Miriam and Aaron Challenge Moses
Miriam and Aaron claim they speak for our Father as much as Moses does. He answers that with Moses he speaks mouth to mouth, not in riddles. Miriam comes out diseased; Moses immediately begs for her healing, and the whole camp waits seven days.
Our Father speaks in verses 4, 6–8, 14
12 1Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses over the Cushite woman he had married—he had married a Cushite woman. 2They said, "Has our Father spoken only through Moses? Hasn't he also spoken through us?" And our Father heard it.
3Now the man Moses was very humble, more than anyone else on the face of the earth.
4Suddenly our Father told Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, "Come out, you three, to the tent of meeting." The three went out.
5Then our Father came down in a pillar of cloud, stood at the tent entrance, called Aaron and Miriam, and both came forward.
6He said, "Hear my words: if a prophet is among you, I, your Father, reveal myself to him in a vision, speak to him in a dream. 7Not so with my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house. 8With him I speak mouth to mouth, clearly and not in riddles, and he sees the form of our Father. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?"
9So the anger of our Father burned against them, and he departed.
10When the cloud lifted from over the tent, there was Miriam—diseased, white as snow. Aaron turned to Miriam, and there—diseased. 11Aaron told Moses, "Please, my lord, don't hold against us the sin of our foolishness and wrongdoing. 12Don't let her be like a stillborn, its flesh half-consumed leaving its mother's womb."
13So Moses cried out to our Father, "Please, my Father, please heal her!"
14But our Father told Moses, "If her father had only spit in her face, wouldn't she be ashamed seven days? Shut her outside the camp seven days; then bring her back."
15Miriam was shut outside the camp seven days; the people did not move until she was brought back. 16After that the people set out from Hazeroth and camped in the Wilderness of Paran.
