Numbers 16

Numbers 16:1 Then Korah the son of Izhar, son of Kohath, son of Levi, and Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and On the son of Peleth, sons of Reuben, took men.

Numbers 16:2 And they rose at the face of Moses, with a number of the people of Israel, 250 leaders of the congregation, chosen from the collection, well-known men.

Numbers 16:3 They collected themselves together against Moses and Aaron and said to them, “You have gone too far! Because all in the congregation are sacred, every one of them, and Yahveh is among them. Why, then, do you exalt yourselves above the collected assembly of Yahveh?”

Numbers 16:4 When Moses heard it, he fell on his face,

Numbers 16:5 and he said to Korah and all his company, “In the morning Yahveh will show who is his, and who is sacred, and will bring him near to him. The one whom he chooses he will bring near to him.

Numbers 16:6 Do this: take censers, Korah and all his company;

Numbers 16:7 put fire in them and put incense on them at the face of Yahveh tomorrow, and the man whom Yahveh chooses will be the sacred one. You have gone too far, sons of Levi!”

Numbers 16:8 And Moses said to Korah, “Hear now, you sons of Levi:

Numbers 16:9 is it too small a thing for you that the God of Israel has separated you from the congregation of Israel, to bring you near to himself, to do service in the tabernacle of Yahveh and to stand at the face of the congregation to minister to them,

Numbers 16:10 and that he has brought you near him, and all your brothers the sons of Levi with you? And would you seek the priesthood also?

Numbers 16:11 Therefore, it is against Yahveh that you and all your company have collected. What is Aaron that you grumble against him?”

Numbers 16:12 And Moses sent to call Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, and they said, “We will not come up.

Numbers 16:13 Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the open country, that you must also make yourself a prince over us?

Numbers 16:14 Moreover, you have not brought us into a land flowing with milk and honey, nor given us inheritance of fields and vineyards. Will you put out the eyes of these men? We will not come up.”

Numbers 16:15 And Moses was furious and said to Yahveh, “Do not respect their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them, and I have not harmed one of them.”

Numbers 16:16 And Moses said to Korah, “Be present, you and all your company, at the face of Yahveh, you and they, and Aaron, tomorrow.

Numbers 16:17 And let every one of you take his censer and put incense on it, and every one of you bring to the face of Yahveh his censer, 250 censers; you also, and Aaron, each his censer.”

Numbers 16:18 So every man took his censer and put fire in them and laid incense on them and stood at the entrance of the conference tent with Moses and Aaron.

Numbers 16:19 Then Korah collected all the congregation against them at the entrance of the conference tent. And the impressive appearance of Yahveh appeared to all the congregation.

Numbers 16:20 And Yahveh spoke to Moses and Aaron, and this is what he said:

Numbers 16:21 “Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.”

Numbers 16:22 And they fell on their faces and said, “O God, the God of the breaths of all flesh, will one man make a failure, and will you be angry with all the congregation?”

Numbers 16:23 And Yahveh spoke to Moses, and this is what he said

Numbers 16:24 “Say to the congregation, Get away from the staying of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.”

Numbers 16:25 Then Moses got up and went to Dathan and Abiram, and the elders of Israel followed him.

Numbers 16:26 And he spoke to the congregation, and this is what he said, “Get away, please, from the tents of these wicked men, and touch nothing that belongs to them, or else[1] you will be swept away with all their sins.”

Numbers 16:27 So they got away from the staying of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram. And Dathan and Abiram came out and stood at the door of their tents, together with their wives, their sons, and their little ones.

Numbers 16:28 And Moses said, “As a result of this, you will know that Yahveh has sent me to do all these works and that it has not been of my own accord.

Numbers 16:29 If these men die as all men die, or if the fate of all humanity visits them, then Yahveh has not sent me.

Numbers 16:30 But if Yahveh creates something new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up with all that belongs to them, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you will know that these men have despised Yahveh.”

