Numbers 12:1

This remarkable chapter gives the account of Miriam's and Aaron's challenge of the unique position of Moses as God's principal spokesman during the period of the wilderness journeys.

The first paragraph (Numbers 12:1-3) is of the greatest interest to critics who boldly affirm that it appears to have been written ABOUT Moses, rather than BY Moses. Of course, it does have that appearance, and, as a matter of fact, it is possible that this little paragraph came into the Pentateuch by the hand of Joshua, Ezra, or some other inspired writer. Sir Isaac Newton, and many other believing scholars for generations have found no problem whatever with the thesis that such occasional passages as the account of Moses' death, and a few others such as this one, indeed could have been written by some inspired author other than Moses and added to the Pentateuch. There is no challenge whatever to the Mosaic authorship of the whole in any such possibility.

Nevertheless, we find the view that Moses did not write these verses totally unacceptable. Note the lines in Numbers 12:3, where it is declared that, "Moses was very meek, above all men that were upon the face of the earth." Only God could have known such a thing as this, proving absolutely that God Himself is the origin of such a statement. And, since God is most certainly the Revelator here, He might as easily have spoken the words through Moses as through any other person.

Furthermore, the third verse was a very necessary explanation of why God spoke "suddenly" to Moses (Numbers 12:4). That is why the revelation was made, and it is not a mere vain-glorious statement by Moses. To us, it seems abundantly clear that Moses, writing in the third person, as so characteristic of the Sacred Scriptures, and as the great of all times and nations have done, used the third person for the sake of greater objectivity. Julius Caesar, Frederick the Great, Xenophon, Thucydides, and Flavius Josephus all wrote in the third person,[1] as indeed did the vast majority of the O.T. and N.T. authors. Matthew, John, Paul, and others used it, and therefore there can be nothing suspicious about its use by Moses.

Critical puzzlement over whether this chapter belongs to this or that "prior document" is complete, and some try to identify it with some "later period," but all such speculations are totally worthless. The nature of the chapter is such that it can be identified now as having come from God Himself, and as being truly inspired, containing in its very texture some of the most eloquent teaching in the Bible regarding Jesus Christ our Lord and the kingdom of heaven, truth that is not assailable and cannot be discredited, even if a different date or authorship could be proved!

See the conclusion of the chapter for discussion of its typical nature.

"And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married; for he had married a Cushite woman. And they said, Hath Jehovah indeed spoken only with Moses? hath he not also spoken with us? And Jehovah heard it. Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men that were upon the face of the earth."

"Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses ..." Miriam was the principal offender here, since her name is mentioned first, and also because she alone was severely punished.

"Because of the Cushite woman whom he had married ..." Some allege that Moses divorced Zipporah who was named in Exodus as his wife, and who is there called a Midianite. Others suppose that Zipporah had, in the meanwhile, died; the identity of this "second wife" includes the thesis that, "She was a Sudanese or Ethiopian";[2] "She was the queen of Ethiopia";[3] "She was an Asiatic, rather than an African Cushite."[4] Midianite and Cushite are related terms,[5] but the Cushites included the descendants of Ham and Canaan, and from this some have found no second wife at all, but merely a derogatory word for Zipporah as "a Cushite." It is by no means certain that "Cushite means black," although the KJV renders it "Ethiopian woman." One meaning of the word is "fair of appearance."[6] "The rabbinical interpretation of Cushite is beautiful."[7] Miriam's jealousy of Moses could have been due to the beauty of Zipporah, a much more likely cause of jealousy than nationality.

Most of the comments one encounters deal with this problem, and yet it seems to have no importance at all. This marriage was not the real reason at all for Miriam and Aaron's opposition; it was Moses' AUTHORITY which they sought to share. The marriage is here mentioned merely as a pretext which God did not even deign to discuss. The Bible records no marriage of Moses except that with Zipporah. There is no mention either of her death or of her being divorced. And therefore, we conclude that Zipporah and the "Cushite woman" were one and the same person. There is the most extensive support of this view by scholars: John Joseph Owens,[8] Isaac Asimov,[9] T. Carson,[10] J. A. Thompson,[11] etc. Even the scholars who suppose that a second wife is mentioned here usually take it for granted that Zipporah was deceased. However, "In view of the silence of the Scripture, it is unwise to jump to conclusions."[12]

Moses' marriage with a non-Jew stands in the sacred text in such a manner as to focus attention upon it, and the design of God Himself is visible in this. Moses, the Great Type of Christ in the O.T. outraged the leading Jews of his day, including his family, by his marriage to a Gentile. This stands as a prophecy of the ultimate action of Christ himself in uniting in a spiritual marriage with the Gentiles in his bride the Church. The hatred of Miriam and Aaron aroused by Moses' marriage to a Gentile is a type of the hatred and unwillingness of the Jews of Christ's day to allow that Gentiles were also included in the love and salvation of God. This profound truth, prophesied no more effectively anywhere else in the O.T., identifies the passage as God's Word." No accidental or fraudulent "interpolation" could possibly have done a thing like this. (See the end of the chapter.)

"Hath God indeed spoken only through Moses ..." (Numbers 12:2). Miriam was indeed a prophetess, and Aaron was God's anointed high priest, but the position of Moses was an exalted one, unique indeed in the history of Israel. God would act promptly to safeguard his faithful servant's position.

"The man Moses was very meek ..." (Numbers 12:3). This was included to explain why God acted so quickly (Numbers 12:4). It appears that Moses, because of his meek disposition, simply did not recognize the grave threat to his authority and was in the posture of being likely to pass over the incident without drastic action, but that was not to be.