And Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had taken; for he had taken a Cushite as wife.
A family quarrel here turns into something far more serious: Israel's prophetess and priest speak against their own brother over the woman he married. Was the marriage the real issue, and why does God take the complaint so seriously?
Miriam's name comes first, before Aaron's, and writers see meaning in that. One writer also finds Aaron repeating an old failure here.
Open rebellion against Moses by his own brother and sister is the next step in the story of failure. Envy was at the bottom of it... Miriam was the leader in this rebellion, for her name stands first and the judgment falls upon her... And Aaron reveals the weakness of the flesh. It is the second time he failed in this manner. He could not resist the people when they demanded the golden calf. Now he cannot resist his sister.
The marriage is what they say aloud. It is not what really troubles them.
Miriam and Aaron soon show what they really think. They present themselves as equal in importance to Moses. Not his marriage but his position offends them... Whatever the pretext envy may use, how soon it unmasks itself and shows its naked ugliness!... They were not thinking of Jehovah, but of themselves. Pride and jealousy swayed them. A heart under such feelings has no trouble finding an excuse for speaking against God's servants.
Older translations call her an Ethiopian; the ESV calls her a Cushite. Writers date this marriage to Moses' years in exile, when his own people had rejected him. Seen that way, the thing they objected to pictured God's kindness reaching outside Israel.
The occasion, or the apparent occasion, was that Moses had married an Ethiopian woman. He had indeed done this. But it was long before God appointed him ruler and deliverer of his people. It happened when Israel had rejected him in Egypt, and the king's anger had driven him into exile. In that position, then, the very marriage they complained about pictured the sovereign grace of God. When Israel rejected His beloved Son, God would give Him a bride from among the Gentiles.
Their two offices make the complaint worse, not better.
It is the prophetess and the priest who rise up against the one who is king in Jeshurun — that is, king in Israel. God speaks with him as with His friend. One of the two has the word from God, the other has access to God. Together they are the twofold character of the people of God... The people of God, whatever their privileges, ought to have recognised the sovereignty of grace, which has brought into the blessing of Christ those who had no right or title to it.
Commentators differ. One writer reads the repeated phrase at the end of the verse as Moses admitting what he did. Even so, he will not join the accusers.
We know the stern rebuke the Lord gave to Aaron and Miriam for speaking against Moses. But that did not justify Moses in what he had done. God used Moses to write these books. So in the words "for he had married a Cushite woman" we may read his own admission and confession of what he did. We are not told whether Zipporah was dead, or whether Moses had taken this woman as well as his own wife... We would not join with Aaron and Miriam in speaking against God's honoured servant. It is good to remember that it is no delight to the Spirit of God to expose the failings of the Lord's people. Love covers sin when it can rightly do so, and so our God mercifully acts towards us.
Another writer says Scripture nowhere forbids marriage across races. The wrong lay elsewhere.
Scripture does not forbid marriages between whites and blacks. It does forbid a believer to marry an unbeliever, in 2 Corinthians 6:14-18. But using an occasion like this to pull the Lord's servant down, and so all but take his place, is wickedness in the sight of the Lord.
The verse records the accusation. Moses makes no reply.
Had Moses defended his own cause, I am persuaded God would not have dealt so with Aaron and Miriam. Even if a person is completely in the right, the lack of faith that fights for self always hinders the working of grace.
One writer turns this verse on our own everyday speech.
Is one not allowed to talk about the marriage of one's own brother? Of course this is allowed, but what matters is the way you talk about it! Miriam did so in a negative way and so became guilty of slander. She disapproved of Moses' marriage and so damaged his position and good name.
- Pretext — The wife is the stated reason. His position is the real one, and envy borrows a respectable excuse.
- Pride — Miriam leads and Aaron follows. Prophetess and priest turn their own privileges against the man God set over them.
- Grace — The marriage they resented pictured a rejected leader taking a bride from outside Israel. Mercy reaches those with no claim to it.
- Silence — Moses does not answer. Self-defence, even when justified, gets in the way of what God would do.
- Speech — Talking about a brother's marriage is not the sin. Miriam talked it down and damaged his good name, and that is slander.
And they said, Has Jehovah indeed spoken only to Moses? has he not spoken also to us? And Jehovah heard it.
The trouble starts inside Moses' own family: his sister and brother resent the woman he married, then ask whether God speaks only through him. Their question sounds like a plea for fairness, but the closing line — the LORD heard it — turns the scene around.
The marriage was the stated reason. The second half of the verse shows what drove the pair.
In truth, jealousy was the source of these bitter waters, as verse 2 reveals. The marriage of Moses was only used as a screen to hide what was working in their hearts. What they wanted was equality with Moses... To careless readers it might look as if Miriam and Aaron were only guarding the rights of the Lord's people. They seemed to say that, since the Lord was Lord of them all, they were all brothers alike... Miriam and Aaron were blind to the working of God's sovereign grace. They also forgot that they owed their own places to it: the God who called Moses to be the mediator had assigned their places too. The same sovereign will that put Moses into his place decides the places of His servants.
The claim they make is true in itself — God had spoken through both of them. That is what made it useful to them.
Miriam and Aaron attack the human leader of Israel from another side, at the point where he is most open to it. The charge concerns a Cushite wife that he has taken, but the spirit of self-exaltation shows in their murmuring... Who had denied it? But their clear aim is to put themselves on the same level as Moses, and so remove him from the leading place God had given him... The effect is to excuse themselves from obedience.
They say God has spoken "through" them. That small word is worth weighing.
The exact force of the prepositions here gives a much deeper sense. In verse 2 it is "through" Moses and "through" us, not exactly "to," though this was also true. But Jehovah, in making Himself known to a prophet, says, I will speak "in" him in a dream. Of Moses, whom He met and spoke with visibly, He says, Mouth to mouth do I speak "in" him.
The two who complain are not outsiders. Each held a real position given by God.
It is the prophetess and the priest who rise up against the man who is king in Jeshurun, that is, in Israel. One has the word from God, the other has access to God — the two marks of the people of God. And God speaks with Moses as with His friend. In this Moses pictures Christ in every way, for Christ Himself stands outside the rights which grace has given to the people... Miriam and Aaron ought to have been afraid.
The verse ends by naming a listener they had left out of the conversation.
Miriam and Aaron, blinded by their self-importance, refuse to acknowledge the place given by God to Moses. "And the LORD heard it." Someone may think he has whispered a critical word to one brother or sister alone, telling them not to pass it on. Let us remember that the Lord has heard it and will hold us accountable.
Writers take the marriage itself as a picture of something larger.
While Israel was rejecting Moses, he formed that mysterious, picture-like union with a Gentile bride — a wife from outside Israel. 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, and now a fit subject of mercy. That mercy reaches her through the prayer of the very one she had spoken against.
The application is not limited to leaders of Moses' stature.
In any case, it is a fatal mistake to speak against the very weakest and humblest of God's servants. If the servant does wrong — if he is in error, if he has failed in anything — the Lord Himself will deal with him. But let fellow servants beware of taking the matter into their own hands. They may be found like Miriam, meddling to their own hurt.