Numbers 16:31 And as soon as he had finished speaking all these words, the ground under them split apart.

Numbers 16:32 And the land opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the people who belonged to Korah and all their belongings.

Numbers 16:33 So they and all that belonged to them went down alive into Sheol, and the ground closed over them, and they were destroyed from the midst of the collected assembly.

Numbers 16:34 And all Israel who were around them ran away at their cry because they said, “Or else the ground will swallow us up!”

Numbers 16:35 And fire came out from Yahveh and consumed the 250 men offering the incense.

Numbers 16:36 Then Yahveh spoke to Moses, and this is what he said,

Numbers 16:37 “Tell Eleazar the son of Aaron the priest to take up the censers out of the blaze. Then scatter the fire far and wide because they have become sacred.

Numbers 16:38 As for the censers of these men who have sinned at the cost of their throats, let them be made into hammered plates as a covering for the altar because they offered them at the face of Yahveh, and they became sacred. Thus, they will be a sign to the people of Israel.”

Numbers 16:39 So Eleazar the priest took the bronze censers, which those who were burned had offered, and they were hammered out as a covering for the altar,

Numbers 16:40 to be a reminder to the people of Israel, so that no unauthorized person, who is not of the descendants of Aaron, should draw near to burn incense at the face of Yahveh, or else he will become like Korah and his congregation — as Yahveh said to him through Moses.

Numbers 16:41 But on the next day, all the congregation of the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron, and this is what he said: “You have killed the people of Yahveh.”

Numbers 16:42 And when the congregation had collected against Moses and Aaron, they turned toward the conference tent. And notice, the cloud covered it, and the impressive appearance of Yahveh appeared.

Numbers 16:43 And Moses and Aaron came to the front of the conference tent,

Numbers 16:44 and Yahveh spoke to Moses, and this is what he said

Numbers 16:45 “Get away from the midst of this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment.” And they fell on their faces.

Numbers 16:46 And Moses said to Aaron, “Take your censer, and put fire on it from off the altar and lay incense on it and carry it quickly to the congregation and provide reconciliation for them, because wrath has gone out from Yahveh; the plague has begun.”

Numbers 16:47 So Aaron took it as Moses said and ran into the midst of the collected assembly. And notice that the plague had already begun among the people. And he put on the incense and made atonement for the people.

Numbers 16:48 And he stood between the dead and the living, and the plague was stopped.

Numbers 16:49 Now those who died in the plague were 14,700, besides those who died in the affair of Korah.

Numbers 16:50 And Aaron returned to Moses at the entrance of the conference tent, when the plague was stopped.

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[1]פֶּן = or else. Numbers 16:26; 20:18.

Numbers 16 quotes:

“Korah wanted to get close to God’s fire; 250 do get close to God’s fire, literally: they are “consumed” (v. 35). Dathan and Abiram are upset that Moses lords it “over them”; well, now everybody will stand “over them,” as they are swallowed alive down beneath the earth (v. 32). The people are concerned that Moses is the cause of the killing; so the Lord commences to kall by that form so frequent in Exodus through Numbers: the plague (v. 46).”

Boyce Richard Nelson. Leviticus and Numbers. 1st ed. Westminster John Knox Press 2008. p. 177.

“In this book’s unfolding story we again switch suddenly from one literary genre to another. Yet the abrupt transition is more apparent than real. Obedience is a central theme in chapter 15 and is followed by a story relating the tragic consequences of disobedience (16:1-50).”

Brown Raymond. The Message of Numbers : Journey to the Promised Land. InterVarsity Press 2002. p. 142.

“The natural man does not like to be controlled. We see this in a baby and especially in a three-or four-year-old. It is particularly noticeable in a group if the one in control is a meek, humble person. The people under him oftentimes do not want to be told what to do. The history of Israel is marked by the notorious rebellion of Korah, a leader under Moses.”

Gutzke, Manford George. Plain Talk on Leviticus and Numbers. Zondervan Pub. House., 1981. p. 100.

