Numbers 12:6

6 He said, "Listen to my words: If there is a prophet of the LORD among you, I make myself known to him in visions. I speak to him in dreams.

Numbers 12:6 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 12:6

And he said, hear now my words
The Targum of Jonathan reads, "I beseech you"; and Jarchi says, this particle always so signifies; but it is not so agreeable to the language of the divine Being:

if there be a prophet among you;
not as making a doubt of it, but rather allowing that there was, and that there were others besides Moses, as even they themselves, Aaron and Miriam, and the seventy elders, and perhaps others; or at least there had been, and would be again, as there were in later times:

[I] the Lord will make myself known to him;
that is, declare my mind and will concerning things present, or things to come:

in a vision;
when awake, either by day or by night, representing objects to the bodily sight; as the almond tree rod, and the boiling pot, to Jeremiah, ( Jeremiah 1:11-13 ) ; the visions of the chariots, ( Ezekiel 23:24 ) ( Ezekiel 26:7 Ezekiel 26:10 ) , and dry bones, ( Ezekiel 37:1-14 ) , to Ezekiel, and such as were shown to Amos, ( Amos 7:1-9:15 ) : or to the mind by night, as if really discerned by the senses; as the visions of the man riding on a red horse, ( Zechariah 1:8 ) , and of the four horns, ( Zechariah 1:18 ) , and four carpenters, ( Zechariah 1:20 ) , with several others shown to Zechariah:

[and] will speak unto him in a dream;
as he had done to Jacob, ( Genesis 31:11 ) , and as he did afterwards to Daniel, ( Daniel 7:1 ) , and many others.

Numbers 12:6 In-Context

4 Immediately, the LORD said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, "You three go out to the meeting tent." So the three of them went out.

5 Then the LORD descended in a column of cloud, stood at the entrance of the tent, and called to Aaron and Miriam. The two of them came forward.

6 He said, "Listen to my words: If there is a prophet of the LORD among you, I make myself known to him in visions. I speak to him in dreams.

7 But not with my servant Moses. He has proved to be reliable with all my household.

8 I speak with him face-to-face, visibly, not in riddles. He sees the LORD's form. So why aren't you afraid to criticize my servant Moses?"

Footnotes

• [a] Heb uncertain; LXX If there is a prophet of you for the Lord