1 And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman.
2 And they said, Hath the Lord indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us? And the Lord heard it.
3 (Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth.)
4 And the Lord spake suddenly unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto Miriam, Come out ye three unto the tabernacle of the congregation. And they three came out.
5 And the Lord came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam: and they both came forth.
6 And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet among you, I the Lord will make myself known unto him in a vision, and will speak unto him in a dream.
7 My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all mine house.
8 With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the Lord shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?
9 And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them; and he departed.
10 And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam became leprous, white as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous.
11 And Aaron said unto Moses, Alas, my lord, I beseech thee, lay not the sin upon us, wherein we have done foolishly, and wherein we have sinned.
12 Let her not be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he cometh out of his mother's womb.
13 And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, Heal her now, O God, I beseech thee.
14 And the Lord said unto Moses, If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days? let her be shut out from the camp seven days, and after that let her be received in again.
15 And Miriam was shut out from the camp seven days: and the people journeyed not till Miriam was brought in again.
16 And afterward the people removed from Hazeroth, and pitched in the wilderness of Paran.
h.ותדבר AND [MIRIAM AND AARON] SPAKE — The term דבר in every passage where it is used implies harsh language, for so it stales, (Genesis 42:30) “The man, the lord of the land spake (דבר) roughly to us”. The term אמר, however, is always an expression denoting supplication, for so it states, (Genesis 19:7) “And he said (ויאמר) ‘I beg of you (נא), my brethren, do not so wickedly” ; (verse 6 of this chapter) “And He said (ויאמר), Hear, I pray you (נא), My words’ — for the word נא always expresses supplication (Sifrei Bamidbar 99).
h.ותדבר מרים ואהרן AND MIRIAM AND AARON SPAKE — She opened the conversation, therefore Scripture mentions her first. And whence did Miriam know that Moses had separated himself from his wife (for this was the statement she made; cf. Rashi below)? R. Nathan answered: “Miriam was beside Zipporah When it was told to Moses, ‘Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp’ (Numbers 11:27). When Zipporah heard this, she exclaimed, Woe to the wives of these if they have anything to do with prophecy, for they will separate from their wives just has my husband has separated from me!” It was from this that Miriam knew about it, and she told it to Aaron. Now what was the case with Miriam who had no intention to disparage him? She was punished thus severely! How much the more will this be so in the case of one who intentionally speaks in disparagement of this fellow”! (Sifrei Bamidbar 99).
h.האשה הכשית THE CUSHITE WOMAN — This tells us that all agreed as to her beauty just as all agree as to the blackness of an Aethopian (cf. Sifrei Bamidbar 99).
h.כושית — The numerical value of this word (736) is the same as that of יפת מראה, a woman of beautiful appearance.
h.על אדות האשה BECAUSE OF THE [CUSHITE] WOMAN — because of her having been divorced by Moses (cf. Note on previous passage).
h.כי אשה כשית לקח FOR HE HAD MARRIED A CUSHITE WOMAN — What is the force of this statement? (It appears superfluous; since על אדות וכו has been explained to refer to Moses having divorced his Cushite wife, it is unnecessary to state afterwards that he had married her)! But it is made to suggest the following: You may find a woman who is pleasant an account of her beauty but who is not pleasant by reason of her deeds (conduct); or one pleasant because of her conduct but not because of her beauty. This woman, however, was pleasant in every respect (Sifrei Bamidbar 99).
h.האשה הכשית THE CUSHITE WOMAN — Because of her beauty-she was called, “the Aethiopian” just as a man calls his handsome son “Moor”, in order that the evil eye should have no power over him (Midrash Tanchuma, Tzav 13).
h.כי אשה כשית לקח THAT HE HAD MARRIED A CUSHITE (a beautiful) WOMAN, and had now divorced her.
h.הרק אך FOR HAS INDEED THE LORD SPOKEN with him alone.
h.הלא גם בנו HAS HE NOT ALSO [SPOKEN] WITH US, and we have not separated from our spouses! (Sifrei Bamidbar 100).
h.ענו means, humble and patient.
h.פתאם SUDDENLY — He revealed himself to them suddenly just when they were unclean as a result of marital intercourse, so that they cried; “Water, water!” (for purification). He did this to give them to understand that Moses had acted rightly in that he had separated from his wife, since the Shechinah used to reveal Itself to him at all times and there was no definite time fixed for the Divine communication (Midrash Tanchuma, Tzav 13).
h.צאו שלשתכם GO OUT YOU THREE [UNTO THE APPOINTED TENT] — This tells us that the names of all three of them were mentioned as one utterance, something that is impossible for a human mouth to articulate and a human ear to catch (Sifrei Bamidbar 102).