“Attempts to override God’s authority will meet with his judgment.”

Martin, Glen, and Max E. Anders. Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers. Broadman & Holman, 2002. p. 319.

Numbers 16 links:

a submissive walk
dangerous discontent
Excursus- Sheol- The Old Testament Consensus
going too far
introducing the breath of God
Perish the thought
Sheol in the Bible- The Old Testament Consensus
swept away

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The NUMBERS shelf in Jeff’s library

Numbers 14

Numbers 14:1 Then all the congregation raised a loud cry, and the people wept through that night.

Numbers 14:2 And all the people of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The whole congregation said to them, “We wish that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or we wish that we had died in this open country!

Numbers 14:3 Why is Yahveh bringing us into this land to fall by the sword? Our wives and our little ones will become prey. Would it not be better for us to go back to Egypt?”

Numbers 14:4 And they said to one another, “Let us choose a leader and go back to Egypt.”

Numbers 14:5 Then Moses and Aaron fell on their faces in the sight of all the collected assembly of the congregation of the people of Israel.

Numbers 14:6 And Joshua, the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes

Numbers 14:7 and said to all the congregation of the people of Israel, “The land, which we passed through to spy it out, is an exceptionally good land.

Numbers 14:8 If Yahveh delights in us, he will bring us into this land and give it to us, a land that flows with milk and honey.

Numbers 14:9 Only do not rebel against Yahveh. And do not fear the people of the land because they are bread for us. Their protection is removed from them, and Yahveh is with us; do not fear them.”

Numbers 14:10 Then all the congregation said to stone them with stones. But the impressive appearance[1] of Yahveh appeared at the conference tent to all the people of Israel.

Numbers 14:11 And Yahveh said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? And how long will they not believe in me, despite all the signs that I have done among them?

Numbers 14:12 I will strike them with the pestilence and disinherit them, and I will make of you a nation more influential and mightier than they.”

Numbers 14:13 But Moses said to Yahveh, “Then the Egyptians will hear of it because you resurrected this people by your might from among them,

Numbers 14:14 and they will tell the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you, O Yahveh, are in the midst of this people. Because you, O Yahveh, are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them and you go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night.

Numbers 14:15 Now if you exterminate this people as one man, then the nations who have heard your fame will say,

Numbers 14:16 ‘It is because Yahveh was not able to bring this people into the land that he swore to give to them that he has exterminated them in the open country.’

Numbers 14:17 And now, please let the power of Yahveh be great as you have promised, and this is what you said,

Numbers 14:18 ‘Yahveh is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, forgiving violation and transgression, but he will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the violation of the fathers on the children, to the third and the fourth generation.’

Numbers 14:19 Please pardon the violation of this people, according to the greatness of your steadfast love, just as you have forgiven these people, from Egypt until now.”

Numbers 14:20 Then Yahveh said, “I have pardoned, according to your word.

Numbers 14:21 But truly, as I live, and as all the land will be filled with the impressive appearance of Yahveh,

Numbers 14:22 none of the men who have seen my impressive appearance and my signs that I did in Egypt and the open country, and yet have put me to the test these ten times and have not obeyed my voice,

Numbers 14:23 will see the land that I swore to give to their fathers. And none of those who despised me will see it.

Numbers 14:24 But my servant Caleb, because he has a different breath and has followed me thoroughly, I will bring into the land into which he went, and his descendants will possess it.

Numbers 14:25 Now, since the Amalekites and the Canaanites stay in the valleys, turn tomorrow and advance for the open country by the way to the Red Sea.”

Numbers 14:26 And Yahveh spoke to Moses and Aaron, and this is what he said,

Numbers 14:27 “How long will this wicked congregation complain about me? I have heard the complaints of the people of Israel, which they complain about me.