- Pretext — The wife was the stated grievance. Verse 2 shows jealousy was the real driver, hiding behind a true statement.
- Position — They wanted equality with Moses. That meant unseating the place God gave him, and excusing themselves from obeying.
- Privilege — A prophetess and a priest already held places God had given them. The same will had placed Moses, so their complaint was rebellion against it.
- Heard — The whisper had a listener they never counted on. Nothing said about a servant of God escapes Him.
- Reversed — The marriage they resented pictured grace reaching an outsider. Miriam then needed that same mercy, and it came through the prayer of the man she attacked.
But the man Moses was very meek, above all men that were upon the face of the earth.
Miriam and Aaron have just spoken against their brother, and at that exact moment the story stops to describe Moses himself. Why does the note come here, what does "meek" mean, and how could Moses write this about himself?
The remark interrupts the story on purpose. God hears the complaint, and before He acts, the record pauses to describe the man they were attacking.
Notice, too, that the Lord heard the words of Miriam and Aaron. Before the account tells us what He did, the Holy Spirit turns aside to bear testimony to His servant Moses. This is beautiful, and so is the testimony itself... It shows that Moses was a distinct foreshadowing of Christ, in personal character as well as in office — and that character was produced without doubt by the Holy Spirit.
Moses says nothing at all in this chapter. His meekness shows up as an absence — no self-defence, no answer to the charge.
The Lord said, "Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?" It is a serious thing to speak against any servant of God. The Lord will always guard those who serve Him and vindicate their character. Moses did not take the case into his own hands. He did not answer back... How hard it is for a man in a high and honoured position to bear an attack in silence and not open his mouth! Moses kept silent, for he was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth.
One writer gives the word "meek" a short gloss, then shows what such a man does under attack.
How deep the instruction in this chapter! "The Lord heard" — if we always knew how to leave it to Him! "The man Moses was very meek" (poor in spirit) "more than all people who were on the face of the earth" — he left it all there — "The Lord heard." It is all beautiful.
Moses was not born this way. God changed the man who once acted on his own anger, and it took forty years.
Moses, the great man of God in the Old Testament, learned meekness from God during his forty years as a shepherd in Midian. When he was young he had, in sudden and righteous anger, struck an Egyptian man dead who was ill-treating an Israelite. More than forty years later, when his sister Miriam and his brother Aaron opposed him, the Holy Spirit could bear this testimony to him... This meekness of Moses was the result of his education in God's school.
The chapter ends with Moses praying for the sister who attacked him. One writer traces that response back to where a meek man stands before God.
Here Moses breathes the spirit of his Master, and prays for those who had spoken so bitterly against him. This was victory — the victory of a meek man — the victory of grace. A man who knows his right place in the presence of God is able to rise above all evil speaking... He knows that no one can put him lower than he deserves to be; and so, if anyone speaks against him, he can meekly bow his head and pass on, leaving himself and his cause in the hands of Him who judges righteously.
The description is not a permanent guarantee. Not long after this scene, at the waters of Meribah, the meekest man on earth lost his temper and struck the rock.
For a moment he was off his guard; for a moment he failed to watch; and his unruly, rebellious tongue spoke those unholy sentences that cost him his inheritance in the promised land.
Some say the self-praise here counts against Moses being the author of these books. One writer answers by quoting an older study of the first five books of the Bible.
Many have found self-praise in this description of Moses' character... but it is not vain self-display. He is not boasting in gifts and excellences he prided himself on having above everyone else. The statement was simply necessary for a full and correct understanding of all the circumstances. He made it objectively, about a character he had not given himself, but had received through the grace of God.
- Learned — Meekness came to Moses in God's school, not from his nature. Forty years as a shepherd formed the man who once struck down an Egyptian in anger.
- Silent — The proof of it was what he did not say. He refused to take his own case in hand.
- Heard — He left it all there, and the Lord heard. God defended the servant who would not defend himself.
- Given — Moses did not give himself this character. He received it through the grace of God, so he could record it without boasting.
- Guarded — Even so, one unguarded moment cost him the land. A meek man must still watch his words.
Then Jehovah spoke suddenly to Moses, and to Aaron, and to Miriam, Come out ye three unto the tent of meeting. And they went out, they three.
Trouble in Numbers 12 begins inside Moses' own family: Miriam and Aaron speak against him, and God calls all three out to the tent of meeting. Why does God break in so fast, and why does He call Moses out with the two who complained?
Their stated complaint was the wife Moses had married. But one writer finds their real motive in the rest of what they said.
The human leader of Israel comes under attack from another side, at the point where he is most open. The charge concerns a Cushite wife that he has taken. But the spirit of self-exaltation shows plainly in their murmuring: "Has the LORD indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also?" Who had denied it? But their intention is clear. They want to stand level with Moses, and so remove him from the leading place God had given him. The Cushite wife was to them the proof that morally he was no higher than they, perhaps not so high. The effect is to excuse themselves from obedience.
Another writer weighs the marriage itself against what they did with it:
Scripture does not forbid marriages between white and black people. It does forbid a believer to marry an unbeliever (2 Corinthians 6:14-18). But it is wickedness in the sight of the Lord to use an occasion like this to put the Lord's servant down, so that they may in effect take his place.
Moses had a case he could have argued.
Moses did not fight for his own rights, however. We are told that he was more humble than any other on earth. He could fully leave this matter in the hands of the Lord, so that he left the scene clear for the Lord to act. The Lord suddenly spoke, calling all three to come to the tabernacle (v.4).
One writer adds that Moses could not have claimed meekness for himself without losing it:
Moses was only a man, and to have asserted his own meekness would have proved the opposite. If we may put it this way, he asserted his meekness by saying nothing. But the Holy Spirit declares it: none so meek as he.
Why so fast? This was a far graver matter than the earlier grumbling in the camp.
Here, as everywhere, the Lord takes a matter up when it is simply left with Him. Nothing is more serious for the adversary. "Suddenly the LORD said to Moses" — for now it was a far graver thing than the complaints and murmurs and cravings of the mixed multitude, or even of Israel. In proportion to the blessings that grace has given is the seriousness of what is contrary to God, and therefore He speaks suddenly to Moses and to Aaron and to Miriam, "Come out, you three, to the tent of meeting."
The tent has a history Aaron had reason to remember, and the summons there shows who they had really spoken against. (Older translations call it the tabernacle.)
It was a solemn moment when the LORD said, "Come out, you three, to the tent of meeting." The tent got that name when Moses set it up outside the camp. It stood as a witness against a people who had turned to idols, and against Aaron and his calf (Ex. 33). The question then was between the LORD and the people. ... As Moses once stood for God, so now God appears for him. God takes the matter up as His own and calls the three to the tent, so that the two guilty ones learn that they spoke not so much against Moses as against God.
God calls each of the three, yet He speaks to only two when He comes down.
The Lord was quick to uphold His sovereign rights, and He spoke to each one, for He had to deal with each of them individually. They obeyed the summons — they had no choice but to obey. Notice this: God commanded all three to come out to the tent, but when He came down to meet them He spoke only to Aaron and Miriam. His purpose was to deal with the sin of the two rebels, and to uphold the place of His servant. In His tenderness He lets Moses stay and hear himself cleared.
