Numbers 12:13

13 So Moses cried out to the LORD, “O God, I beg you, please heal her!”

Numbers 12:13 Meaning and 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 the word "El", which signifies the strong and mighty God, as expressive of his faith in the power of God, that he was able to heal her; and at the same time suggests that none but he could do it; and so Aben Ezra interprets it,

``thou that hast power in thine hand, now heal her;''

this prayer is a proof of his being of a meek, humble, and forgiving spirit.

Numbers 12:13 In-Context

11 he cried out to Moses, “Oh, my master! Please don’t punish us for this sin we have so foolishly committed.

12 Don’t let her be like a stillborn baby, already decayed at birth.”

13 So Moses cried out to the LORD, “O God, I beg you, please heal her!”

14 But the LORD said to Moses, “If her father had done nothing more than spit in her face, wouldn’t she be defiled for seven days? So keep her outside the camp for seven days, and after that she may be accepted back.”

15 So Miriam was kept outside the camp for seven days, and the people waited until she was brought back before they traveled again.