Numbers 12:1-16

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 12:8

With him will I speak mouth to mouth ,.... And face to face, as he had done, Exodus 33:11 ; 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, as Aben Ezra, not by means of an angel, as in some cases, but the Lord himself spake to him: even apparently, and not in dark speeches ; the word "apparently", or "vision",... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 12:9

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 some time; but as soon as he had given his testimony of Moses, and expressed his displeasure at Aaron and Miriam, he went away directly from them; not staying to hear what they had to say... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 12:10

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 Numbers 12:9 , 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 distance from thence, which was a further indication of the sore displeasure of God; that as he would not stay with Aaron and Miriam at the door of the tabernacle, so neither would... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 12:11

And Aaron said unto Moses, alas, my lord !.... 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" F11 בי "in me", Montanus. , be all the blame; such was his tenderness to his sister, and the compassion he had on her; and such reverence and respect did he show to Moses his brother, though younger than he, because of his superior... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 12:12

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 cured it would issue in her death: of whom the flesh is half consumed, when he cometh out of his mother's womb ; like an abortive, or one stillborn, that has been dead some time in its... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 12:13

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 close as at the beginning of the petition; and the repetition of it shows his earnestness and importunity that she might be healed directly, immediately, without any delay; and Moses uses... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 12:14

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" F12 ירק ירק "spuendo spuisset", Pagninus, Montanus, Fagius, Drusius. ; spit much, and continued spitting till he had covered her face with spittle; which, as it would have been a token of anger and displeasure in... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 12:15

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 2 Chronicles 26:21 ; 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 time: and the people journeyed not till Miriam was brought in again ; partly out of respect unto her, she being a prophetess, and one that went before them, and led... read more

John Gill

John Gills Exposition of the Bible Commentary - Numbers 12:16

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 wilderness of Paran ; at a place in it called Rithmah, Numbers 33:18 ; which, according to Bunting F13 Travels, &c.; p. 82. , was eight miles from Hazeroth, near to which was another... read more

Adam Clarke

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible - Numbers 12:1

Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses - It appears that jealousy of the power and influence of Moses was the real cause of their complaint though his having married an Ethiopian woman- הכשית האשה haishshah haccushith - That Woman, the Cushite, probably meaning Zipporah, who was an Arab born in the land of Midian - was the ostensible cause. read more

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