miriam played in God’s eternal plan for His people, Israel. We first met Miriam in Exodus 2 –
And a man of the house of Levi went and took as wife a daughter of Levi. So the woman conceived and bore a son. And when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she hid him three months. But when she could no longer hide him, she took an ark of bulrushes for him, daubed it with asphalt and pitch, put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river’s bank. And his sister stood afar off, to know what would be done to him. Exodus 2:1-4
Miriam was the sister of the little Hebrew boy who would be named ‘Moses.’ Miriam watched and saw that one of the daughters of Pharaoh came to the river to bathe. She saw the ‘ark’ of bulrushes among the reeds and sent her maid to get it. She opened the ark and saw the crying baby. Pharaoh’s daughter had compassion on the baby boy because she knew he was one of the children of the Hebrews, who her father wanted to kill.
Miriam jumped into action and asked Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?” Pharaoh’s daughter told Miriam to take the baby to a Hebrew woman to nurse the child. She also promised to give her ‘wages’ for doing that. The baby’s Hebrew mother nursed him before giving the child to Pharaoh’s daughter to raise.
And the child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. So she called his name Moses, saying, ‘Because I drew him out of the water.’ Exodus 2:10
The next time we meet Miriam is in Exodus 15 where she is called ‘Miriam the prophetess, the sister of Aaron.’ Miriam was the first woman to be called a ‘prophetess.’ Other women given that title in the Bible were Deborah (Judges 4), Huldah (2 Kings 22), Isaiah’s wife (Isaiah 8), Anna (Luke 2), and the four daughters of Philip (Acts 21). It’s interesting that Miriam is called the sister of Aaron, rather than the sister of Moses. That may be because Moses wrote Exodus, because of her dissension against Moses in Number 12 (along with Aaron), or for some other reason.
The first time Aaron’s name is mentioned is in Exodus 4. Moses tried to get out of doing what God wanted him to do by saying – ‘O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before nor since You have spoken to Your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.’ Moses’ arguments angered God, so He said this –
Is not Aaron the Levite your brother? I know that he can speak well. And look, he is also coming out to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart. Now you shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth. And I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and I will teach you what you shall do. So he shall be your spokesman to the people. And he himself shall be as a mouth for you, and you shall be to him as God. And you shall take this rod in your hand, with which you shall do the signs.’ Exodus 4:14-17
Moses did as God commanded and went back to Egypt. God spoke to Aaron and told him to go into the wilderness to meet Moses. Moses told Aaron what God had told him and the signs the Lord showed him. Moses and Aaron then went to Egypt and gathered together all the elders of Israel.
And Aaron spoke all the words which the Lord had spoken to Moses. Then he did the signs in the sight of the people. So the people believed; and when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel and that He had looked on their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped. Exodus 4:30-31
The elders of Israel knew Aaron well because he was one of them. They hadn’t seen Moses for 40 years, so it made sense that the elders would trust Aaron over Moses. They believed what Aaron said because of the ‘signs’ he did ‘in the sight of the people.’ The elders were pleased that God had heard their prayers and had looked on their affliction. They bowed their heads and worshiped God for His mercy.
