Numbers 12

This chapter belongs to the wilderness-journey section of Numbers. The events take place while Israel is staying at Hazeroth, after the complaining and the quail incident of Numbers 11, and just before the account of the spies in Numbers 13.

Outline

• Verses 1–3 Miriam and Aaron speak against Moses because he has married a Cushite woman. They claim that God has spoken through them as well. The text adds that Moses was meeker than anyone else on earth.
• Verses 4–9 God summons the three to the tabernacle of the congregation, comes down in the pillar of cloud, and rebukes Aaron and Miriam. He declares that he speaks to other prophets in visions and dreams, but with Moses he speaks face to face and plainly.
• Verses 10–12 After the cloud departs, Miriam becomes leprous, white as snow. Aaron confesses their sin to Moses and pleads for mercy.
• Verses 13–16 Moses cries out to God to heal Miriam. God commands that Miriam be shut out of the camp for seven days, and the people do not set out until she is brought back in. Afterward they leave Hazeroth and encamp in the wilderness of Paran.

Key Verses

• Numbers 12:3 "Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth" — often cited as the defining verse on Moses' character.
• Numbers 12:7 "who is faithful in all mine house" — quoted in Hebrews 3 in the passage comparing Moses with Christ.
• Numbers 12:13 "Heal her now, O God, I beseech thee" — Moses' intercessory prayer for the sister who had spoken against him.

People and Places

• Moses, Miriam, and Aaron: three siblings.
• The Cushite woman: Moses' wife. Cush generally refers to the region south of Egypt (roughly present-day Sudan).
• Hazeroth: a stopping place during the wilderness journey.
• The wilderness of Paran: a wilderness in the northeastern Sinai Peninsula, from which the spies are sent out in the next chapter.

Points for Reflection

• Interpreters differ on whether the Cushite woman is the same person as Zipporah or a second wife distinct from her. The story that Moses married an Ethiopian princess comes from later writings, such as those of Josephus, and does not appear in the biblical text.
• Verse 3 praises Moses in the third person. For this reason, the traditional view that Moses himself wrote it is discussed alongside the view that it was a later addition.
• Many scholars hold that the Hebrew term traditionally rendered "leprosy" covers a broader range of skin diseases than modern Hansen's disease. Among Korean translations, the New Korean Revised Version renders it "leprosy," while the New Korean Standard Version renders it "malignant skin disease."
• Various explanations have also been offered for why only Miriam was punished. Deuteronomy 24:9 calls on Israel to remember this incident.

In the Korean Church

The chapter is frequently preached as a warning against speaking against leaders and as a text on Moses' meekness and intercession.