Numbers 12: Dissension of Aaron and Miriam
1 Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married; for he had married an Ethiopian woman. 2 So they said, “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also?” And the Lord heard it. 3 (Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth.)
4 Suddenly the Lord said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, “Come out, you three, to the tabernacle of meeting!” So the three came out. 5 Then the Lord came down in the pillar of cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam. And they both went forward. 6 Then He said, “Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, make Myself known to him in a vision; I speak to him in a dream.
7 Not so with My servant Moses; he is faithful in all My house. 8 I speak with him face to face, even plainly, and not in dark sayings; and he sees the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?”
"The brief section of our book to which we now approach may be viewed in two distinct aspects; in the first place, it is typical or dispensational; and, in the second, moral or practical. In the union of Moses with ‘the Ethiopian woman,’ we have a type of that great and marvellous mystery, the union of the Church with Christ her Head…” Moses “first of all, presented himself to Israel, his brethren according to the flesh; but they, in unbelief, rejected him. They thrust him from them, and would not have him. This became, in the sovereignty of God, the occasion of mercy to the stranger, for it was during the period of Moses' rejection by Israel that he formed the mystic and typical union with a Gentile bride. Against this union Miriam and Aaron speak, in the chapter before us; and their opposition brings down the judgement of God. Miriam becomes leprous — a poor defiled thing — a proper subject of mercy, which flows out to her through the intercession of the very one against whom she had spoken.” (C. H. Mackintosh's Notes)
“It seems unlikely that Miriam would have objected at this time that Moses had married Zipporah. He had married her years before this incident. The repetition of the phrase ‘for he had married a Cushite woman’ (Numbers 12:1) seems to imply a recent marriage. This would explain Miriam's objection at this time better. We may assume, therefore, that Zipporah had died and that Moses had remarried. Moses wrote in Psalm 90:10 that a normal lifespan was about 70 years. He would have been in his early eighties at this time, so perhaps Zipporah had died of old age, assuming she was about the same age as him... Marriage to a Cushite was within the will of God. God had only forbidden the Israelites from marrying Canaanites ( Exodus 34:16).
Evidently Miriam and Aaron felt their leading roles in Israel as prophetess ( Exodus 15:20) and high priest were losing distinctiveness as God gave 70 elders the privilege of mediating His word. Perhaps Miriam saw in Moses’ new wife a threat to her role as the leading female in Israel. Moses’ marriage to the Cushite woman may have been nothing more than an excuse. [Note: Noordtzij, p107.]
The statement of Moses’ humility (Numbers 12:3) was not a boastful claim by the writer but an inspired statement of fact. We need not conclude that another writer added it later since it is essential to the argument of this passage…” (Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable)
“‘My servant Moses is faithful… with him I speak mouth to mouth.’ The meekest of men was vindicated by God Himself. He held his peace, but his Almighty Friend spoke up for him. It is thus that the meek inherit the earth and rejoice themselves in the abundance of peace. Oh, keep still, ye afflicted and tormented souls, God will not let you be trodden underfoot, if only you commit your cause to Him, and are faithful in all that He has committed to you.
‘That good thing keep which was committed to you: He is able to keep that which I have committed unto Him.’ (see note 2 Timothy 1:12)...Notice to what faithfulness leads! The vision of God is not given to great intellectual ability or mental gift; but to those who as servants are faithful in the administration of God’s Household, and the performance of such duties as are entrusted to them by the Great Householder. Such are they that enjoy the face-to-face fellowship, and the mouth-to-mouth speech.
These words about Moses are quoted in Hebrews 3 (see note Hebrews 3:5), as though it was pleasant to the Holy Spirit to commemorate in all ages the faithfulness of him servants: and there is this further thought added, that the Household is one, and that all dispensations are included in its precincts. ‘Whose house are we.’ It is inspiring to know that we are in the same house with Moses, and may have the same blessing. Are God’s dealings with you in dark speeches, in mysterious and perplexing enigmas? Be patient and faithful in well-doing: He is but testing you, and soon He will say, I have called you not servants, but friends; for the servant knoweth not what his Lord doeth: but all things I have heard of the Father I have made known unto you.” (Our Daily Homily by F B Meyer) Indeed, in Christ, we have such an Advocate with the Father.
9 So the anger of the Lord was aroused against them, and He departed. 10 And when the cloud departed from above the tabernacle, suddenly Miriam became leprous, as white as snow. Then Aaron turned toward Miriam, and there she was, a leper. 11 So Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord! Please do not lay this sin on us, in which we have done foolishly and in which we have sinned. 12 Please do not let her be as one dead, whose flesh is half consumed when he comes out of his mother’s womb!”
13 So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “Please heal her, O God, I pray!” 14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, would she not be shamed seven days? Let her be shut out of the camp seven days, and afterward she may be received again.” 15 So Miriam was shut out of the camp seven days, and the people did not journey till Miriam was brought in again. 16 And afterward the people moved from Hazeroth and camped in the Wilderness of Paran.
"Aaron, as priest, was judge of the leprosy. He could not pronounce her leprous without trembling, knowing himself to be equally guilty. But if she was thus punished for speaking against Moses, what will become of those who sin against Christ? Aaron, who joined his sister in speaking against Moses, is forced for himself and his sister, to beseech him, and to speak highly of him whom he had so lately blamed. Those who trample upon the saints and servants of God, will one day be glad to make court to them. It is well when rebukes produce confession of sin and repentance. Such offenders, though corrected and disgraced, shall be pardoned. Moses made it appear, that he forgave the injury done him. To this pattern of Moses, and that of our Saviour, who said, 'Father, forgive them,' we must conform. A reason is given for Miriam's being put out of the camp for seven days; because thus she ought to accept the punishment of her sin. When under the tokens of God's displeasure for sin, it becomes us to take shame to ourselves. This hindered the people's progress in their march forward towards Canaan. Many things oppose us, but nothing so hinders us in the way to heaven, as sin..." (Matthew Henry), particularly against that Prophet like unto Moses, as it is written, "And the Lord said to me: ‘What they have spoken is good. I will raise up for them a Prophet like you from among their brethren, and will put My words in His mouth, and He shall speak to them all that I command Him. And it shall be that whoever will not hear My words, which He speaks in My name, I will require it of him.’"(Deut18:17–19)