Nosey Busybodies

[Num. 12: 1] And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman.
Zipporah, Moses wife, was a Midianite, and because Midian bordered on Ethiopia, it is sometimes referred to in the scriptures by this name. She was the daughter of a priest of Midian, the person who introduced her tribal practice of circumcision to the Hebrews when she insisted upon circumcising her son Gershom.
An Ethiopian woman - Hebrew, "a Cushite woman" - Arabia was usually called in Scripture the land of Cush, its inhabitants being descendants of that son of Ham accounted generally a vile and contemptible race the part of Miriam and Aaron against Moses was the great change made in the government by the adoption of the seventy rulers (11:16). Their irritating disparagement of his wife (who, in all probability, was Zipporah (Ex. 2:21), and not a second wife he had recently married) arose from jealousy of the relatives, through whose influence the innovation had been first made (Ex. 18: 13-26), while they were overlooked or neglected. Miriam is mentioned before Aaron as being the chief instigator and leader of the sedition. The Rabbis portray Numbers 12:1 Miriam, as an individual who was never afraid to deliver a severe rebuke when necessary – to her father, even to the Pharaoh. As an adult, Miriam now harshly condemns her brother, Moses. This time, she will not come out unscathed.
The text seems to suggest that the cause of the rebuke was the marriage of Moses to a Cushite (Ethiopian) woman, but many Scholars believe that a later editor of Scripture added this particular line. There was a report to Moses that Eldad and Medad, two men not chosen by Moses, were going about the camp engaging in the mystery of prophecy and ecstatic communion with the Divine. Zipporah, standing within earshot, spontaneously exclaimed, “Woe to the wives of these two men if they have anything to do with prophecy, for they will separate from their wives, just as my husband has separated from me!” Miriam, who witnessed Zipporah’s reaction, reported it to her brother, Aaron. Miriam, at that moment, realized that Moses had separated himself from his wife, and she believed that Zipporah had been wronged, deprived of the possibility of and obligation to have children. Miriam brags that even though she and Aaron also receive Divine revelations, they, unlike Moses, chose not to halt their marital life. Miriam falsely accuses Moses of unwarranted pride, of falsely displaying the appearance of a Holy Man. It was Miriam, not Aaron, who led the revolt.
The prophetical and character was bestowed upon Aaron (Ex. 4:15-16) and Miriam (Ex. 15:20); and, therefore they considered the conduct of Moses, in exercising an exclusive authority in this matter, as an encroachment on their rights (Micah 6:4).
This observation might have been made to account for Moses taking no notice of their angry reproaches and for G-d's interposing so speedily for the vindication of His servant's cause. The circumstance of Moses recording a europium on a distinguishing excellence of his own character is not without a parallel among the sacred writers, when forced to it by the insolence and contempt of opponents (2 Cor.11:5, 2 Cor. 12:11-12). ). But it is not improbable that, as this verse appears to be a parenthesis, Ezra or some later prophet may have inserted it as a gloss. Others, instead of "very meek," suggest "very afflicted," as the proper rendering and so endured their grudging, although he knew of them. Our Talmudic Rabbis have taught that Moses was required to abstain from relations with his wife so that his mind and heart could receive Divine communications at any moment.
The Lord came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood the door of the tabernacle - without gaining admission, as was the usual privilege of Aaron, though it was denied to all other men and women. This public exclusion was designed to be a token of the divine displeasure.
Hear now my words - A difference of degree is here distinctly expressed in the gifts and authority even of divinely commissioned prophets. Moses, having been set over all G-d's house, (that is, His Messianic church and people), was consequently invested with supremacy over Miriam and Aaron also and privileged beyond all others by direct and clear manifestations of the presence and will of G-d.
8 “Why were you not afraid to speak against my servant – even though he were not a Moses, and why were you not afraid to speak against a Moses – even though he were not My servant – in either of these cases, you ought to have feared him! How much more ought you to be afraid to speak against him, he being also My servant – and the servant of a King is a king himself! You should have said: the king doesn’t love him without reason! But if you reply that I am not cognizant of his doings (that is, that I love him though he does not deserve it, since I am not aware of his treatment of his wife), then this statement is even worse that your previous one.”
When G-d’s presence had departed, Miriam was covered with leprosy. Apparently, say the Rabbis, Aaron was excluded from this punishment because he was merely drawn into the attack on his brother. Why leprosy? Because leprosy is the symbolic Divine punishment for the crime of slander.
Deut. 24:9 “Remember what the L-rd, thy G-d, did unto Miriam.” Miriam spoke only with her brother’s interest in mind, wishing that he would take back his life and father more children. If she was punished so severely, how much more will he who publicly disparages his neighbor be punished for his actions! Over and over again, we find evidence of the greater the man or woman, the stricter and higher the standard he is held to, and the more extreme the punishment or loss suffered if and when the individual falls short of that mark.
Aaron speaks up on his sister’s behalf. Moses, likewise, beseeches G-d to show compassion. G-d, in turn, decrees a 7-day quarantine for Miriam, outside, the camp, after that time she is to rejoin her people, fully healed.
Nothing more is said of the following years, the lifetime of that generation condemned to extinction. The chronological sequel to this section is chapter 20 of Numbers that brings us to the very last of the forty years spent wandering in the Sinai, the year, too, in which the prophetess, Miriam, dies.