One writer draws the lesson for anyone tempted to speak against a servant of God.
But in any case, it is a fatal mistake to speak against the very weakest and humblest of God's servants. If the servant does wrong — if he is in error, if he has failed in anything — the Lord Himself will deal with him. But fellow servants must beware. If they take the matter into their own hands, they may be found like Miriam, meddling to their own hurt.
- Silence — Moses did not answer back; by saying nothing he "left the scene clear for the Lord to act."
- Suddenly — Moses left the case with God, so God took it up at once. The greater the grace given, the graver the offence against it.
- Summons — God calls all three out to the tent of meeting, and the two who spoke learn that their words struck at God, not only at Moses.
- Separation — God speaks to Aaron and Miriam alone, yet in tenderness keeps Moses there to hear himself cleared.
- Sobriety — if a servant of God is in the wrong, the Lord Himself will deal with him. To take it into our own hands is to meddle to our own hurt.
And Jehovah came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood at the entrance of the tent, and called Aaron and Miriam; and they both came forth.
Miriam and Aaron had questioned whether God speaks only through Moses. Here God answers them Himself. He comes down at the tent door and calls out two of the three who were summoned. Why only two? And how does God defend a servant who will not defend himself?
Moses had said nothing in his own defence. Because he left the matter with God, God acted — and acted fast.
Here, as everywhere, the Lord takes the matter up when it is simply left with Him. Nothing is more serious for the one who opposes. "The LORD spoke suddenly to Moses." This was now a far graver thing than the complaints, the grumbling and the cravings of the mixed crowd, or even of Israel. The greater the blessings grace has given, the worse is whatever goes against God... It happened in front of Moses, but the LORD was dealing with them. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
All three were told to come out. When the cloud came down, God named only two of them. That difference is deliberate.
Notice that all three were told to come out to the tent, yet the Lord speaks only to Aaron and Miriam when He comes down to meet them. His aim was to deal with the sin of the two rebels, and to hold up the position of His servant. In His tenderness He lets Moses be there to hear himself cleared.
Something else changes here: the order in which the two are named.
What they actually saw may be open to question, but they knew the Lord was there. Then He called Aaron and Miriam. (Notice that the order of their names is reversed from verse 1.) They went forward to stand, as it were, in the prisoners' dock.
The cloud standing at that door was not a new sight. It had happened once before, and the memory of it condemns the two accusers.
It points back to the time when Israel turned away from God. Aaron and Miriam had their share in that sin, and Moses alone was faithful. In tune with the LORD's mind, he took the tent, pitched it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and called it the tent of meeting. It was then that the pillar of cloud came down and stood at the door of the tent, just as it does in the scene before us, and "the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend." (Exodus 33:7-11.) Where were Aaron and Miriam at that time? Yet they had dared to deny his place of closeness to the Lord, and to claim they were his equals!
Moses stood there and said nothing while the two accused him. Commentators hold his silence up as a lesson.
This was an attack on God's majesty and truth. In meekness he leaves that in God's hand. What a lesson here for the servants of the Lord when they are run down, or even slandered!... Moses was only a man, and if he had claimed his own meekness that would have proved the opposite. If we may put it so, he showed his meekness by saying nothing.
What God did for Moses, He still does for His servants now.
God knows how to bring down pride, and how to look after the honour of His servants when they are meek. He does this today as much as He did when Moses lived. Only let servants not try to clear their own name. God alone knows the right way and the right time.
The warning is not limited to great servants like Moses.
In any case, it is a fatal mistake to speak against even the weakest and lowliest of God's servants. If the servant does wrong — if he is mistaken, if he has failed in anything — the Lord Himself will deal with him. But fellow servants should beware of taking the matter into their own hands. They may end up like Miriam, interfering and hurting themselves.
- Committed — Moses handed the insult to God instead of answering it, and God took the case up as His own.
- Came down — the greater the grace given, the graver the offence against it; so the Lord came down at once.
- Stood — the cloud at that door was the sign God had given Moses once before, when Aaron and Miriam were nowhere near it.
- Called — God summoned all three, but spoke only to the two accusers. Moses stood by and heard himself cleared.
- Came forward — every fellow servant stands in the same place: leave a failing servant to his Master, or end up like Miriam.
And he said, Hear now my words If there be a prophet among you, I Jehovah will make myself known to him in a vision, I will speak to him in a dream.
Miriam and Aaron attack Moses over his wife, and God answers with a lesson on how He speaks to people. Verse 6 names the normal way God reveals Himself — vision and dream — and the verses that follow show how far above it Moses stood.
The stated complaint and the real one were not the same.
This time the attack on Israel's human leader comes from another side, at the point where he is most exposed. The charge concerns a Cushite wife he has taken, but the spirit of self-exaltation clearly shows itself in their murmuring: "Has the LORD indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also?" Who had denied it? But the evident intention is to put themselves on an equal footing with Moses, and so remove him from the leading place God had given him. To them the Cushite wife proved that morally Moses was no higher than they were. So they excuse themselves from obeying him.
God's reply describes how He deals with a prophet: by a vision, by a dream.
The Lord then spoke directly and solemnly to Aaron and Miriam. He told them that if there was a prophet among the people of Israel, He Himself would make Himself known to that prophet by a vision or a dream (v.6). Was this the case with either Aaron or Miriam? No, not even this. How then could they claim to be mouthpieces for the Lord?
The next verse lifts Moses above that level, and one small word in it carries the weight.
I must notice the value of the word "all" in this passage. It is very striking. "He is faithful in all my house," says the Lord. These words told Aaron and Miriam that Moses was a person of special dignity, with access to all parts of the Lord's house. He was not only faithful, but faithful in all parts of the house. He had the right to be in the holiest, or heavenly place, as well as in the tent of meeting or the courts.
One concrete thing shows that faithfulness: the tabernacle.
God had revealed to Moses all the structure of the tabernacle... Guided by the Holy Spirit, Moses regulated every detail of it, and he did not forget one of them. This is a very important and searching principle. At the end of Exodus God tells Moses to do everything exactly as He has commanded. There is no liberty for any fantasy in the things of God.
Moses' nearness had a history, and that history was the sharpest part of the rebuke.
The Lord thus testifies both to the faithfulness of His servant and to the special place of nearness which He, in His grace, had given him. It points back to the time when Israel turned away from God. Aaron and Miriam had had their share in that, and Moses alone was faithful. In fellowship with the LORD's mind, he took the tent and pitched it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and called it the tent of meeting. Then the pillar of cloud came down and stood at the door of the tent, as it does here, "and the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend." (Exodus 33:7-11.) Where were Aaron and Miriam at that time?
Hebrews picks up this wording with one change of pronoun, and with a striking verdict on a man who later failed. Older translations read "his house" there; the ESV has "God's house".
