Should you second-guess your intuition?

 Welcome to the Daily Bible Chapter. My name is James Leroy Wilson and I invite you to join me as I attempt to read the Bible with fresh eyes, as if I don't know anything about it, and without consulting experts on what it "really" means.. Let's see where this takes us! 

I'm reading Young's Literal Translation (YLT) and the New Revised Standard Version (NRSV).

Numbers 12

Moses had married a Cushite woman. 

Cush, like Canaan, was a son of Ham. Symbolically, Ham and his descendants represent the lowest or basest version of ourselves. Historically, however, Cush (or Kush) was a land in present-day Sudan, close or adjacent to both the Nile River and the Red Sea. 

Since Cush was a long way off,  who knows how this Cushite got in with the Israelites. Maybe she had been in Egypt and joined them. Maybe she was from a family of traders who met the Israelites. 

Moses's first wife was a Midianite, a descendent of Abraham. The Cushite, however, wasn't "one of us," which apparently annoyed Miriam and Aaron. Although not against the letter of the law, marrying the foreigner seemed to violate the LORD's intentions for Israel. By marrying foreigners, are we not going to adopt their customs and their gods?

So, Miriam and Aaron might have thought Moses "lost it" and questioned him.

The LORD comes down from the spaceship, I mean,  pillar of cloud, and stands at the entrance of the tabernacle. No description of the LORD's appearance is given. Then the LORD gives Aaron and Miriam a message:

When there are prophets among you, I the Lord make myself known to them in visions; I speak to them in dreams. Not so with my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house. With him I speak face to face—clearly, not in riddles, and he beholds the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?

The LORD admits that what's said to Moses is clear and obvious; what the LORD says to others is somewhat confusing. It is through Moses and Moses alone that the LORD speaks, and everyone will just have to fall in line.

When the LORD afflicts Miriam with a skin disease, that could be seen as punishment, but then why wasn't Aaron also punished? I think the LORD was really giving a sign to obey what Moses says. The consequence was that the Israelites were delayed in their travels for seven days.

If the LORD represents your higher self and speaks to you clearly through intuition, don't second-guess or doubt. That will only delay your journey.

James Leroy Wilson writes Daily Miracles, The Daily Bible Chapter, JL Cells, and The MVP Chase. Thanks for your subscriptions and support!

(Photo credit: TyshkunVictor)