Signs of the Times, Book 1 - Ellen G. White

August 19, 1880
The Sin of Miriam and Aaron
When it was known in the camp of Israel that seventy elders had been
chosen to assist Moses in the government of the people, Aaron and Miriam
became jealous because they had not been consulted in the matter. They had
not felt reconciled to the act of Moses in so readily receiving the counsel of
Jethro, his father-in-law. They feared that his influence over Moses was
greater than theirs. And now, seventy elders had been chosen without
consulting with them; and as they had never themselves felt the
responsibility and burdens which Moses had borne for the people, they did
not see any real necessity for the help of the seventy elders. "And they said,
Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us?
And the Lord heard it."
Aaron and Miriam thought that, as they had been chosen to aid Moses,
they bore the burden of the work as well as he. And as the Lord had spoken
by them, as well as by their brother, why should he complain of such heavy
burdens as to need seventy of the judges and elders appointed to the work of
aiding him. Moses realized his weakness. He felt the importance of the great
work committed to him, as no other man had ever felt it. Aaron had shown
his weakness by yielding to the clamors of the people, and making a molten
calf, in the absence of their leader. But God had ever been Moses' counselor.
As Miriam became jealous of Moses, she was disposed to find fault with
the events of his life which God had especially overruled. She complained of
her brother because he had married an Ethiopian woman, instead of taking a
wife from among the Hebrews. The wife of Moses was not black, but her
complexion was somewhat darker than that of the Israelites. She was of a
timid disposition, tender-hearted, and was greatly affected upon witnessing
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