You will find Aaron mentioned many times in Exodus chapters 5 – 12 as he and Moses called on Pharaoh to let Israel leave Egypt. Here is the first encounter –
Afterward Moses and Aaron went in and told Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the Lord God of Israel: ‘Let My people go, that they may hold a feast to Me in the wilderness.’ Exodus 5:1
It’s also interesting to see how Aaron, who God chose to be Israel’s first high priest, turned against God and Moses within a short time after leaving Egypt –
Now when the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, the people gathered together to Aaron, and said to him, ‘Come, make us gods that shall go before us; for as for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ And Aaron said to them, ‘Break off the golden earrings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.’ So all the people broke off the golden earrings which were in their ears, and brought them to Aaron. Exodus 32:1-3
When Moses confronted Aaron about what he had done, Aaron blamed the children of Israel –
And Moses said to Aaron, ‘What did this people do to you that you have brought so great a sin upon them?’ So Aaron said, ‘Do not let the anger of my lord become hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil. For they said to me, ‘Make us gods that shall go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ And I said to them, ‘Whoever has any gold, let them break it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I cast it into the fire, and this calf came out.’ Exodus 32:21-24
Miriam and Aaron were Moses’ older siblings, but God placed them in a lower position to their brother. Moses was God’s choice, but Miriam and Aaron had some ego issues that demonstrated something about their personal character. Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses, but God spoke for him –
Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married; for he had married an Ethiopian woman. So they said, ‘Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also?’ And the Lord heard it. (Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth.) Suddenly the Lord said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, ‘Come out, you three, to the tabernacle of meeting!’ So the three came out. Then the Lord came down in the pillar of cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam. And they both went forward. Then He said, ‘Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, make Myself known to him in a vision; I speak to him in a dream. Not so with My servant Moses; He is faithful in all My house. I speak with him face to face, Even plainly, and not in dark sayings; And he sees the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid To speak against My servant Moses?’ So the anger of the Lord was aroused against them, and He departed. And when the cloud departed from above the tabernacle, suddenly Miriam became leprous, as white as snow. Then Aaron turned toward Miriam, and there she was, a leper. So Aaron 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 sinned. Please do not let her be as one dead, whose flesh is half consumed when he comes out of his mother’s womb!’ Numbers 12:1-12
What Moses did next demonstrated something important about his personal character –
So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, ‘Please heal her, O God, I pray!’ Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘If her father had but spit in her face, would she not be shamed seven days? Let her be shut out of the camp seven days, and afterward she may be received again.‘ So Miriam was shut out of the camp seven days, and the people did not journey till Miriam was brought in again. And afterward the people moved from Hazeroth and camped in the Wilderness of Paran. Numbers 12:13-16
Death in the Wilderness
I don’t want to take away the important part Aaron and Miriam played in God’s plan for Israel, but I do think it’s important to understand why God did not allow them to enter the Promised Land. Miriam died first –
Then the children of Israel, the whole congregation, came into the Wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh; and Miriam died there and was buried there. Numbers 20:1
The Bible doesn’t record Miriam’s age at death, but many scholars believe she was probably about 127. Aaron died a short time after Miriam. Here’s the reason why –
Now the children of Israel, the whole congregation, journeyed from Kadesh and came to Mount Hor. And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in Mount Hor by the border of the land of Edom, saying: ‘Aaron shall be gathered to his people, for he shall not enter the land which I have given to the children of Israel, because you rebelled against My word at the water of Meribah. Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up to Mount Hor; and strip Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son; for Aaron shall be gathered to his people and die there.’ So Moses did just as the Lord commanded, and they went up to Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son; and Aaron died there on the top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. Now when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, all the house of Israel mourned for Aaron thirty days. Numbers 20:22-29
Aaron was 123 years old when he died and was buried on Mount Hor (Numbers 33:39). Moses died when he was 120 when God buried him in ‘a valley in the land of Moab, opposite Beth Peor; but no one knows his grave to this day’ (Deuteronomy 34:6-8). The children of Israel mourned Moses’ death for thirty days in the plains of Moab.
The Importance of Moses’ Family
We know from both the Old and New Testaments the importance of Moses in God’s plan for Israel, but Micah reminds us that God viewed all three siblings as important to His plan for His people –
O My people, what have I done to you? And how have I wearied you? Testify against Me. For I brought you up from the land of Egypt, I redeemed you from the house of bondage; And I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. Micah 6:3-4
Moses and his siblings were not perfect people, but they were the people God chose to bring His people out of bondage in Egypt. As with so many families in the Bible, disobedience was their downfall. However, who among us can say we’ve never disobeyed the Lord? God used Moses and his family, and He’ll use you and yours as you serve Him faithfully and obediently. It’s an important lesson for us all to learn and remember.
You led Your people like a flock By the hand of Moses and Aaron. Psalm 77:20
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Next Time
God chose Joshua to lead the children of Israel into the promised land after Moses died. Who was Joshua and what part did he play in God’s prophetic vision for Israel? We’ll look into that in the next part of our special series – The Old Testament Prophets.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
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