Male and Female

7 min read

10 When the cloud lifted from above the tent, Miriam’s skin was leprous—it became as white as snow. Aaron turned toward her and saw that she had a defiling skin disease, 11 and he said to Moses, “Please, my lord, I ask you not to hold against us the sin we have so foolishly committed. 12 Do not let her be like a stillborn infant coming from its mother’s womb with its flesh half eaten away.”

13 So Moses cried out to the LORD, “Please, God, heal her!”

14 The LORD replied to Moses, “If her father had spit in her face, would she not have been in disgrace for seven days? Confine her outside the camp for seven days; after that she can be brought back.” 15 So Miriam was confined outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on till she was brought back.

Numbers 12:10-15

Why was Miriam punished, but not Aaron? Miriam was not simply the sister of Moses and Aaron, she was a prophet (Exodus 15:20). She was also the eldest of the three. Furthermore, when the daughter of Pharaoh found Moses floating in a basket in the Nile, Miriam was the one who suggested to the princess to find a woman (Moses’s mother) to nurse the child (Exodus 2:1-10). That is to say, Miriam was naturally cunning, even as a child. All things considered, Miriam had influence and authority over the people of Israel, particularly among the women.

Miriam’s profile comes to the forefront when she is mentioned before Aaron in verse 1. In ancient literature, it would be extremely rare for a woman to be mentioned before a man in any kind of list, unless the woman was significant in some way.

What all of that adds up to is that Miriam was the one who instigated the challenge against Moses and convinced Aaron to join her. Miriam was the leader in this conflict.

Today, more and more, our society recognizes the skills that women have and the contribution that they make to society. On the other hand, women in the ancient world were second class citizens.

There are many sociological reasons for that. In particular, though, family legacy and family inheritance were extremely important in the ancient world. And Jordan Petersen has pointed out that men can “father” many more children than any single woman can give birth to. That is not a value statement, but simply a statement of fact. And combined with the cultural value of family and inheritance, together with the need to protect family legacy and together with the sin that breeds selfishness, men had the “upper hand” in society.

Even in that ancient context, the Hebrew society was more female-positive than pretty much every other ancient society. The declaration of Genesis 1 was unthinkable for other peoples:

27 So God created mankind in his own image,
in the image of God he created them;
male and female he created them.
— Genesis 1:27

God never intended for one gender to be valued more than the other. And yet, God made men and women inherently different so that each would need the other to propagate families, and by extension to build up communities, and by extension to build up civilizations and the world.

But sin makes the simplest, most obvious things so complicated.

Historically, men have abused the “headship” that God had ordained for them and turned it into oppressive “power.” That’s sin in action.

Today, women desire the “power” that men have, but ironically they do so according to the rules that men have established over centuries. That’s sin in action, too.

In the end, we find men and women competing for the sake of acquiring a kind of “power” that only steals, kills, and destroys, instead of working together to build each other up, to build up families, and to build up communities and societies.

For both men and women, having “power” comes with responsibility. The “power” doesn’t matter. What is important in God’s eyes and what is good for us is the common responsibility that God has given us—to fill the earth with the glory of God in Jesus’s name through God-fearing, God-honoring, God-worshiping, God-loving communities and families, the church. That common responsibility takes both male and female together.

Father, You created us. And if You created us, there is a way for men and women to get along. But today we pursue divergent goals—our own personal bucket lists. Bring us back to our senses, Lord. Bring us back to Your goal. In Jesus’s name. Amen.