Numbers 12:9

_AND THE ANGER OF THE LORD WAS KINDLED AGAINST THEM; AND HE DEPARTED._ No JFB commentary on this verse....

9._And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them. _The expostulation is succeeded by punishment. God’s departure was a sign of immediate condemnation; because there was no need of any further questioning, as concerning some matter of obscurity. After God, then, had convicted them of their sin, and had inveighed in a severe and stern reprehension against the ingratitude of Miriam and Aaron, He first pronounced their sentence, and then suddenly withdrew. What follows, that “the cloud departed,” is added in explanation; for God, who fills all things, never moves from His place; but His name is applied metaphorically to the cloud, which was the symbol of His absence or presence. The nature of the punishment which was inflicted upon Miriam was very appropriate to the offence. The foolish woman, puffed up with pride, had coveted more than was lawful; and her ignominy was the just reward o...

1-9 The patience of Moses was tried in his own family, as well as by the people. The pretence was, that he had married a foreign wife; but probably their pride was hurt, and their envy stirred up, by his superior authority. Opposition from our near relations, and from religious friends, is most painful. But this is to be looked for, and it will be well if in such circumstances we can preserve the gentleness and meekness of Moses. Moses was thus fitted to the work he was called to. God not only cleared Moses, but praised him. Moses had the spirit of prophecy in a way which set him far above all other prophets; yet he that is least in the kingdom of heaven, is greater than he; and our Lord Jesus infinitely excels him, Hebrews 3:1. Let Miriam and Aaron consider whom it was they insulted. We have reason to be afraid of saying or doing any thing against the servants of God. And those are pre...

Miriam, as a prophetess (compare Exodus 15:20) no less than as the sister of Moses and Aaron, took the first rank among the women of Israel; and Aaron may be regarded as the ecclesiastical head of the whole nation. But instead of being grateful for these high dignities they challenged the special vocation of Moses and the exclusive authority which God had assigned to him. Miriam was the instigator, from the fact that her name stands conspicuously first Numbers 12:1, and that the punishment Numbers 12:10 fell on her alone. She probably considered herself as supplanted, and that too by a foreigner. Aaron was misled this time by the urgency of his sister, as once before...

EXPOSITION THE SEDITION AND PUNISHMENT OF MIRIAM (Numbers 12:1.). NUMBERS 12:1 AND MIRIAM AND AARON SPAKE AGAINST MOSES. While the people were encamped at Hazeroth (see Numbers 12:16), and therefore probably very soon after the events of the last chapter. That Miriam's was the moving spirit in the matter is sufficiently evident, (1) because her name stands first; (2) because the verb "spake" is in the feminine (יַתְּדַבֵּר, "and she said"); (3) because the ground of annoyance

AND THE ANGER OF THE LORD WAS KINDLED AGAINST THEM,.... Which might be visible by some outward token, as by lightning from the cloud, or, however, what follows was sufficient to show it: AND HE DEPARTED; from the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, where he had stood in the pillar of cloud for some time; but as soon as he had given his testimony of Moses, and expressed his displeasure at Aaron and Miriam, he went away directly from them; not staying to hear what they had to say for themselves, which was a plain indication of his anger against them....

3. THE REBELLION OF MIRIAM AND AARON CHAPTER 12 _ 1. Miriam and Aaron speak against Moses (Numbers 12:1)_ 2. The interference of the Lord (Numbers 12:4) 3. Miriam leprous (Numbers 12:10) 4. Aaron's confession and intercession (Numbers 12:11) 5. Moses' prayer and Miriam's restoration (Numbers 12:13) Open rebellion against Moses by his own brother and sister is the next step in the story of failure. Envy was at the bottom of it. The words Miriam and Aaron spoke reveal that they aimed at Moses' pos

NUMBERS 12:1 (JE). MIRIAM'S AND AARON'S JEALOUSY OF MOSES, AND YAHWEH'S VINDICATION OF HIM. The challenge of Moses-' prerogative to be Yahweh's sole spokesman is strangely combined with a complaint respecting his marriage with a Cushite woman (perhaps another story in which Miriam, without Aaron, figured). Elsewhere Moses-' wife, Zipporah, is represented as a Midianite (Exodus 2:16) or a Kenite (Judges 1:16; Judges 4:11): so that if Zipporah is here alluded to, this description of her as a Cushite may refer not to the African Cush (= Ethiopia) but to an Arabian Cush (perhaps the Cushan of...

KINDLED: with instant result. HE: i.e. Jehovah....

DISCOURSE: 153 AARON AND MIRIAM REPROVED Numbers 12:8. _Wherefore were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them: and he departed_. WHEN men are angry, we may often, and with reason, doubt, whether there be any just occasion for their displeasure: but when we see Almighty God expressing indignation, we may always ask with confidence, “Is there not a cause?” It is no slight degree of anger which God manifests in the passage before us. And what could be the reason? We are told that “Aaron and Miriam spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married [Note: ver. 1.].” But this seems only to have been, if not a fictitious, at least a secondary, reason. (It must be strange indeed if they now began to be displeased with a thing which they knew to have been done many years, and which had never, in that