And why in Numbers is it "my house" and in Hebrews "his house"? Why the change from "my" to "his"? Because the Son had come, and the old house is no longer owned. The foundation of the new house was laid, and Christ as Son over His own house is not a servant but Lord. He alone is the Faithful One. His house has put out of sight the old house, in which Moses, despite his eminence, was only a servant. Moses failed, so he was not allowed to enter Canaan. Yet centuries later the Spirit's testimony about the man is "faithful in all his house". Is that not wonderful? Such is the reckoning of grace.
God Himself deals with an attack on His servant.
It is a most serious thing for anyone to speak against the Lord's servant. We may be sure that God will deal with it, sooner or later. In the case of Miriam, the divine judgement came down suddenly and solemnly.
- Motive. The wife was the excuse. Equality with Moses was the aim, and God answered the aim.
- Level. Vision and dream are how God makes Himself known to a prophet. Miriam and Aaron could not claim even that much.
- Access. "All my house" says more than that Moses was faithful. He could enter every part, the holiest included.
- Ground. That nearness goes back to Exodus 33, when Moses alone stood faithful. God gave it in grace, and the two who failed then had no standing to object now.
- Fulfilment. Moses was a servant in the house. Christ is Son over it — and the Spirit still calls the failing Moses faithful. That is how grace reckons.
Not so my servant Moses he is faithful in all my house.
Miriam and Aaron asked whether God spoke only through Moses. Moses said nothing in his own defence. God answered for him. The answer said nothing about Moses' gifts. It said where Moses stood: trusted inside God's own house.
The chapter pauses to note that Moses was the meekest man alive. His silence is why God's reply falls so hard on the other two.
"And Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses." And why? Openly because of the Cushite woman he had married... And they said, "Has the LORD indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also?" And the LORD heard it. (Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth.) So much the worse for them. Had Moses defended his own cause, I am persuaded God would not have dealt with Aaron and Miriam in this way. Even if a person is completely in the right, the lack of faith that fights for self always blocks the working of grace.
The word is not a general compliment. It describes a man God could trust to carry His words without bending them. Meekness made that possible.
Here we also have the divine testimony about Moses, that he was "faithful in all my house," which is quoted in Hebrews 3. This much is very clear. If God chooses a man to be His mouthpiece, to carry His message to others in inspired words, faithfulness is the first thing needed. The opposite of meekness is self-assertion. If Moses had not excelled in meekness, he would have tended to push himself and his own thoughts into the words from God. And if he had not been faithful, he could easily have been turned aside, so as to misrepresent what God had really said.
Note the possessive: God calls it my house. Hebrews 3 quotes the verse, and readers often assume the house was Moses'.
There is one other reference to the Church as the house of God, in Hebrews 3. In verses 2 and 5 it refers to the house of Israel as such in the past. (Look at Numbers 12:7: the house is God's, not Moses'.) But Israel had forfeited that position and was set aside from it. In verse 6 the writer assures his readers that they now hold this position. They no longer hold it through their link with Israel. They hold it through their link with Christ.
Hebrews says the same word about Christ. Both were faithful. Their positions were not the same.
Faithfulness, then, was said of Moses. It was also said of the Lord (Heb. 3:2). Were they therefore to be regarded as equals, the Apostle of the Hebrews no better than the lawgiver of old? ... The one who builds a house has more honour than the house. Moses was not a builder. The Son was, and in that none could equal Him. He built all things. Moses was a creature. He is God. ... Our Apostle is the Son. Moses was only a servant. A son is undeniably greater than a servant. And we have not yet exhausted the contrasts. For Moses was a servant in God's house. The Son is over God's house; for it is God's house, not the Son's house, that Hebrews 3:6 teaches.
God's words point back to an earlier moment. Moses had been closest to God not in Israel's best days but in its worst.
Moses went on faithfully with the Lord while Israel was failing all around him. It was not when Israel was doing well that Moses was nearest to God, but when they had all gone wrong. When the golden calf was made, "Moses took the tent and pitched it outside the camp, far off from the camp." Then he went out to meet with God. There "the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend." In Numbers 12 God points back to this as a glorious mark of distinction on Moses.
God's question in verse 8 asks why they were not afraid. Writers apply that fear to how we speak about one another.
In any case, it is a fatal mistake to speak against even the weakest and humblest of God's servants. If the servant does wrong — if he is in error, if he has failed in something — the Lord Himself will deal with him. But fellow servants should be careful about taking the matter into their own hands. Otherwise they may be found like Miriam, meddling to their own harm.
- Silence — Moses left his cause with God. Kelly is persuaded that self-defence would have stopped God acting for him.
- Faithful — the word marks a man who delivered God's message without adding himself to it. Meekness kept the message straight.
- House — the household is God's, not Moses'; Moses was trusted inside a house that belonged to Another.
- Servant — Hebrews 3 uses this very commendation to set Moses as a servant in the house and Christ as Son over it.
- Fear — "Why were you not afraid?" turns the verse on the reader: God will deal with His own servants, so leave them to Him.
Mouth to mouth do I speak to him openly, and not in riddles; and the form of Jehovah doth he behold. Why then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant, against Moses?
God's answer to Aaron and Miriam in Numbers 12:8 is not a rebuke about family matters. It describes how He spoke with one man, what that man was allowed to see, and why attacking him was so serious.
The word behind "riddles" turns up elsewhere in the Old Testament. Its other translations show what God is ruling out.
The Hebrew word is rendered dark speeches in Numbers 12:8; riddle in Judges 14:12-19; hard questions in 1 Kings 10:1; dark sentences in Daniel 8:23, and so on.
Did this way of speaking put the other prophets on a lower footing?
Even in Old Testament times there were different characters of inspiration... But while there is this difference in character, there arises no question as to authority.
One small word in God's defence of Moses carries the weight of the argument.
I must notice the value of the word "all" in this passage. It is very striking here — "who is faithful in all my house," says the Lord. Those words told Aaron and Miriam that Moses was a person of special dignity, with access to all parts of the Lord's house. It was not only that he was faithful. He was faithful in all parts of the house, with the right to be in the holiest, or heavenly place, as well as in the tent of meeting or the courts.
Everything turns on what "form" means here.
temunah, "form, appearance," which may not imply likeness. Numbers 12:8; Deuteronomy 4:12, 15, 16.
So even this highest privilege stopped short of a full disclosure of God.
But Moses could come closer to God than the elders of the people. He went into the middle of the cloud and was allowed to speak with God face to face... Despite this very privileged position, God remained hidden in the sanctuary. To some extent He was still an "unknown God" even to Moses. Although he saw the form of God, this did not imply full knowledge of God. This is obvious from the well known passage in Exodus 33, where Moses asked to see God's glory. The divine answer was: "You cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live."
The words point back to an earlier moment, one Aaron and Miriam had reason to remember.
It points back to the falling away of Israel, in which Aaron and Miriam had had their share. Moses alone was faithful then. In fellowship with the LORD's mind, he had taken the tent and pitched it outside the camp, far off from the camp... Where were Aaron and Miriam at that time? And yet they had dared to deny his place of intimacy with the Lord, and to claim equality with him!
