Aaron & Miriam, Moses’ Siblings, Envy His Power |
Numbers 12:1-16 The Fourth Book of Moses Called Numbers |
Miriam & Moses [spoke] against Moses, because of the Ethiopian woman he had married. They said, [Has] the Lord [only] spoken through Moses? Hasn’t He also spoken by us? And the Lord heard it. |
(Now, Moses was a very [timid] man, above all men upon the face of the earth.) The Lord spoke suddenly to Moses, Aaron & Miriam, You 3, come out into the tabernacle of the congregation [& the 3 did so.] |
The [Lord God] came down in the pillar of the cloud & stood in the door of the tabernacle & called Aaron & Miriam. They both came [forward.] The [Lord God] said, Hear My words now. If there [is] a prophet among you, I, the Lord, will make Myself known to him in a vision & will speak to him in a dream. |
[I don’t do this] with My servant, Moses, who is [the most] faithful in all My house. I speak with [Moses face to face plainly] & not in dark [sayings.] [Moses] sees the [form] of the Lord. |
[Why] then weren’t you afraid to speak against My servant, Moses? The anger of the Lord [grew] against them & He departed. [When] the cloud departed from off the tabernacle, [Miriam’s skin] became leprous, white as snow. |
Aaron looked upon Miriam & [saw] she was leprous. Aaron said to Moses, I [beg] you to, not lay our sin on us. We have done foolishly & we have sinned. Let [Miriam] not be like a [stillborn who] is dead, with skin that is 1/2 consumed from the mother’s womb. |
Moses cried [out] to the Lord, saying, I [beg] You, heal her now, O God. And the Lord said to Moses, If her father had spit in her face & [defiled her,] wouldn’t she be [humbled] for 7 days? Let her be shut [outside] the camp for 7 days. After that, let her be [welcomed] in again. And Miriam was shut [outside] 7 days. Afterward,the people [left] from Hazeroth & pitched [their tents] in the Wilderness of Paran. |