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.
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