Commentators read the verse as pointing beyond Moses to Christ.
Yet these words are not fulfilled but surpassed by the greater glory of Him who has been indeed "faithful." His faithfulness was not in relation to the earthly tabernacle but the heavenly one. He is "Son over God's house," not merely "servant in" it... He whose word is God's word indeed — who not merely beholds the LORD's form, but is Himself the "express image" of the Father.
The verse ends with a question aimed at anyone who talks loosely about God's servants.
It is very awful to hear, at times, the way in which people allow themselves to speak and write about Christ's servants. True, these may give occasion. They may have made mistakes, and shown a wrong spirit and temper. But we must confess we feel it to be a very dreadful sin against Christ to speak evil of His dear servants.
There is a rule here for God's servants when they are attacked.
God knows how to bring down pride. He knows how to provide for the honour of His servants when they are meek — no less in this day than when Moses lived. Only, servants must not try to defend themselves. God alone knows the right way and the right time.
- Plain. God spoke to Moses without riddles — the same Hebrew word is translated "riddle" in Judges and "hard questions" in 1 Kings. The manner of inspiration differed; the authority did not.
- Whole. "Faithful in all my house" grants access to every part of it, the holiest included, not just faithfulness in general.
- Partial. Moses beheld a form, an appearance — real nearness, yet God stayed hidden, since no one can see His face and live.
- Proven. The nearness goes back to Exodus 33, when Moses alone stood with God outside the camp and Aaron and Miriam did not.
- Surpassed. Christ is Son over the house, not servant in it — not a man who beholds God's form, but Himself the express image. To speak evil of His servants is a dreadful sin against Him.
And the anger of Jehovah was kindled against them, and he went away;
The Lord has just spoken from the pillar of cloud, naming Moses as the one He speaks with mouth to mouth. This verse is His answer to Aaron and Miriam, who had dared to speak against him: anger, and a withdrawal.
The rebuke in verse 8 looks back to an earlier moment. When Israel had made the golden calf, Moses alone stood faithful. He pitched the tent outside the camp. There the cloud came down, and God spoke with him as a man speaks with his friend. Aaron and Miriam had been on the wrong side of that day. Now they claimed to be Moses' equals.
Where were Aaron and Miriam at that time? And yet they had dared to deny his place of intimacy with the Lord, and to claim equality with him! No wonder the Lord reminds them of this and says, "Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?" This was sin indeed. It was sin against both holiness and grace. And so "the anger of the LORD was kindled against them, and he departed."
The complaint started with Moses' marriage. One writer points to the way Miriam spoke about it, and to the short line that follows in the text.
Miriam spoke about it in a negative way and so became guilty of slander. She disapproved of Moses' marriage and so damaged his position and good name. […] "And the LORD heard it," says the next sentence. Let us remember that, when we feel we have to say something about our fellow brother or sister! There is a Witness who hears our conversations, who knows our thoughts and even knows what is at the bottom of our hearts.
God's leaving was not a quiet exit. The anger burned against them both, yet the mark of God's hand fell on one.
He departed — but not without the mark of His hand, not without the judgment that struck in the way most painful to her who was clearly the leader in this act of insubordination. For Miriam became leprous, white as snow.
One writer adds what that lifted cloud meant for the camp.
So God showed His displeasure against Miriam only, and by an instant act He struck her with leprosy. Aaron confessed their sin and acted as intercessor, because the cloud had also left the tabernacle. That was the sign for the moving of the camp.
One writer widens the warning past Moses to every servant of God, however small their place.
We may be sure that God will deal with it, sooner or later. In Miriam's case the judgment came down suddenly and solemnly. […] In any case, it is a fatal mistake to speak against even the feeblest and humblest of God's servants. If the servant does wrong — if he is in error, if he has failed in anything — the Lord Himself will deal with him. But let the fellow servants beware. If they try to take the matter into their own hands, they may be found like Miriam, meddling to their own hurt.
There is another side: what the one who is attacked should do.
If we take up the fight in our own defence the Lord may hold back His hand and leave us to our own efforts; but if we leave our case with Him, He will see to it. Moses was "very meek."
The stroke that fell on Miriam carried a surprise inside it.
According to Leviticus 13:13, this complete whiteness was the exact condition for being declared clean again! So God's judgment struck Miriam, yet right away His grace showed itself — grace that had her restoration in view. […] But it was not forever. God wanted to receive her again after she had been shut out of the camp seven days.
One writer sees the same pattern in God's dealings with Israel as a nation.
Just as the cloud of God's presence departed from above the tabernacle when He had spoken to Aaron and Miriam, so God has now withdrawn from His people. The glory of the Lord has left the people of Israel and it will only return at the beginning of the kingdom of peace. Miriam was shut out of the camp, outside the place of blessing in the presence of God.
- Heard. The sin began as talk. The Lord heard it, and He knows what lies at the bottom of our hearts.
- Kindled. Claiming to be Moses' equal was sin against both holiness and grace. God had given him a closeness no one else had.
- Departed. The cloud that lifted was the signal for the camp to move. God's withdrawal came with the mark of His hand — leprosy on Miriam.
- Restrained. Moses defended nothing. Leave your case with the Lord and He will see to it. Never take a servant's failure into your own hands.
- Restored. The whiteness that condemned her was also the sign of cleansing. Judgment came with restoration in view — seven days, not forever.
and the cloud departed from off the tent. And behold, Miriam was leprous as snow; and Aaron turned toward Miriam, and behold, she was leprous.
Miriam and Aaron had asked whether God spoke only through Moses, and God answered them Himself from the cloud. Verse 10 makes His answer visible and raises two questions: why Miriam and not Aaron, and is there a way back?
The cloud lifts and the disease appears in the same moment. God had just spoken. Now He shows how He answers contempt for His authority, and one writer carries that point into our own day.
As He left, the cloud departed from above the tabernacle. Leprosy struck Miriam at once, that dreadful disease, visible for all to see. Today, is God any less angry when many refuse His authority — even believers? They are like "all those in Asia" who had turned away from Paul (2 Tim. 1:15). No indeed! We must not dare to take God's authority lightly. His chosen apostles declared it, and the Scriptures record it clearly.
Both had spoken, yet only one is struck. Commentators point to who led the complaint. They also note what the lifting cloud usually meant for Israel.
Verses 6 and 7 show that Moses was more than a prophet. He was the apostle and mediator of the law covenant, as Galatians 3:19 shows. Since that is so, we can see how serious this sin was, and Miriam was the leader in it. Aaron followed her, but he was plainly a man too easily swayed by others, as the incident of the golden calf showed. So God showed His displeasure against Miriam only. By one instant act He struck her with leprosy. Aaron confessed their sin and acted as intercessor. The cloud had also left the tabernacle, which was the sign for the camp to move.
The punishment fits the offence. Words had come out of Miriam's mouth. Now something else comes out through her skin.
He let her see that what was inside was to be visible outside. If there had been no leprosy of evil thoughts inside, there would have been no evil words outside. And the hand of God would not have brought leprosy upon her body outside.
