Numbers 12

The Complaint of Miriam and Aaron

¹Then Miriam and Aaron criticized Moses because of the Cushite woman he had married, for he had taken a Cushite wife. ²“Does Yahweh speak only through Moses?” they said. “Does He not also speak through us?” And Yahweh heard this.

³Now Moses was a very humble man, more so than any man on the face of the earth.

• NUM 12:3[NOTE]Who wrote that Moses was the most humble man on earth? Many think a later prophet or editor added this line. Others say Moses wrote it honestly as a fact, not a brag.

⁴And suddenly Yahweh said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, “You three, come out to the Tent of Meeting.” So the three went out, ⁵and Yahweh came down in a pillar of cloud, stood at the entrance to the Tent, and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When both of them had stepped forward, ⁶He said, “Hear now My words:

• NUM 12:5[MIRACLE]Yahweh comes down in the cloud and speaks to Aaron and Miriam

If there is a prophet among you,

I, Yahweh, will reveal Myself to him in a vision;

I will speak to him in a dream.

⁷But this is not so with My servant Moses;

he is faithful in all My house.

• NUM 12:7[ALLUDED TO]The New Testament refers to this → HEB 3:2
• NUM 12:7[QUOTED]Quoted in the New Testament → HEB 3:5

⁸I speak with him face to face,

clearly and not in riddles;

he sees the form of Yahweh.

Why then were you unafraid to speak against My servant Moses?” ⁹So the anger of Yahweh burned against them, and He departed.

• NUM 12:9[MIRACLE]Miriam struck with leprosy for speaking against Moses; healed

¹⁰As the cloud lifted from above the Tent, suddenly Miriam became leprous, white as snow. Aaron turned toward her, saw that she was leprous, ¹¹and said to Moses, “My lord, please do not hold against us this sin we have so foolishly committed. ¹²Please do not let her be like a stillborn infant whose flesh is half consumed when he comes out of his mother’s womb.”

¹³So Moses cried out to Yahweh, “O God, please heal her!”

¹⁴But Yahweh answered Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, would she not have been in disgrace for seven days? Let her be confined outside the camp for seven days; after that she may be brought back in.”

¹⁵So Miriam was confined outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on until she was brought in again. ¹⁶After that, the people set out from Hazeroth and camped in the Wilderness of Paran.