Racism

 Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman.

Numbers 12:1 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/num.12.1.ESV

Numbers 12 might not be well known, but it's one of the clearest passages in the Bible about ethnicity and racism. Presumably Zipporah, who herself was a Midianite, had died. Polygamy was permitted in ancient Israel, but I like to think Moses was better than that.

So Moses remarried. This time, he married a Cushite, an African. If my geography is correct, the Cushites were from the upper Nile region and ruled Egypt for many years.

Moses marrying a Cushite would be like a Ukrainian marrying a Russian, or a freed black slave in America marrying a white person. She might have originally been on the side of the oppressors, but she clearly changed allegiances to the people, and by implication, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God's people never was simply an ethnic group, but a spiritual entity.

Racism is always wrong, whether directed from the oppressors towards the oppressed, or vis versa. Miriam got leprosy as judgment for her racism. Thankfully, Moses interceded for her and God healed her, but interestingly, people didn't eventually mourn her passing: she never lived this episode down.

'Lord of all, forbid that we should be racist towards anyone. Please help us to see racism for the evil it is, and repent. In Jesus' name, amen'

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