CHAPTER 12

(1490 B.C.)

MIRIAM AND AARON

¹And Miriam (Moses sister) and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman. (Some claim that this was actually Zipporah, and others claim that it was not, but rather that Zipporah had died, and Moses had taken this woman as his wife; or else Zipporah had not died, and Moses had taken to himself a second wife. The latter is doubtful!

At any rate, this woman was of dark skin, and greatly envied by Miriam, who evidently felt she was not worthy of such a place and position. Also, Miriam being first mentioned shows that she was the leader of this complaint. As we shall see, the Lord did not at all take kindly to the accusations of these two. It is obvious that Satan was attempting to use this to diminish Moses in the eyes of the people, and attempted to do so by Moses closest relatives.)

²And they said, Has the LORD indeed spoken only by Moses? has He not spoken also by us? And the LORD heard it. (Miriam and Aaron claimed here that the Lord had told them to do what they were doing. Its bad enough to do wrong, but worse yet when we pull God into our wrong, by attempting to make Him the Author of such. God heard that then, and He hears such now; as well, the end result will be the same now as then severe chastisement for the guilty party.)

³(Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the Earth [inasmuch as this is a parenthetical statement, the probability is strong that Moses didnt actually write it, but that it was written by someone else later, and inserted into the Sacred Text and, as well, sanctioned by the Holy Spirit; it is highly unlikely that Moses would have said such of himself].)

GOD DEFENDS MOSES

⁴And the LORD spoke suddenly unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto Miriam (how the Lord did this, we arent told; however, the word suddenly points to something unexpected and unusual), Come out you three (from the camp) unto the Tabernacle of the congregation. And they three came out.

⁵And the LORD came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood in the door of the Tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam: and they both came forth.

⁶And He said, Hear now My words: If there be a Prophet among you, I the LORD will make Myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream (the way that Prophecies are generally given by the Lord).

⁷My servant Moses is not so (the Lord here puts Moses above all the Prophets of the Old Testament, other than John the Baptist, who introduced Christ [Lk. 7:28]), who is faithful in all My house. (Miriam and Aaron were saying that Moses wasnt faithful, and we speak of the marriage, but the Lord said the opposite. We had better be certain that we say exactly what the Lord is saying.)

⁸With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the LORD shall he behold (the idea is that Moses, at times, literally saw the Spirit Body of the Lord; it is not possible, I think, to derive anything else from this Text; as well, the Lord in this manner spoke to Moses, and, one might say, face to face): wherefore then were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses? (The words speak against refer to finding fault, but fault that didnt exist. As we shall see, the Lord did not look upon their sin sympathetically, even as He can never look upon sin sympathetically.)

⁹And the anger of the LORD was kindled against them; and He (the Lord) departed. (Its one thing to have man angry with us; it is something else altogether to have the Lord angry at us. The cause of this anger was the cruel criticism of Moses sister and brother. The Holy Spirit through James addressed this as well, as it regards modern Believers [James, Chpt. 3].)

LEPROSY

¹⁰And the cloud departed from off the Tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous. (This plainly tells us that Miriam was the leader in this rebellion. Even though Aaron sinned by going along with her, he was not the instigator. The Hebrew Text points to the fact that the leprosy put on Miriam by the Lord was its worst and final stage. The word looked means that the High Priest gazed with astonishment.)

¹¹And Aaron said unto Moses, Alas, my lord, I beseech you, lay not the sin upon us, wherein we have done foolishly, and wherein we have sinned. (The manner in which Aaron now addresses Moses tells us that he rightly acknowledges Moses superior position, thereby abandoning all pretension to equality. As well, he frankly confesses his sin, which he should have done.)

¹²Let her (Miriam) not be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he comes out of his mothers womb (as well, Aaron also conducts himself as a High Priest, which he was, thereby interceding on behalf of his sister; he was horrified at the condition of Miriam, as all leprosy of this type affects the victim in its final stages; in other words, Miriam would have died shortly had not the Lord healed her).

INTERCESSION

¹³And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, Heal her now, O God, I beseech you (he pleads for her, who had done so wrong, which is true Christlikeness; Jesus addressed this when He said, Pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you [Mat. 5:44]).

¹⁴And the LORD said unto Moses, If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days? (The Lord proclaims as to how serious this sin was; Miriam had attempted to embarrass Moses publicly; in turn, the Lord embarrassed her publicly; once again, Jesus addressed this by saying, With what measure you mete, it shall be measured to you again [Mat. 7:2].) let her be shut out from the camp seven days, and after that let her be received in again.

¹⁵And Miriam was shut out from the camp seven days: and the people journeyed not till Miriam was brought in again. (Miriams sin stopped the entirety of the Work of God, numbering nearly 3 million people, for an entire week. From this we should understand just how serious that sin actually is.)

¹⁶And afterward the people removed from Hazeroth, and pitched in the wilderness of Paran. (They were not far from the Promised Land, and the Lord intended for them to now go in; however, as we shall see, unbelief caused them to languish over 38 more years in that wilderness.)