Numbers 14:28 Say to them, ‘As I live, declares Yahveh, what you have said in my hearing I will do to you:

Numbers 14:29 your corpses[2] will fall in this open country, and of all your number, listed in the census from twenty years old and upward, who have complained about me,

Numbers 14:30 no one will come into the land where I swore that I would make your stay, except Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, and Joshua, the son of Nun.

Numbers 14:31 But your little ones, who you said would become prey, I will bring in, and they will experience the land that you have rejected.

Numbers 14:32 But as for you, your corpses will fall in this open country.

Numbers 14:33 And your children will be shepherds in the open country forty years and will suffer for your faithlessness until the last of your corpses is finished[3]  in the desert.

Numbers 14:34 According to the number of the days in which you spied out the land, forty days, a year for each day, you will bear your violation forty years, and you will know my displeasure.’

Numbers 14:35 I, Yahveh, have spoken. Surely this I will do to all this wicked congregation who are collected against me: in this open country, they will finish, and there they will die.”

Numbers 14:36 And the men whom Moses sent to scout out the lad, who returned and made all the congregation complain about him by bringing up a bad report about the land–

Numbers 14:37 the men who brought up an evil report of the land — died by plague in the sight of Yahveh.

Numbers 14:38 Of those men who went to scout out the land, only Joshua, the son of Nun, and Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, remained alive.

Numbers 14:39 When Moses told these words to all the people of Israel, the people mourned greatly.

Numbers 14:40 And they rose early in the morning and went up to the heights of the hill country, and this is what they said, “Here we are. We will go up to the place that Yahveh has promised because we have sinned.”

Numbers 14:41 But Moses said, “Why now will you be transgressing the command of Yahveh when that will not succeed?

Numbers 14:42 Do not go up, because Yahveh is not among you, or else you will be struck down in the sight of your enemies.

Numbers 14:43 Because there the Amalekites and the Canaanites are facing you, and you will fall by the sword. Because you have turned your back from following Yahveh, Yahveh will not be with you.”

Numbers 14:44 But they presumed to go up to the heights of the hill country, although neither the ark of the covenant of Yahveh nor Moses left from the camp.

Numbers 14:45 Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who lived in that hill country came down and defeated them and crushed[4] them, even as far as Hormah.

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[1] כָּבוֹד = impressive appearance, reward. Numbers 14:10, 21, 22; 16:19, 42; 20:6; 24:11.

[2] פֶּגֶר = corpse. Numbers 14:29, 32, 33.

[3] תָּמַם = finish. Numbers 14:33, 35; 17:13; 32:13.

[4] כָּתַת= crush by beating,

Numbers 14 quotes:

“God’s discipline is never arbitrary. Every parent knows that the key to effective discipline is matching the discipline with the crime. If a child can see no correlation between what she has done and the consequences, the behavior may be stopped but little learning will occur.”

Boyce Richard Nelson. Leviticus and Numbers. 1st ed. Westminster John Knox Press 2008. p. 164.

“Every Christian evangelist stands between a merciful God and an obdurate people. However eloquent and well-informed, the contemporary evangelist is as powerless as Caleb and Joshua on the day they pleaded with that heedless multitude. We can only do what they ie. present a portrait of a unique God who has done so much for rebels, and pray that he will melt their hard and stubborn hearts”

Brown Raymond. The Message of Numbers : Journey to the Promised Land. InterVarsity Press 2002. p. 123.

“Moses reported the mind of God to the people and told them that that generation would never go into the land. They had not wanted to go forward because they were afraid to, but they did not want to go back because they hated to. There is a marvelous truth here that should be noted: if the time comes to go forward with the Lord and the believer does not go forward because he doubts, he must go backward. He cannot stand still.”

Gutzke, Manford George. Plain Talk on Leviticus and Numbers. Zondervan Pub. House., 1981. p. 96.

