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.” – Numbers 12:14

Today’s Scripture Reading (October 28, 2018): Numbers 12

Have you ever noticed that evil characters in our fiction tend to be ugly? For example, just think about the difference between the witches in “The Wizard of Oz.” The Wicked Witch of the West and East have long noses and long chins and somehow look, and sound, like they are evil (See the Wicked Witch of the West in the Top Image.) But Glinda (Bottom Image), the Good Witch of the North is portrayed as a beautiful princess, complete with a crown. As the story is portrayed to the viewer, the inner beings of the witches match the way that they look on the outside.

Of course, “The Wizard of Oz” is a fairy tale. But what if that was the way that life worked? What if your inner thought life reflected on your outer self? That thought is not a pleasant one for any of us. What if every bitter feeling, or critical thought, made an unmistakable mark on the way that our external self was presented to the world in which we live? What if our outer ailments, the marks on our faces, the length of our noses or the curve of our backs, was in direct relationship with the sins of our inner self? Or, conversely, what if the beautiful people in our lives were also beautiful on the inside. What if the old Northern Pikes Song “She Ain’t Pretty (She Just Looks that Way)” didn’t make any sense when compared with the world in which we live? (Come on, you know that every time you hear the Northern Pikes Anthem, you can identify the person in the song with someone that you know in the real world.)

Essentially, God’s sentence of Miriam was that, for one week, her inside appearance would match her outside appearance. The sentence is straight out of our fairy tales. But it is equally important to understand the other side of the situation. God was also promising that he would be active in healing Miriam. If she were condemned to be a leper for the rest of her life, then she would have been excluded from Israel for the rest of her life. But that is not what God commands. He sets the punishment, but also includes a time limit. After one week, Miriam would be healed and once again be included within the community of Israel. But until that time of healing, her inside would match her outside, and the world would know that she had taken a stand against the God of Israel.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Numbers 13