The warning here is not only about leaders like Moses. It reaches down to the least impressive servant of God, and it holds even when the complaint is true.
It is a most serious thing for anyone to speak against the Lord's servant. We may be sure that God will deal with it, sooner or later. With Miriam the judgment of God came down suddenly and solemnly. But in any case, it is a fatal mistake to speak against even the feeblest and humblest of God's servants. If the servant does wrong — if he is in error, if he has failed in anything — the Lord Himself will deal with him. But let fellow servants beware of trying to take the matter into their own hands. Otherwise they may be found like Miriam, meddling to their own hurt.
One writer reads the wording of the verse against Israel's law on leprosy, and finds mercy hidden inside the blow.
The remarkable thing is that with Miriam it was apparently a form of leprosy at an advanced stage. … This complete whiteness was, according to Leviticus 13:13, the very condition for being pronounced clean again! So God's judgment struck Miriam, yet straight away you could see a proof of His grace — grace that had her restoration in mind. She was completely leprous, no doubt about that. She had to be put outside the camp as an unclean person, and she had to cry out that she was unclean (Lev. 13:45). But it was not forever. God wanted to receive her again after her seven days outside the camp (Num. 12:14).
Writers see more than one woman's history here. What happened to Miriam becomes a picture of the nation of Israel.
She had been exalting herself among the people of the Lord. Now she is shut out from them, and from coming near to Him whose spokesman she had boasted of being. Israel is fulfilling her seven days in just this way — shut out, yet to be restored. … The principle is always true: for the humbled there is grace when they accept the humiliation.
- Spoken — the sin was words against God's chosen servant. God takes an attack on His servant as an attack on His own authority.
- Shown — leprosy put on the outside what was already inside; the evil words proved the evil thoughts.
- Struck — Miriam led the sin, so Miriam carried the visible mark. Aaron could only confess and plead.
- Shut out — the woman who boasted of speaking for God now stood outside His people and outside His presence.
- Restored — the total whiteness was the very state Leviticus called clean. The judgment was real, but it ran seven days, not forever.
Then Aaron said to Moses, Alas, my lord, I beseech thee, lay not this sin upon us, wherein we have been foolish, and have sinned!
The cloud has lifted, Miriam is struck with leprosy, and Aaron now pleads with the brother he had spoken against. Why does he plead with a man rather than with God, and why does Miriam alone carry the mark of a sin they shared?
Aaron says "us," not "her." One writer explains why: Miriam led, and Aaron went along with her.
Apparently Miriam contributed most to this rebellion against Moses, but Aaron was far too willing to listen to her, and so they confess in the plural: "Oh, my lord, do not punish us because we have done foolishly and have sinned" (v. 11). What was the reason for Miriam's slander? We read that Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married (v. 1). Is one not allowed to talk about the marriage of one's own brother? Of course this is allowed, but what matters is the manner in which you talk about it!
One writer traces that weakness back to an earlier failure.
Aaron followed her, but he was clearly a man too easily influenced by others, as the incident of the golden calf showed. So God showed His displeasure against Miriam only, and by an instant act of God she was struck with leprosy. Aaron confessed their sin and acted as intercessor, because the cloud had also left the tabernacle, which was the signal for the camp to move.
One writer counts the steps in Aaron's plea and reads them as God's own work in him.
It is clear that the Lord had worked powerfully in Aaron's soul through the dealing of His hand. Nothing could be more complete than his confession and intercession. First, by turning to Moses he humbles himself, and acknowledges the special place which Moses occupies before God. Next, he fully identifies himself with Miriam's sin ("we have done foolishly and have sinned"). He then owns what they both deserve, and finally he takes the place of intercessor on behalf of Miriam.
One word of pleading repeats through Aaron's appeal and Moses' prayer. The writer quotes an older translation, which keeps that word in English.
Aaron's urgency with Moses, and Moses' persistence with God, come out beautifully in the repeating of the word of pleading in each case: "Alas, my lord, I beg you … Let her not, I beg you … O God, I beg you, heal her, I beg you."
Aaron was the priest who judged cases of leprosy.
We saw in Leviticus 13 the instructions for detecting leprosy and cleansing it. It is a remarkable fact that the first case Aaron had to act on was his own sister's. And it concerned a sin he was involved in himself. Miriam was the chief sufferer, but everybody was affected in some degree. Moses, who had been wronged, had to intercede. Aaron had to act. The people were held up in their journey for seven days.
Why was Aaron not struck too? One answer ties it to his work in the sanctuary.
Aaron spiritually was as much a leper as Miriam, but she in the wisdom of God becomes the public witness of His judgment. If Aaron had been a leper, the whole service of the sanctuary would have been interrupted. God in judgment remembers mercy. Moses appears in his highest official character — as mediator. Aaron intercedes for Miriam with Moses. But it is Moses who stands between them and God.
Moses had been the target of the slander. His answer was prayer.
Here Moses breathes the spirit of his Master, and prays for those who had spoken so bitterly against him. This was victory — the victory of a meek man, the victory of grace. A man who knows his right place in the presence of God is able to rise above all evil speaking. He is not troubled by it, except for the sake of those who practise it. He can afford to forgive it. He is not touchy, stubborn, or taken up with himself.
One writer sees the whole scene as a picture of Israel humbled and then restored.
Aaron takes up his place as intercessor again, and speaks humbly to Moses. This is a figure, I think, of the humiliation of Israel, grounded on the value of the intercession of Christ, who identifies Himself with the position of the people. God's answer is that Miriam should be humbled and chastened, shut out for a time from fellowship with Him, then restored to favour again. The people wait for her restoration.
- Sin — Miriam led the criticism of Moses' marriage. Aaron was too willing to listen, so the confession says "we have sinned."
- Stroke — Miriam alone was struck. She became the public witness of God's judgment, and Aaron's service in the sanctuary went on.
- Submission — Aaron humbles himself before the man whose place he had questioned, and owns what they both deserve.
- Substitute — Aaron pleads with Moses. But Moses stands between them and God; the wronged man is the mediator.
- Shut out — Miriam is shut out for a time, then restored to favour, and the whole camp waits seven days for her.
Let her not be as one stillborn, half of whose flesh is consumed when he comes out of his mother's womb.
Leprosy has just struck Aaron's sister Miriam, and Aaron begs for her with the harshest words in the chapter — a body half gone, a child born dead. His cry raises hard questions: why did God send a disease, was there any hope in it, and why must Aaron plead with the brother he had attacked?
Aaron points to a body eaten away. In Scripture, leprosy is the standing picture of sin — hidden, deep, and always spreading:
Leprosy is the Old Testament picture of sin — disgusting, deadly, and with power to spread. At first it might show little sign of itself on the outside. The spot on the skin might not show how far the disease had gone. It lay much deeper — in the blood itself. It was no local thing; it corrupted the whole person. Unless God steps in, it is sure to spread further and further, whitening the hair and exposing the raw flesh.