“Moses’ serious warning is brushed aside, even when the warning is followed by a concrete step: neither the ark nor the priests accompanying the ark will go with Israel, as they normally would when Israel went into battle ( 10: 35f. ; cf. also 1 Sam. 4:3). Israel believes that it can get along without the visible sign of the Lord’s presence and that it can ignore Moses’ warning, “the Lord is not with you.” They go “in their presump¬ tion” (v. 44; lit. “they were swollen, puffed up”?). The result is a crush¬ ing defeat — the enemy meets them before they have even reached the top of the hills. They “attacked them” and “beat them” (a play on words in Hebrew: wayyakum and wayyaketum).”

Noordtzij, A. Numbers. Zondervan Pub. House, 1983. p. 132.

“The people are to be given one last chance to repent, as Caleb and Joshua forthrightly plead with them to trust in the Lord. Yet the prostration of Moses and Aaron intimates that this appeal will not be heeded and that the people will fall in the wilderness (cf. 29ff.).”

Wenham, Gordon J.. Numbers: An Introduction and Commentary (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries Book 4) (p. 136). InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.

Numbers 14 links:

all the right things
an obedient walk
fear can lead to rebellion
introducing the breath of God
no alternative
the price of failed leadership

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Maranatha Daily Devotional – Tuesday, April 30, 2019

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The NUMBERS shelf in Jeff’s library

Numbers 13

Numbers 13:1 Yahveh spoke to Moses, and this is what he said,

Numbers 13:2 “Send men to spy out the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the people of Israel. From each tribe of their fathers, you will send a man, each one a leader among them.”

Numbers 13:3 So Moses sent them from the open country of Paran, according to the command of Yahveh, all of them men who were leaders of the people of Israel.

Numbers 13:4 And these were their names: From the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur;

Numbers 13:5 from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori;

Numbers 13:6 from the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh;

Numbers 13:7 from the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph;

Numbers 13:8 from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun;

Numbers 13:9 from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti, the son of Raphu;

Numbers 13:10 from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi;

Numbers 13:11 from the tribe of Joseph (that is, from the tribe of Manasseh), Gaddi the son of Susi;

Numbers 13:12 from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli;

Numbers 13:13 from the tribe of Asher, Sethur, the son of Michael;

Numbers 13:14 from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi;

Numbers 13:15 from the tribe of Gad, Geuel, the son of Machi.

Numbers 13:16 These were the names of the men whom Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua.

Numbers 13:17 Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan and said to them, “Go up into the Negev and go up into the hill country,

Numbers 13:18 and see what the land is, and whether the people who stay in it are strong or weak, whether they are few or many,

Numbers 13:19 and whether the land that they stay in is good or bad, and whether the cities that they stay in are camps or strongholds,

Numbers 13:20 and whether the land is rich or poor, and whether there are trees in it or not. Be strong[1] and bring some of the fruit of the land.” Now the time was the season of the first ripe grapes.

Numbers 13:21 So they went up and spied out the land from the open country of Zin to Rehob, near Lebo-hamath.

Numbers 13:22 They went up into the Negev and came to Hebron. Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the descendants of Anak, were there. (Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)

Numbers 13:23 And they came to the Valley of Eshcol and cut down from there a branch with a single cluster of grapes, and they carried it on a pole between two of them; they also brought some pomegranates and figs.

Numbers 13:24 That place was called the Valley of Eshcol because of the cluster that the people of Israel cut down from there.

Numbers 13:25 At the end of forty days, they returned from spying out the land.

Numbers 13:26 And they came to Moses and Aaron and all the congregation of the people of Israel in the open country of Paran, at Kadesh. They brought back word to them and all the congregation and showed them the fruit of the land.

Numbers 13:27 And they told him, “We came to the land to which you sent us. It flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.

Numbers 13:28 However, the people who stay in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified and very large. And besides, we saw the descendants of Anak there.

Numbers 13:29 The Amalekites stay in the land of the Negev. The Hittites, the Jebusites, and the Amorites stay in the hill country. And the Canaanites stay by the sea and along the Jordan.”

