Astute Listening

Reading in Numbers, Aaron and Miriam
Protest Moses’ standing:
Since they prophesy, too,
Why should Moses get
Preeminence?

God, unimpressed, sends leprosy
On Miriam
For seven days.

Astute listener Abraham asked my question:
Why just Miriam?

I wondered if it was because she was the instigator.
We know that Aaron was rather passive
About that whole golden calf.
Maybe he is typecast as a follower in rebellion.

Or maybe, said Abraham,
It was because he was the high priest.

Considering that a millennium later,
The high priest who condemned Jesus
Still prophesied truly;

That Paul refused to speak evil of the high priest
Who was ordering physical violence;

I am impressed with the depth of my son’s conjecture.

Surely if God used men in the employ of Rome,
Who had no desire for righteousness,
He might also protect his inaugural High Priest
Simply out of respect for the office he established.

This explanation might make me uncomfortable,
But it makes sense.