In this chapter we have an account of Aaron and Miriam speaking against Moses, and for what reason, whose amiable character is given, Num. 12:1–3; and of the Lord’s calling them to him, and rebuking them for it, giving an excellent testimony to Moses, and then departing in anger, Num.

And Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses Miriam is first mentioned, because she was first in the transgression, and so was only punished; Aaron was drawn into the sin by her, and he acknowledged his fault, and was forgiven: it must be a great trial to Moses, not only to be spoken against by the…

And they said, hath the Lord, indeed spoken only by Moses? &c.] They own he had spoken by him; this was so notorious that it could not be denied: hath he not spoken also by us? are we not prophets as well as he? the Lord spake to Aaron while he was in Egypt, and had made him a good spokesman in his…

Now the man Moses was very meek So that they might say anything against him, and he not be affronted, nor resent any injury; and this therefore is introduced as a reason why the Lord undertook the cause, and vindicated him, resenting the obloquies of Miriam and Aaron against him; because he knew he…

And the Lord spake suddenly unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto Miriam As one greatly provoked, and highly displeased, and which was shown at once; and in order to prevent the complaint getting among the people, and spreading, which might have been of bad consequence, as they were pretty much…

The Lord came down in the pillar of the cloud Which was over the most holy place of the tabernacle, and which was a symbol of the presence of the Lord; and who is said to come down, because that was above the tabernacle; whereas he came, as is next expressed, and stood in the door of the…

And he said, hear now my words The Targum of Jonathan reads, “I beseech you”; and Jarchi says, this particle always so signifies; but it is not so agreeable to the language of the divine Being: if there be a prophet among you; not as making a doubt of it, but rather allowing that there was, and…

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…

With him will I speak mouth to mouth And face to face, as he had done, ; in a free, friendly, and familiar manner, as one friend speaks to another, without injecting any fear or dread, and consternation of mind, which was sometimes the case of the prophets; or without a middle person, a mediator,…

And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them Which might be visible by some outward token, as by lightning from the cloud, or, however, what follows was sufficient to show it: and he departed; from the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, where he had stood in the pillar of cloud for…

And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle Not from off the door of the tabernacle, as Aben Ezra, for that is implied in the last clause of , but from off that part of the tabernacle, the most holy place, where it had used to abide; but now it went up higher in the air, or removed at some…

And Aaron said unto Moses, alas, my lord! &c.] The word for “alas” is generally interpreted by the Jewish writers as a note of beseeching and entreating, as it is here by the Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan, “I beseech thee, my lord,” or “upon me, my lord” [[9]], be all the blame; such was his…

Let her not be as one dead As she was in a ceremonial sense, being to be shut up and excluded from the society of people, and as defiling by touching as a dead carcase; and, in a natural sense, her flesh, by the disease upon her, was become as dead flesh, putrid and rotten, and unless miraculously…

And Moses cried unto the Lord With a loud voice, and with great earnestness and importunity, being heartily affected with the miserable condition Miriam was in: saying, heal her now, O God, I beseech thee; in the original text it is, “O God now, heal her now”; for the same particle is used at the…

And the Lord said unto Moses By a voice out of the cloud, though at a distance; unless it was by a secret impulse upon his spirit, darting such words into his mind as if he heard an audible voice: if her father had but spit in her face; or, “in spitting spitted” [[10]]; spit much, and continued…

And Miriam was shut out of the camp seven days And so in later times lepers dwelt alone, and in a separate house, as long as the leprosy was upon them, see ; Miriam no doubt was healed at once, but, as a punishment for her sin, she was obliged to keep out of the camp of Israel for such a space of…

And afterwards the people removed from Hazeroth After seven days, where they had been so long at least; the cloud being returned to the tabernacle, and having been taken up, which was the signal for motion, the camps of Israel, in their order, removed and marched forward: and pitched in the…