Miriam's body now showed the state of her heart. The punishment matched what was already at work inside her:
In the book of Numbers, Aaron and Miriam found fault with Moses because of his Ethiopian wife. The Lord suddenly called out Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. He let leprosy strike Miriam, and He showed her that what was inside had to become visible outside. If there had been no leprosy of evil thoughts inside, there would have been no evil words outside. And the hand of God would not have brought leprosy on her body outside.
The sin was worse than the sickness sent to punish it:
The actual breaking out of sinful rebellion in speaking against Moses was worse than the physical punishment God sent to make Miriam (and Aaron) feel how serious their sin was.
Aaron read the whiteness as a death sentence. The law of leprosy read it differently, and that detail turns the whole scene:
The remarkable thing is that with Miriam it was apparently a form of leprosy in an advanced stage. At once Miriam stood there "leprous, white as snow" (v. 10). Yet Leviticus 13:13 makes complete whiteness the very condition for declaring a person clean again! So God's judgment struck Miriam, and right away it carried a proof of His grace — grace that had her restoration in mind… She had to leave the camp as unclean. But it was not forever. God wanted to receive her again after seven days outside (v. 14).
These words close a short speech. In it Aaron — guilty himself — takes four steps:
The Lord had clearly done a deep work in Aaron's soul through the dealing of His hand. Nothing could be more complete than his confession and his pleading for her. First, by turning to Moses he humbles himself and acknowledges the special place Moses holds before God. Next, he fully identifies himself with Miriam's sin: "we have done foolishly and have sinned." He then owns what they both deserve. Finally, he takes the place of intercessor for Miriam.
Aaron pleads with the very brother he had wronged. This is what he gets back:
Here Moses breathes the spirit of His Master, and prays for those who had spoken so bitterly against him. This was victory — the victory of a meek man — the victory of grace. A man who knows his right place before God can rise above all evil speaking. It only troubles him for the sake of those who do it. He can afford to forgive it.
Commentators see a larger story here. What God did for Miriam points to what He will do for Israel:
He took away the leprosy from Miriam. In the same way He will turn away ungodliness from Jacob and will accept His people. He will raise them spiritually from death to life… Miriam was cleansed and taken back into the camp. So God will take Israel back as a nation, raised from its death sleep and cleansed from the sickness that marked it "as one dead, whose flesh is half eaten away" (v. 12).
- Inside first. The leprosy did not create the evil; it displayed it. Evil words outside came from evil thoughts inside, and God made the hidden thing visible.
- Deeper than the skin. Leprosy pictures sin: hidden at the start, deeper than any spot on the skin, always spreading unless God steps in.
- Judgment carrying grace. The whiteness that horrified Aaron was the very condition Leviticus 13:13 counts as clean. The judgment already pointed to restoration.
- Confession opens the way. Aaron humbles himself, names the sin as ours, owns what they deserve, and pleads. Moses answers with prayer, not resentment.
- From death to life. Commentators read Aaron's words — as one dead — as Israel's own state. Her return to the camp promises a nation healed and taken back.
And Moses cried to Jehovah, saying, O God, heal her, I beseech thee!
Miriam has been struck with leprosy for speaking against Moses, and Aaron has begged his brother to act. Moses answers in one short prayer — not to defend himself, but to ask God to heal the sister who attacked him.
In the Hebrew of verses 11–13, one small word of pleading keeps coming back. It runs through Aaron's appeal and through Moses' prayer alike, and the ESV catches it in the doubled "please".
The urgency of Aaron with Moses, and the persistence of Moses with God, come out beautifully in the repeated word of pleading in each case: "Alas, my lord, I beg you... Let her not, I beg you... O God, I beg you, heal her, I beg you."
Moses takes the case straight to God. This disease left him nowhere else to go.
Leprosy is the most loathsome disease known. There was no remedy for it in the Old Testament, there is none in our times, and we may say there never will be. The Spirit of God has made leprosy a picture of sin. There is no remedy from the human side for sin, and so there is none, and will be none, from man's side for leprosy. The Lord alone could heal the terrible disease (Numbers 12:13; 2 Kings 5:1-15, etc.).
Miriam and Aaron had spoken against Moses. His reply is to ask God to heal his sister.
Here Moses breathes the spirit of His Master, and prays for those who had spoken so bitterly against him. This was victory — the victory of a meek man — the victory of grace. A man who knows his right place in the presence of God is able to rise above all evil speaking. He is not troubled by it, except for the sake of those who practise it. He can afford to forgive it. He is not touchy, tenacious, or self-occupied. He knows that no one can put him lower than he deserves to be. So if anyone speaks against him, he can meekly bow his head and pass on. He leaves himself and his cause in the hands of Him who judges righteously.
Moses had left his own defence to God. Notice what is missing from his answer.
Nothing could be more beautiful than the self-forgetfulness of this meek and faithful servant in all this scene. He had left himself in the hands of the Lord, and the Lord had fully vindicated him. With unruffled calm he answers the appeal of Aaron and takes his place as mediator. There was not a trace of bad feeling on his lowly spirit.
God heard the prayer. Healing, though, was not the end of the matter.
Miriam's sin was not only against God; it was also against Moses. So the Lord will have her suffer certain consequences of her rebellion in the sight of all His people. A far less thing — even if her father had only spat in her face — would have brought seven days of shame. How much more when she had been defiled with leprosy as the chastening for her sin! Moses prayed, and she was healed; but she had to stay outside the camp for seven days before she could return to the privileges she had lost.
Aaron takes his plea to Moses, and Moses carries it to God. That order matters.
Moses appears in his highest official character — as mediator. Aaron intercedes for Miriam with Moses. But it is Moses who stands between them and God. So it will be again. The prophet like Moses will appear. The leaders of the people have spoken against the Mediator of the new covenant. Again the leaders will have to bow to His supremacy... He will stand between God and the guilty leprous people, and in due time they shall all be healed.
The same likeness reaches to the cross.
We see Moses here as a picture of Christ. He prayed for His enemies, even for those who stood up against Him and mocked Him: "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do" (Luke 23:34). Just as Miriam was restored on the basis of Moses' intercession, so the people of Israel were shown mercy because of Christ's prayer on the cross.
- Wound. Miriam's words against Moses brought a disease no human hand could cure. Only God could heal it.
- Silence. Moses never defended himself. He left his case in God's hands, and God vindicated him.
- Cry. His whole answer is one plea, repeated for urgency — grace praying for the people who had attacked him.
- Chastening. God answered the prayer, yet Miriam still stayed outside the camp seven days. Healing did not erase the public cost of her sin.
- Mediator. Moses standing between God and his leprous sister points ahead to Christ. He prayed for those who attacked Him, and His intercession heals a guilty people.
And Jehovah said to Moses, But had her father anyways spat in her face, should she not be shamed seven days? She shall be shut outside the camp seven days, and afterwards she shall be received in [again].
Moses prays for his sister, and God heals her, yet He still shuts her outside the camp for seven days. The verse holds together two things we tend to separate: real mercy, and a real cost the whole camp can see.
God argues from the smaller case to the greater. He measures what Miriam has earned against a far lighter insult.
Miriam's sin was not only against God. It was also against Moses. So the LORD will have her suffer certain consequences of her rebellion in the sight of all His people. A far smaller thing — even if her father had only spit in her face — would have brought seven days of shame. How much more when leprosy had defiled her as discipline for her sin!
