Albert Barnes Commentary Numbers 12
Albert Barnes Commentary
Numbers 12
Albert Barnes Commentary
Numbers 12
"And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married; for he had married a Cushite woman. And they said, Hath Jehovah indeed spoken only with Moses? hath he not spoken also with us? And Jehovah heard it. Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men that were upon the face of the earth. And Jehovah spake suddenly unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto Miriam, Come out ye three unto the tent of meeting. And they three came out. And Jehovah came down in a pillar of cloud, and stood at the door of the Tent, and called Aaron and Miriam; and they both came forth. And he said, Hear now my words: if there be a prophet among you, I Jehovah will make myself known unto him in a vision, I will speak with him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so; he is faithful in all my house: with him will I speak mouth to mouth, even manifestly, and not in dark speeches; and the form of Jehovah shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant, against Moses? And the anger of Jehovah was kindled against them; and he departed. And the cloud removed from over the Tent; and, behold, Miriam was leprous, as [white as] snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous. And Aaron said unto Moses, Oh, my lord, lay not, I pray thee, sin upon us, for that we have done foolishly, and for that we have sinned. Let her not, I pray, be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he cometh out of his mother`s womb. And Moses cried unto Jehovah, saying, Heal her, O God, I beseech thee. And Jehovah said unto Moses, If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days? let her be shut up without the camp seven days, and after that she shall be brought in again. And Miriam was shut up without the camp seven days: and the people journeyed not till Miriam was brought in again." — Numbers 12:1-15 (ASV)
Miriam, as a prophetess , no less than as the sister of Moses and Aaron, took the first rank among the women of Israel; and Aaron may be regarded as the ecclesiastical head of the whole nation. But instead of being grateful for these high dignities, they challenged the special vocation of Moses and the exclusive authority which God had assigned to him. Miriam was the instigator, from the fact that her name stands conspicuously first (Numbers 12:1), and that the punishment (Numbers 12:10) fell on her alone. She probably considered herself as supplanted, and that too by a foreigner. Aaron was misled this time by the urgency of his sister, as once before (Exodus 32:0) by that of the people.
Numbers 12:1: The Ethiopian woman whom he had married - (Hebrew, “Cushite,” Compare to Genesis 2:13; Genesis 10:6) It is likely that Zipporah (Exodus 2:21) was dead, and that Miriam in consequence expected to have greater influence than ever with Moses. Her disappointment at his second marriage would consequently be very great.
The marriage of Moses with a woman descended from Ham was not prohibited, so long as she was not of the stock of Canaan ; but it would at any time have been offensive to that intense nationality which characterized the Jews. The Christian fathers note in the successive marriage of Moses with a Midianite and an Ethiopian a foreshadowing of the future extension to the Gentiles of God’s covenant and its promises (Compare to Psalms 45:9 and following; Song of Solomon 1:4 and following); and in the complaining of Miriam and Aaron a type of the discontent of the Jews because of such extension .
Numbers 12:2: Hath the Lord ... - that is, Is it merely, after all, by Moses that the Lord has spoken?
Numbers 12:3: The man Moses was very meek - In this and in other passages in which Moses no less unequivocally records his own faults (Compare to Numbers 20:12 and following; Exodus 4:24 and following; Deuteronomy 1:37), there is the simplicity of one who bore witness of himself, but not to himself . The words are inserted to explain how it was that Moses took no steps to vindicate himself, and why consequently the Lord so promptly intervened.
Numbers 12:8: Mouth to mouth - that is, without the intervention of any third person or thing: compare the marginal references.
Even apparently - Moses received the word of God direct from Him and plainly, not through the medium of dream, vision, parable, dark saying, or the like; compare the marginal references.
The similitude of the Lord shall he behold - But, No man hath seen God at any time, says John (John 1:18: Compare to 1 Timothy 6:16, and especially Exodus 33:20 and following). It was not therefore the Beatific Vision, the unveiled essence of the Deity, which Moses saw on the one hand. Nor was it, on the other hand, a mere emblematic representation (as in Ezekiel 1:26 and following, Daniel 7:9), or an Angel sent as a messenger. It was the Deity Himself manifesting Himself so as to be cognizable to mortal eye. The special footing on which Moses stood as regards God is here laid down in detail, because it at once demonstrates that the supremacy of Moses rested on the distinct appointment of God, and also that Miriam in contravening that supremacy had incurred the penalty proper to sins against the theocracy.
Numbers 12:12: As one dead - leprosy was nothing short of a living death, a poisoning of the springs, a corrupting of all the humors of life; a dissolution little by little of the whole body, so that one limb after another actually decayed and fell away. Compare the notes at Leviticus 13:0.
Numbers 12:13: Heal her now, O God, I beseech thee - Others render these words: Oh not so; heal her now, I beseech Thee.
Numbers 12:14: If her father ... - that is, If her earthly parent had treated her with contempt she would feel for a time humiliated, how much more when God has visited her thus?
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