h.בעמוד ענן [AND THE LORD CAME DOWN] IN THE COLUMN OF THE CLOUD — He came alone to punish them, not as is the manner of human beings: when a human king goes to war, he goes with numerous troops, but when he goes forth peaceably, he goes forth with only a few. But the manner of the Holy One, blessed be He, is that He goes to war alone — as it is said, (Exodus 15:3) “The Lord alone is the man of war, but He goes forth for peace accompanied by His hosts, as it is said, (Psalms 68:18) “The chariots of God are twenty thousands, even thousands of angels of peace (שנאן)” (Sifrei Bamidbar 102).
h.ויקרא אהרן ומרים AND HE CALLED: “AARON AND MIRIAM!” — that they should proceed further, and go forth from the court towards God (more lit., the Divine Speech) (Sifrei Bamidbar 102).
h.ויצאו שניהם AND THEY BOTH WENT FORTH — And why did He bid them go further and so separate them from Moses? Because there is a rule that one should utter only a part of a man’s good qualities in his presence, but that the whole of them should be told only in his absence. Similarly we find in the case of Noah, that in his absence (i.e. when Scripture speaks about him) it says of him: “a righteous and whole-hearted man” (Genesis 6:9), whilst in his presence (i.e. where God is speaking to Noah) it states, (Genesis 7:1) “for thee I have seen righteous before me”, (and it does not add: whole-hearted) (Sifrei Bamidbar 102). — Another explanation is: God bid only Aaron and Miriam to draw near in order that he (Moses) should not hear the reprimand administered to Aaron.
h.שמעו נא דברי HEAR, I PRAY YOU, MY WORDS — The word נא is always an expression of entreaty (Sifrei Bamidbar 103).
h.אם יהיה נביאכם means, IF THERE WOULD BE PROPHETS TO YOU (i.e. if you had a prophet — if you could show one to me).
h.ה׳ במראה אליו אתודע This means: the Shechinah (the Divine Glory) of my Name does not reveal Itself unto him in a “transparent glass” (i.e. a direct revelation), but in dreams and visions (cf. Sifrei Bamidbar 103).
h.פה אל פה MOUTH TO MOUTH [I HAVE SPOKEN WITH HIM] — I have Myself told him to separate from his wife. And where did I tell him this? On Sinai, when I said to him, (Deuteronomy 5:27 Deuteronomy 5:28) “Go, say to them (to the people), ‘Get you into your tents (rejoin your wives). But as for thee, remain thou here by Me, [and I will speak unto thee]’” (Shabbat 87a; cf. Sifrei Bamidbar 103).
h.ומראה ולא בחידת AND IN A מראה AND NOT IN RIDDLES — When it says מראה, this refers to the clearness of the Divine communication, i.e. that I express My communication unto him in the clearest form in which it can be put and do not obscure it in riddles, as e.g. was the manner in which it was said to Ezekiel: (Ezekiel 17:2), “Put forth a riddle etc.” — One might, however, think that it refers to the “appearance of the Shechinah” (i.e. that he saw God)! It, however, states, (Exodus 33:20) “Thou cannot see My face” (Sifrei Bamidbar 103).
h.ותמנת ה' יביט AND THE SIMILITUDE OF THE LORD DID HE BEHOLD — This refers to beholding the after-effects of God’s Providence, just as it is stated, (Exodus 33:22 Exodus 33:23) “[And it shall be when My glory passeth by] thou shalt see what is behind Me” (Sifrei Bamidbar 103).
h.בעבדי במשה [WHY WERE YE NOT AFRAID TO SPEAK] AGAINST MY SERVANT, AGAINST MOSES — It does not state “against My servant Moses”, but “against My servant, against Moses”, which suggests: why were ye not afraid to speak against My servant, even though he were not a Moses; and why were ye not afraid to speak against a Moses — even though he were not My servant — in either of these cases you ought to have feared him! How much the more ought you to be afraid to speak against him (Moses) he being also My servant — and the servant of a king is a king (a noble person) himself! You should have said: The King does not love him without reason! — But if you reply that I am not cognizant of his doings (i. e. that I love him though he does not deserve it, since I am not aware of his treatment of his wife) — then this statement is even worse than your previous one (Midrash Tanchuma, Tzav 13; cf. Sifrei Bamidbar 103).
h.ויחר אף ה’ בם וילך AND THE WRATH OF THE LORD GLOWED AGAINST THEM; AND HE WENT AWAY — Only after He had informed them of their offence did He decree “excommunication’ against them. All the more so should a human being not display anger against his fellow before he informs him of his offense (Sifrei Bamidbar 104).
