Numbers 12 Study Notes

12:8 God declared of Moses, I speak with him directly, openly. Some translations have “face to face” (Hb peh ’el peh), but Moses could not look upon God’s face (Ex 33:11,20-23). Only Jesus Christ could truly look upon the face of the Father (Jn 6:44-51). The expression denotes the direct method by which the will of God was communicated through the words of Moses, which could legitimately be translated “mouth to mouth,” since out of the mouth of a person echoes his character (Mt 12:34).

12:9-13 The description of Miriam’s disease as resembling snow like a stillborn baby suggests a variety of ailments ranging from skin cancer to psoriasis, or perhaps even modern leprosy, Hansen’s disease. All of these would render her unclean according to Levitical law (Lv 13-14). Both Aaron and Moses expressed their love and concern for their sister in their desperate pleas on her behalf.

12:14-15 The seven days of separation after healing follows the Levitical law consistently, and the purification process described in Lv 14:1-32 is assumed here.

12:16 The location of Hazeroth in the Wilderness of Paran is viewed in the context of the summary statement in 10:12—that the people journeyed from Sinai to the Paran Wilderness in the first phase of the journey to the promised land. The Paran Wilderness is a broad area of northeastern Sinai, bordered on the northeast by the Zin Wilderness within which Kadesh-barnea is located (cp. 33:15-37).