8 With him I will have talk mouth to mouth, openly and not in dark sayings; and with his eyes he will see the form of the Lord: why then had you no fear of saying evil against my servant Moses?
There has never been another prophet in Israel like Moses, whom the Lord had knowledge of face to face;
For now we see things in a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now my knowledge is in part; then it will be complete, even as God's knowledge of me.
I will put my teaching into a story; I will make my dark sayings clear with music.
Then I will take away my hand, and you will see my back: but my face is not to be seen.
No man has seen God at any time; the only Son, who is on the breast of the Father, he has made clear what God is.
In the same way these dreamers make the flesh unclean, having no respect for authorities, and say evil of rulers.
Who only has life for ever, living in light to which no man may come near; whom no man has seen or is able to see: to whom be honour and power for ever. So be it.
Whoever, then, goes against this word, goes against not man but God, who gives his Holy Spirit to you.
Because the god of this world has made blind the minds of those who have not faith, so that the light of the good news of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, might not be shining on them. For our preaching is not about ourselves, but about Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants through Jesus. Seeing that it is God who said, Let light be shining out of the dark, who has put in our hearts the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
But we all, with unveiled face giving back as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord who is the Spirit.
If I had not done among them the works which no other man ever did, they would have had no sin: but now they have seen, and they have had hate in their hearts for me and my Father.
If you had knowledge of me, you would have knowledge of my Father: you have knowledge of him now and have seen him. Philip said to him, Lord, let us see the Father, and we have need of nothing more. Jesus said to him, Philip, have I been with you all this time, and still you have no knowledge of me? He who has seen me has seen the Father. Why do you say, Let us see the Father? Have you not faith that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words which I say to you, I say not from myself: but the Father who is in me all the time does his works.
Whoever gives ear to you, gives ear to me; and whoever is against you, is against me; and whoever is against me, is against him who sent me.
Then I said, Ah, Lord! they say of me, Is he not a maker of stories?
Son of man, give out a dark saying, and make a comparison for the children of Israel,
Whom then is God like, in your opinion? or what will you put forward as a comparison with him?
As for me, I will see your face in righteousness: when I am awake it will be joy enough for me to see your form.
And the Lord came down in the cloud and took his place by the side of Moses, and Moses gave worship to the name of the Lord. And the Lord went past before his eyes, saying, The Lord, the Lord, a God full of pity and grace, slow to wrath and great in mercy and faith; Having mercy on thousands, overlooking evil and wrongdoing and sin; he will not let wrongdoers go free, but will send punishment on children for the sins of their fathers, and on their children's children to the third and fourth generation.
You are not to make an image or picture of anything in heaven or on the earth or in the waters under the earth:
Who is the image of the unseen God coming into existence before all living things;
And they will give the news to the people of this land: they have had word that you, Lord, are present with this people, letting yourself be seen face to face, and that your cloud is resting over them, and that you go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and in a pillar of fire by night.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Numbers 12
Commentary on Numbers 12 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 12
Nu 12:1-9. Miriam's and Aaron's Sedition.
1. an Ethiopian woman—Hebrew, "a Cushite woman"—Arabia was usually called in Scripture the land of Cush, its inhabitants being descendants of that son of Ham (see on Ex 2:15) and being accounted generally a vile and contemptible race (see on Am 9:7). The occasion of this seditious outbreak on the part of Miriam and Aaron against Moses was the great change made in the government by the adoption of the seventy rulers [Nu 11:16]. Their irritating disparagement of his wife (who, in all probability, was Zipporah [Ex 2:21], and not a second wife he had recently married) arose from jealousy of the relatives, through whose influence the innovation had been first made (Ex 18:13-26), while they were overlooked or neglected. Miriam is mentioned before Aaron as being the chief instigator and leader of the sedition.
2. Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not also spoken by us?—The prophetical name and character was bestowed upon Aaron (Ex 4:15, 16) and Miriam (Ex 15:20); and, therefore, they considered the conduct of Moses, in exercising an exclusive authority in this matter, as an encroachment on their rights (Mic 6:4).
3. the man Moses was very meek—(Ex 14:13; 32:12, 13; Nu 14:13; 21:7; De 9:18). This observation might have been made to account for Moses taking no notice of their angry reproaches and for God's interposing so speedily for the vindication of His servant's cause. The circumstance of Moses recording an eulogium on a distinguishing excellence of his own character is not without a parallel among the sacred writers, when forced to it by the insolence and contempt of opponents (2Co 11:5; 12:11, 12). But it is not improbable that, as this verse appears to be a parenthesis, it may have been inserted as a gloss by Ezra or some later prophet. Others, instead of "very meek," suggest "very afflicted," as the proper rendering.
4. the Lord spake suddenly unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto Miriam—The divine interposition was made thus openly and immediately, in order to suppress the sedition and prevent its spreading among the people.
5. the Lord came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood the door of the tabernacle—without gaining admission, as was the usual privilege of Aaron, though it was denied to all other men and women. This public exclusion was designed to be a token of the divine displeasure.
6, 7. Hear now my words—A difference of degree is here distinctly expressed in the gifts and authority even of divinely commissioned prophets. Moses, having been set over all God's house, (that is, His church and people), was consequently invested with supremacy over Miriam and Aaron also and privileged beyond all others by direct and clear manifestations of the presence and will of God.
8. with him will I speak mouth to mouth—immediately, not by an interpreter, nor by visionary symbols presented to his fancy.
apparently—plainly and surely.
not in dark speeches—parables or similitudes.
the similitude of the Lord shall he behold—not the face or essence of God, who is invisible (Ex 33:20; Col 1:15; Joh 1:18); but some unmistakable evidence of His glorious presence (Ex 33:2; 34:5). The latter clause should have been conjoined with the preceding one, thus: "not in dark speeches, and in a figure shall he behold the Lord." The slight change in the punctuation removes all appearance of contradiction to De 4:15.
Nu 12:10-16. Miriam's Leprosy.
10. the cloud departed from the tabernacle—that is, from the door to resume its permanent position over the mercy seat.
Miriam became leprous—This malady in its most malignant form (Ex 4:6; 2Ki 5:27) as its color, combined with its sudden appearance, proved, was inflicted as a divine judgment; and she was made the victim, either because of her extreme violence or because the leprosy on Aaron would have interrupted or dishonored the holy service.
11-13. On the humble and penitential submission of Aaron, Moses interceded for both the offenders, especially for Miriam, who was restored; not, however, till she had been made, by her exclusion, a public example [Nu 12:14, 15].
14. her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days?—The Jews, in common with all people in the East, seem to have had an intense abhorrence of spitting, and for a parent to express his displeasure by doing so on the person of one of his children, or even on the ground in his presence, separated that child as unclean from society for seven days.
15. the people journeyed not till Miriam was brought in again—Either not to crush her by a sentence of overwhelming severity or not to expose her, being a prophetess, to popular contempt.
16. pitched in the wilderness of Paran—The station of encampments seems to have been Rithma (Nu 33:19).