Numbers 12:6

6 He said: "Listen to what I say: If there is a prophet among you from the Lord, I make Myself known to him in a vision;^[a] I speak with him in a dream.

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 Suddenly the Lord said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, "You three come out to the tent of meeting." So the three of them went out.

5 Then the Lord descended in a pillar of cloud, stood at the entrance to the tent, and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When the two of them came forward,

6 He said: "Listen to what I say: If there is a prophet among you from the Lord, I make Myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream.

7 Not so with My servant Moses; he is faithful in all My household.

8 I speak with him directly, openly, and not in riddles; he sees the form of the Lord. So why were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?"

Footnotes

• [a] 1 Sm 3:15; Ezk 1:1; Dn 10:7-8,16; Rv 1:10-12