Numbers 12:7

The Holy Bible, Berean Study Bible

Contextual Overview

⁴And suddenly the LORD said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, "You three, come out to the Tent of Meeting." So the three went out, ⁵and the LORD 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: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, will reveal Myself to him in a vision, I will speak to him in a dream; ⁷not so with My servant Moses; he is faithful in all My house.⁸I speak with him face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the LORD. Why then were you unafraid to speak against My servant Moses?" ⁹So the anger of the LORD burned against them, and He departed.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

My servant: Deuteronomy 18:18, Psalms 105:26, Matthew 11:9, Matthew 11:11, Acts 3:22, Acts 3:23, Acts 7:31

faithful: 1 Corinthians 4:2, 1 Timothy 3:15, Hebrews 3:2-6, 1 Peter 2:4, 1 Peter 2:5

Reciprocal: Joshua 14:6 - the man 1 Kings 3:6 - thy servant 2 Kings 18:12 - Moses Nehemiah 7:2 - a faithful man Job 1:8 - my servant Psalms 103:7 - He made 1 Corinthians 4:17 - faithful Ephesians 1:1 - which Colossians 1:7 - a 2 Timothy 2:2 - faithful Hebrews 3:5 - faithful

Cross-References

Genesis 8:20
Then Noah built an altar to the LORD. Taking from every kind of clean animal and clean bird, he offered burnt offerings on the altar.

Genesis 12:8
From there Abram moved on to the hill country east of Bethel and pitched his tent, with Bethel to the west and Ai to the east. There he built an altar to the LORD, and he called on the name of the LORD.

Genesis 12:9
And Abram journeyed on toward the Negev.

Genesis 12:12
and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'This is his wife.' Then they will kill me but will allow you to live.

Genesis 13:4
to the site where he had built the altar. And there Abram called on the name of the LORD.

Genesis 13:15
For all the land that you see, I will give to you and your offspring forever.

Genesis 13:18
So Abram moved his tent and went to live near the oaks of Mamre in Hebron, where he built an altar to the LORD.

Genesis 15:18
On that day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, "To your descendants I have given this land-from the river of Egypt to the great River Euphrates-

Genesis 17:1
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty. Walk before Me and be blameless.

Genesis 17:3
Then Abram fell facedown, and God said to him,

Gill's Notes on the Bible

My servant Moses [is] not so,.... Or such a prophet; he is not so used; it was not in such a manner the Lord spake to him; not in visions and dreams, as he had to Abraham and Jacob, and did to others in later times:

who [is] faithful in all mine house; in the house of Israel, or among that people which were the Lord's family, where Moses was a servant and steward, and did all things according to the will of the Lord, the master of the family; he faithfully delivered to them all the laws, statutes, and ordinances, which he appointed to be observed by them: unless this is to be understood of the tabernacle, which was the house of God, in which he dwelt, and which was made, and all things in it, exactly according to the pattern given by the Lord to Moses: see Hebrews 3:2.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Miriam, as a prophetess (compare Exodus 15:20-21) no less than as the sister of Moses and Aaron, took the first rank among the women of Israel; and Aaron may be regarded as the ecclesiastical head of the whole nation. But instead of being grateful for these high dignities they challenged the special vocation of Moses and the exclusive authority which God had assigned to him. Miriam was the instigator, from the fact that her name stands conspicuously first Numbers 12:1, and that the punishment Numbers 12:10 fell on her alone. She probably considered herself as supplanted, and that too by a foreigner. Aaron was misled this time by the urgency of his sister, as once before Exodus 32:0 by that of the people.

Numbers 12:1

The Ethiopian woman whom he had married - (Hebrew, “Cushite,” compare Genesis 2:13; Genesis 10:6) It is likely that Zipporah Exodus 2:21 was dead, and that Miriam in consequence expected to have greater influence than ever with Moses. Her disappointment at his second marriage would consequently be very great.

The marriage of Moses with a woman descended from Ham was not prohibited, so long as she was not of the stock of Canaan (compare Exodus 34:11-16); but it would at any time have been offensive to that intense nationality which characterized the Jews. The Christian fathers note in the successive marriage of Moses with a Midianite and an Ethiopian a foreshadowing of the future extension to the Gentiles of God’s covenant and its promises (compare Psalms 45:9 ff; Song of Solomon 1:4 ff); and in the complaining of Miriam and Aaron a type of the discontent of the Jews because of such extension: compare Luke 15:29-30.

Numbers 12:2

Hath the Lord ... - i. e. Is it merely, after all, by Moses that the Lord hath spoken?

Numbers 12:3

The man Moses was very meek - In this and in other passages in which Moses no less unequivocally records his own faults (compare Numbers 20:12 ff; Exodus 4:24 ff; Deuteronomy 1:37), there is the simplicity of one who bare witness of himself, but not to himself (compare Matthew 11:28-29). The words are inserted to explain how it was that Moses took no steps to vindicate himself, and why consequently the Lord so promptly intervened.

Numbers 12:8

Mouth to mouth - i. e. without the intervention of any third person or thing: compare the marginal references.

Even apparently - Moses received the word of God direct from Him and plainly, not through the medium of dream, vision, parable, dark saying, or such like; compare the marginal references.

The similitude of the Lord shall he behold - But, “No man hath seen God at any time,” says John (John 1:18 : compare 1 Timothy 6:16, and especially Exodus 33:20 ff). It was not therefore the Beatific Vision, the unveiled essence of the Deity, which Moses saw on the one hand. Nor was it, on the other hand, a mere emblematic representation (as in Ezekiel 1:26 ff, Daniel 7:9), or an Angel sent as a messenger. It was the Deity Himself manifesting Himself so as to be cognizable to mortal eye. The special footing on which Moses stood as regards God is here laid down in detail, because it at once demonstrates that the supremacy of Moses rested on the distinct appointment of God, and also that Miriam in contravening that supremacy had incurred the penalty proper to sins against the theocracy.

Numbers 12:12

As one dead - leprosy was nothing short of a living death, a poisoning of the springs, a corrupting of all the humors, of life; a dissolution little by little of the whole body, so that one limb after another actually decayed and fell away. Compare the notes at Leviticus 13:0.

Numbers 12:13

Heal her now, O God, I beseech thee - Others render these words: “Oh not so; heal her now, I beseech Thee.”

Numbers 12:14

If her father ... - i. e. If her earthly parent had treated her with contumely (compare Deuteronomy 25:9) she would feel for a time humiliated, how much more when God has visited her thus?

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Numbers 12:7. Moses - is faithful — נאמן neeman, a prefect or superintendent. So Samuel is termed, 1 Samuel 2:35; 1 Samuel 3:20; David is so called, 1 Samuel 18:27, Neeman, and son-in-law of the king. Job 12:20, speaks of the Neemanim as a name of dignity. It seems also to have been a title of respect given to ambassadors, Proverbs 13:17; Proverbs 25:13. Calmet well observes that the word fidelity is often used for an employ, office, or dignity, and refers to 1 Chronicles 9:22, 1 Chronicles 9:26, 1 Chronicles 9:31; 2 Chronicles 31:12, 2 Chronicles 31:15; 2 Chronicles 34:12, &c. Moses was a faithful, well-tried servant in the house of God, and therefore he uses him as a familiar, and puts confidence in him.