Numbers 13:30 But Caleb quieted the people in the sight of Moses and said, “Let us go up at once and occupy it because we are well able to overcome it.”

Numbers 13:31 Then the men who had gone up with him said, “We are not able to go up against the people because they are stronger than we are.”

Numbers 13:32 So they brought to the people of Israel a bad report of the land that they had spied out, and this is what he said: “The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that devours its inhabitants, and all the people that we saw in it are of great height.

Numbers 13:33 And there we saw the Nephilim (the sons of Anak, who come from the Nephilim), and we seemed to ourselves like grasshoppers, and so we seemed to them.”

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[1] חָזָק  = be strong.

Numbers 13 quotes:

“God knows the greatest threat to this mission is not the people and the walled cities of this land of milk and honey, no matter how well “fortified” (Num. 13:19). No, the greatest threat to the forward motion of this story is the fear ever welling up in the hearts of these travelers. God’s people were and still are far more proficient at sitting and wailing, than at marching and praising. We quickly grow nostalgic for the past, even a past of slavery, whenever “the future” is uncertain, even that future as far out as our next cup of water, or our next bite of bread. As this people gets ready to face their greatest test of the future (their entry into a new land of promise), the Lord only knows that they will need some help, a lot of help, and the more tangible the better. So God offers them a “foretaste of.the future,” in word (the report) and in sacrament (the fruit), so that they might “be bold,” as were these leaders, when the time to “cross over” arrives.”

Boyce Richard Nelson. Leviticus and Numbers. 1st ed. Westminster John Knox Press 2008. p. 156.

“Out of that vast crowd, only four people acknowledged the importance of seeking God’s mind and trusting his word. The rest, tortured by uncertainty, plagued with inadequacy and paralysed by fear, refused to press on with their journey. Christian readers will learn from their mistakes and trace their path into the future with the landmarks clearly portrayed in this graphic narrative. There may be times when, like them, we are genuinely fearful about the way ahead. Some have discovered they are seriously unwell or have heard that someone they love has a terminal illness. Security at work is threatened; redundancy and unemployment become a grim probability. Church relationships may have become soured by the damaging example of an admired leader or the defection of valued friends. Family stability has been jeopardized by a partner’s unfaithfulness, or parents may be deeply troubled about tensions in the lives of their married children. What seemed a reasonably tranquil and secure life is suddenly tossed into agonizing turmoil. How does the believer react to such a dramatic and unwelcome change of circumstances?”

Brown Raymond. The Message of Numbers : Journey to the Promised Land. InterVarsity Press 2002. p. 114.

“The report must have struck paralyzing fear in the tribes that stood and listened. Terror seized their hearts, and Caleb must have immediately sized up the situation. He replied with a swift conclusion without taking the time to build up his case: They should take possession of the land, he said, for we can certainly do it. Caleb’s response was the response of faith. God’s words stirred up his heart in believing faith, and the empirical evidence he had gained by witnessing the land for himself corroborated this conclusion.”

Martin, Glen, and Max E. Anders. Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers. Broadman & Holman, 2002. p. 308.

“Their request for spies reveals a lack of faith on their part. They are not trusting Him. God had already been in and spied out the land. He knew all about it. He would not have sent them into the land unless He knew they could take it. When they finally did enter the land, the giants were still there; all the difficulties and problems were still there, yet they took the land.”

McGee J. Vernon. Numbers. T. Nelson 1991. p. 86.

“From Deuteronomy 1:22 it seems that the purpose of the mission was to strengthen the Israelites’ faith, not to bring back tactical information.”

Wenham, Gordon J.. Numbers: An Introduction and Commentary (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries Book 4) (p. 131). InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.

Numbers 13 links:

an obedient walk
scout’s dishonor
the grasshopper report
what you see hiking

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The NUMBERS shelf in Jeff’s library

Numbers 12

Numbers 12:1 Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married.

Numbers 12:2 And they said, “Has Yahveh really spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?” And Yahveh heard it.