No human father had insulted her. The comparison points to God Himself as the one dealing with her.
The Lord, so to speak, spat in her face — how terrible! Yet there was much grace mixed with it all.
God heard the prayer. The leprosy went. The exclusion stayed, because something still had to finish in Miriam.
The meekness of Moses is again clear when he prays that God would heal Miriam. He did not even tell Aaron that Miriam had brought this on herself, so should face the consequences. God showed great mercy in healing her. Yet He told Moses that even if her father had only spit in her face she would be ashamed for seven days. Therefore, let her be put out of the camp for seven days. In other words, her restoration must be complete — as the number seven implies — before the camp receives her back.
Writers turn the same measure on us.
Regretting a fault is not enough. We must feel deeply within ourselves how serious it is in the eyes of God, even if not in the eyes of men.
The words "after that she may be brought in again" set a pattern. Writers apply them to sin among believers today.
I think this period of seven days points to the full measure of repentance needed for a godly restoration. Seven days was also the usual length for other cleansing ceremonies (see for example Numbers 19). In the same way, the man put out at Corinth had to go through regret and repentance before the believers received him again (2 Cor. 2:7). Godly sorrow had produced "repentance that leads to salvation without regret" (2 Cor. 7:10), both in his heart and in the hearts of the Corinthians who had first tolerated the wicked person among them. Leprosy is a striking picture of sin that has broken out openly. When the disease has covered the leper completely, the lesson is that the one shut out no longer expects anything from himself. He recognises that nothing good lives in his flesh (see Rom. 7:18).
The discipline was never hers alone to carry.
After seven days, Miriam could re-enter the camp. She was "brought in again" (v. 14). So this is a striking example of putting a wicked person out, but also of restoring the one who did wrong. We cannot deal lightly with sin. God wants us to enforce discipline. At the same time, in His grace, He wants to prepare the way for a full restoration… She waited outside and the people waited inside until the work of restoration had been finished!
Some writers read the seven days as a stretch of history rather than one week. (A Gentile is anyone outside the nation of Israel.)
We may see Miriam, shut out of the camp, as a picture of Israel's present condition. They are set aside because of their unyielding opposition to God's thought of mercy toward the Gentile. But when the "seven days" have run their course, Israel will be restored. That restoration rests on sovereign grace shown to them through the intercession of Christ.
The same reading draws a contrast with an exclusion that never ends.
Israel is even now fulfilling her seven days, shut out, yet to be restored. For Babylon, the false church, unrepentant to the last, there will be total exclusion. The principle is always true: for those who are humbled there is grace when they accept the humbling.
- Cause. Miriam sinned against God and against Moses His servant, so God let all His people see the consequences.
- Rebuke. A father's spit is the yardstick. If that small insult meant a week of shame, leprosy meant far more. The hand behind it was God's own, with grace mixed in.
- Gap. Moses' prayer removed the disease at once; it did not remove the seven days. Healing and restoration are not the same event.
- Measure. Seven speaks of completeness. The exclusion lasts until repentance is full, as with the man restored at Corinth.
- Welcome. She waited outside and the whole camp waited inside. Discipline aimed from the first day at "brought in again." So the same picture points on to Israel's restoration through the intercession of Christ.
And Miriam was shut outside the camp seven days; and the people did not journey till Miriam was received in [again].
Miriam spoke against Moses. God struck her with leprosy, then healed her the moment Moses prayed for her. Yet she still spent a week outside the camp, and a whole nation stopped moving until she came back.
Her healing and her return to the camp were two different things. Forgiveness is one thing; a place back among God's people is another.
When the people of God sin, God forgives them the moment they confess (see 1 John 1:9). There is no doubt about that. Yet the forgiven believer often still has to suffer certain consequences of his sin under God's government. Take an example. A believer sins against the people of God. He may often stay outside the privileges of the assembly long after he is sure of his forgiveness. It should also be noted that forgiveness is immediate on confession, while restoration to fellowship is a work of time. Seven days had to pass, as with Miriam — a time in which self-judgment does its full work. It brings the soul to see its sin in communion with God, and so to take His side against it. When that point is reached, restoration is complete, and the assembly can receive the person back as an expression of their confidence in that restoration.
Why seven days, and not three, or thirty? The number itself carries meaning.
God showed great mercy in healing her. Even so, He told Moses that even if her father had only spit in her face, she would be ashamed for seven days. So she was to be put out of the camp for seven days. In other words, her restoration had to be complete — as the number 7 implies — before the camp could receive her back.
The waiting was not empty. Something had to happen in those days.
I think this period of seven days stands for the full measure of repentance needed for a godly restoration. In the same way, regret and repentance had to do their work in the man put out at Corinth. Only then could the believers receive him back among them (2 Cor. 2:7).
Even the form her disease took pointed forward. The law had a surprising rule about leprosy that covered the whole body.
According to Leviticus 13:13, this complete whiteness was the very condition for being pronounced clean again! So God's judgment struck Miriam, and yet a proof of His grace showed at once — grace that had her restoration in mind.
One woman's sin stopped a nation's journey.
The sin of one delayed the progress of all the people. When the assembly is busy with discipline, it has no time for building up or for progress. And there are times when the Lord's honour demands that it be busy with it. When Achan sinned, Israel's victories came to an end. They had to purge themselves from evil before they could take up the fight with their enemy again. And so here, the camp could not take one further step towards Canaan until Miriam was brought back.
Nobody in the episode was a spectator. Each person had something to do, or something to bear.
Miriam was the chief sufferer, but everybody was affected in some degree. Moses, who had been wronged, had to intercede. Aaron had to act. The people were held up in their journey for seven days. The whole episode may remind us of 1 Corinthians 12:26.
And the waiting ran in both directions. Those inside were as tied to the outcome as the one outside.
She waited outside and the people waited inside until the work of restoration had been accomplished!
Some writers see a wider picture in Miriam's week outside the camp.
We may see Miriam, shut out of the camp like this, as a picture of the present condition of the nation of Israel. They are set aside because they stand relentlessly against God's thought of mercy to the nations outside Israel. But when the "seven days" have run their course, Israel will be restored. That restoration will rest on sovereign grace shown to them through the intercession of Christ.
Another writer reads it the same way, and adds the principle behind it.
Israel is fulfilling her seven days in just this way — shut out, yet to be restored... The principle is always true: for those who are humbled there is grace when they accept the humiliation.
- Healed — Moses prayed, and God healed her at once. But healing was not the same as being let back in. Forgiveness comes at once; restoration takes time.
- Shamed — a father's rebuke would have cost her seven days of shame. God measured no less for sin against His servant. Seven marks a work made complete.
- Waiting — she waited outside and the camp waited inside. Discipline is never a private matter between one person and God.
- Halted — an assembly busy with discipline makes no progress. As with Achan, the march stops until the evil is cleared.
- Restored — the whiteness that covered her was the very mark the law counted clean. God's judgment aimed from the first at bringing her back in.