Bible Commentaries
Numbers 12

Verse 1

12:1 And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married {a} an Ethiopian woman.

(a) Zipporah, Moses’ wife, was a Midianite, and because Midian bordered on Ethiopia, it is sometimes referred to in the scriptures by this name.

Verse 3

12:3

(Now the man Moses [was] very {b} meek, above all the men which [were] upon the face of the earth.)

(b) And so endured their grudging, although he knew of them.

Verse 6

12:6 And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, [I] the LORD will make myself known unto him in a {c} vision, [and] will speak unto him in a dream.

(c) These were the two ordinary means.

Verse 7

12:7 My servant Moses [is] not so, who [is] faithful {d} in all mine house.

(d) In all Israel which was his Church.

Verse 8

12:8 With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the LORD shall he {e} behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?

(e) As far as any man was able to comprehend, which he calls his back parts, Exodus 33:23.

Verse 10

12:10 And the cloud departed from off the {f} tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam [became] leprous, [white] as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, [she was] leprous.

(f) From the door of the tabernacle.

Verse 12

12:12 Let her not be as one {g} dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he cometh out of his mother’s womb.

(g) As a child that is stillborn, as if it is only the skin.

Verse 14

12:14 And the LORD said unto Moses, If her father had but {h} spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days? let her be shut out from the camp seven days, and after that let her be received in [again].

(h) In his displeasure.

Verse 16

12:16 And afterward the people removed from Hazeroth, and pitched in the wilderness of {a} Paran.

(a) That is, in Rithmah, which was in Paran, Numbers 33:18.