Numbers 12:3 Now, the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the land.

Numbers 12:4 And suddenly Yahveh said to Moses and Aaron and Miriam, “Come out, you three, to the conference tent.” And the three of them came out.

Numbers 12:5 And Yahveh came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the tent and called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forward.

Numbers 12:6 And he said, “Hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I Yahveh make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream.

Numbers 12:7 That is not the case with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house.

Numbers 12:8 With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly, and not in riddles, and he notices the form of Yahveh. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?”

Numbers 12:9 And the anger of Yahveh was kindled against them, and he departed.

Numbers 12:10 When the cloud lifted from over the tent, Aaron noticed that Miriam had diseased skin, like snow. He turned toward Miriam and noticed that she was diseased.

Numbers 12:11 And Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord, do not punish us because we have done foolishly and have sinned.

Numbers 12:12 Let her not be as a dead one, whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes out of his mother’s uterus.”

Numbers 12:13 And Moses cried to Yahveh, “O God, please heal her — please.”

Numbers 12:14 But Yahveh said to Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be shamed seven days? Let her be shut outside the camp for seven days, and after that, she may be brought in again.”

Numbers 12:15 So Miriam was shut outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not advance on the march till Miriam was brought in again.

Numbers 12:16 After that, the people advanced from Hazeroth and camped in the open country of Paran.

Numbers 12 quotes:

“What had first been a complaint by the people, then a complaint by the people and Moses, now becomes a personal complaint against Moses lodged by the members of his inner cabinet: Miriam and Aaron, Moses’ sister and brother, his fellow leaders.

Their complaint begins with an attack on Moses on account of his wife (probably Zipporah, a Midianite with links to Cush; cf. Hab. 3:7), then moves to a more substantive charge regarding authority (“Has the LorD spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?” v. 2). (Ironically, the narrative has just dealt with God’s inclusion of another Midianite, Hobab [Num. 10:29-32] and with Moses’ defense of shared leadership [11:29].) Moses opens not his mouth against his accusers (cf. Isa. 53:7), but the Lord does, through a personal arbitration at the tent of meeting. Undoubtedly, the Lord’s words are only salt in the wound, pointing out the superiority of words to visions (Moses is always viewed as far more than a “seer”), the comprehensive nature of Moses’ authority (“He is entrusted with all my house”; Num. 12:7), and the face-to-face (or“mouth-to-mouth” in the Hebrew) nature of their relationship (v. 8). The Lord then “departs” (v. 9).

However, the Lord is not yet through. The “insider” now becomes the “outsider”—Miriam is made leprous, as white as snow (cf. Lev. 13). Aaron cries out, Moses intercedes, and the Lord pronounces a judgment with a limited term (“Let her be shut out of the camp for seven days”; Num. 12:14).”

Boyce Richard Nelson. Leviticus and Numbers. 1st ed. Westminster John Knox Press 2008. p. 152.

“The offence of Aaron and Miriam had held them up in their desert travels, but it would be a week well spent if it taught them to honour God and to shun sin.”

Brown Raymond. The Message of Numbers : Journey to the Promised Land. InterVarsity Press 2002. p, 112.

“It was not just a case of petty family jealousy, for Aaron, Moses’ brother, was also the high priest and therefore supreme religious leader and most holy man in Israel; while Miriam, his sister, was a prophetess and thus head of the spirit-filled women (Exod. 15:20f.). Here, then, is an alliance of priest and prophet, the two archetypes of Israelite religion, challenging Moses’ position as sole mediator between God and Israel. His vindication is at once decisive and dramatic: indeed the description of his position and office clearly prefigures that of our Lord in the New Testament.”

Wenham, Gordon J.. Numbers: An Introduction and Commentary (Tyndale Old Testament Commentaries Book 4) (p. 124). InterVarsity Press. Kindle Edition.

a respectful walk
snow white

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Maranatha Daily Devotional – Tuesday, May 2, 2023