Charles Ellicott Commentary Numbers 12:8

"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?" — Numbers 12:8 (ASV)

With him I will speak.—Better, do I speak, mouth to mouth. .

Even apparently. —The noun mareh, which is here used, is cognate with that which occurs with the preposition in Numbers 12:6, and which is rendered “a vision.” It differs from it only in punctuation, and is sometimes identical in meaning. It appears, however, here to denote an objective reality, as in Exodus 3:3, where it is rendered sight. The clause might be rendered, and (as) an appearance, and not in riddles (or, enigmas).

And the similitude of the LORD ...—Or, and the form of Jehovah he beholds. The word which is here rendered similitude (temunah) is the same which occurs in Exodus 20:4; Deuteronomy 4:15–16, 23, 25; Deuteronomy 5:8; and Psalm 17:15. It is sometimes rendered likeness, and sometimes similitude. The noun mareh, which is here rendered “apparently,” and that which is rendered similitude, are found in conjunction in Job 4:16: “I could not discern the form (or appearance), mareh, thereof: an image (or form), temunah, was before mine eyes.” .