Numbers 12:2

2 And they said, “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? ¹Has he not spoken through us also? ” And ²the Lord heard it.

Numbers 12:2 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 12:2

And they said, hath the Lord, indeed spoken only by Moses?
&c.] They own he had spoken by him; this was so notorious that it could not be denied:

hath he not spoken also by us?
are we not prophets as well as he? the Lord spake to Aaron while he was in Egypt, and had made him a good spokesman in his name, and bore this testimony of him, that he could speak well, and Miriam is expressly called a prophetess, ( Exodus 4:14 Exodus 4:27 ) ( Exodus 15:20 ) ; and this being the case, they stomached it that they should have no concern in the choice and appointment of the seventy elders:

and the Lord heard [it];
for perhaps this was said secretly between themselves; but God, that sees, and hears, and knows all things, took notice of what was spoken by them, and resented it; for it was ultimately against himself, who had ordered Moses to do what he did.

Numbers 12:2 In-Context

1 Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman.

2 And they said, “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also? ” And the Lord heard it.

3 Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth.

4 And suddenly the Lord said to Moses and to Aaron and Miriam, “Come out, you three, to the tent of meeting. ” And the three of them came out.

5 And the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the tent and called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forward.

Cross References

• 1. 12:2 Mic. 6:4
• 2. 12:2 ch. 11:1; 2 Kgs. 19:4; Isa. 37:4; Ezek. 35:12, 13; [Mal. 3:16]