A wise saying has been attributed to the 19th century American financier J.P. Morgan: "There are two reasons for everything----a good reason, and the real reason."
Moses' older siblings, Miriam and Aaron, at one point "spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married" (Num 12:1). Since the "Cushite woman" is mentioned in the Bible only in this verse, her identity has been the subject of much speculation.
We know that Moses had a wife named Zipporah, daughter of Jethro the Midianite (Ex 2:21-22; 3:1). When Moses returned to Egypt he did not bring his family into the dangerous situation he would be facing, but he was reunited with his family at Mt Sinai (Ex 18:2,5).
In Hab 3:7, we read, "I saw the tents of Cushan in affliction; the curtains of the land of Midian did tremble." This parallelism in this verse indicates that "Cushan" is another name for "Midian" or some part of Midian. Based on this verse, one possibility is that the "Cushite wife" is Zipporah, with "Cushite" meaning "from Cushan." Perhaps some friction had developed between Miriam and Zipporah, the two most important women in Moses' life.
On the other hand, the adjective "Cushite" is usually a reference to Cush, the region south of Egypt in today's Sudan. Some have speculated that Zipporah's mother was a Cushite, so that Zipporah could also be called a Cushite.
Another possibility is that Moses had married a Cushite who was part of the "mixed multitude" that joined the Israelites on the Exodus. Perhaps Zipporah had died, or perhaps they had had a falling out related to the "circumcision incident" recorded in Exodus 4, or perhaps this was just an additional wife. Miriam could have been critical of this second marriage.
There was also a body of legend surrounding the first 40 years of Moses' life, before he fled to Midian. Stephen seems to make reference to this in Acts 7:22 when he says that Moses "was mighty in his words and deeds." Josephus records a legend in which Moses, while acting as an Egyptian military leader, marries a Cushite princess. Perhaps this was the Cushite wife, and Miriam was criticizing something about this marriage.
Some today wonder if there was a racist aspect to the criticism of the Cushite wife. It is known that ancient Egyptians tended to harbor some prejudice against Cushites.
Rabbinic tradition proposes an elaborate and imaginative scenario meant to portray everyone in the best possible light. In this scenario Miriam and Aaron are saying that Zipporah is special and distinctive in the same way that a Cushite's dark skin is distinctive, and they are critical of Moses because he has become so focused on spiritual matters that he has stopped sleeping with Zipporah.
Whatever the identity of the Cushite wife, the real reason for Miriam and Aaron's complaint is that they wanted a more prominent leadership role in Israel. They said, "Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?" (Num 12:2)
Moses is described here as "very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth" (v 3). The word for "meek" could be a reference to humility, or it could be a reference to how weighed down he was by the burden of leading the Israelites. In any case, he didn't reprimand his older sister and brother.
But God did. God made it clear that Moses had a special relationship with him and was to be treated with appropriate respect (vv 4-9). And he struck Miriam with a serious skin condition. Her skin became "like snow," perhaps a sort of poetic justice if Miriam had said something derogatory about the skin color of the "Cushite wife."
Moses interceded for his sister. "O God, please heal her---please" (v 13). And God did so after a week of punishment. In Num 11-12 God's mercy is prominently displayed, as Rob Wilson pointed out in a sermon at Church of the Messiah on Aug 6, 2022.
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