h.והענן סר AND THE CLOUD DEPARTED, and only afterwards, ומרים מצרעת כשלג BEHOLD, MIRIAM BECAME LEPROUS, WHITE AS SNOW. A parable! This may be compared to a king who said to his son’s tutor, “Chastise my son, but do not do so until I go away from you, because I feel pity for him” (Sifrei Bamidbar 105).
h.נואלנו — Understand this as the Targum does: (we have acted foolishly); it is associated in meaning with אויל “a fool”.
h.אל נא תהי LET NOT our sister BE —
h.כמת AS ONE WHO IS DEAD — Aaron said this because a leper may be regarded as dead. How is it in the case of a corpse? It makes one unclean through entering a room in which it lies, So too, does the leper make a person unclean through his entering the place where he is (cf. Sifrei Bamidbar 105).
h.אשר בצאתו מרחם אמו It ought to have stated “אמנו” “of our mother’s womb”, only that Scripture modified the expression. Similarly חצי בשרו — it ought to have said חצי בשרנו “the half of our flesh is consumed”, only that Scripture modified the expression (Scripture uses these expressions with the suffix of the third person singular instead of the first person plural, because it wishes to avoid an ominous expression referring to Aaron and Moses). — The meaning is: Since she came forth from the womb of our own mother she in her present state is to us as though the half of our flesh were consumed. It is the same idea as is expressed in the words, (Genesis 37:27) “for he is our brother, our own flesh” (Sifrei Bamidbar 105). — And even according to what the text literally implies (without assuming any modification) it appears to have that meaning: “It is not right for a brother to allow his sister to remain as a dead person”.
h.אשר בצאתו — since he (the dead person) also come out of the womb of the mother of this man who possessed the power to help him and does not help him, — then, indeed, the half of his own flesh becomes consumed if the other perishes, since one’s brother is one’s own flesh. — Another explanation of אל נא תהי כמת in the sense of “Do not let her remain a leper” is: If you (Moses) do not heal her by your prayer, who will put her in quarantine as a leper (cf. Leviticus 13:4) who will ultimately declare her clean? It is impossible for me to examine her as to the character of her leprosy, since I am a near relative and a near relative may not examine the leprous plagues of his kin, (Sifrei Bamidbar 105; cf. Mishnah Negaim 2:5) and there is no other priest in The world who is not her relative. This is alluded to in the words אשר כצאתו מרחם אמו — “since he (the only person who could declare her clean) has come out of the same womb“.
h.אל נא רפא נא לה HEAL HER NOW, O GOD, I BESEECH THEE — Scripture intends to teach you by this form of prayer the correct altitude in social life — that if one is asking a favour of his fellow man he should first say two or three words of supplication and then solicit the favour (Sifrei Bamidbar 105).
h.לאמר SAYING (more lit., to say, i.e. that he should say) — What is the force of this word? It means “to say” i.e. that God should say, viz., he (Moses) said to Him, “Answer me whether you are going to heal her or not”, — until at length He replied: “If her father had but spit in her face etc.” Rabbi Eleazer, the son of Azariah, said: In four instances Moses asked the Holy One, blessed be He, to tell him whether He would fulfil his request or not. Similar to the case here is, (Exodus 6:12): “And Moses spoke before the Lord, saying, “[Behold, the children of Israel have not hearkened unto me; how then shall Pharaoh hearken to me]”. What is the force of the word לאמר? — “Answer me whether you will redeem them or not”. Until at length the Lord said unto him, (Exodus 6:1) “Now shalt thou see [What I will do to Pharaoh]”. Similar to this is: (Numbers 27:15—18) “and Moses spake unto the Lord, saying, ‘Let the Lord, the God of the spirits of all flesh set a man [over the congregation]’”. He answered him, “Take thee [Joshua the son of Nun, etc.]”. Similar to this is: (Deuteronomy 3:23—26) “And I besought the Lord at that time, saying, [O Lord, God, thou hast begun to show thy servant thy greatness]’, the Lord replied: “Let it suffice” (Sifrei Bamidbar 105).
h.רפא נא לה HEAL HER, I PRAY THEE — Why did Moses not pray at length? In order that Israel should not say: His sister is in trouble, and he stands and offers long prayers! (Sifrei Bamidbar 105). — [Another explanation is: He did not pray at length so that Israel should not say: On behalf of his sister he prays long, but on our behalf he would offer no long prayer].
h.ואביה ירק ירק בפניה IF HER FATHER HAD BUT SPIT IN HER FACE — i.e. if he had shown her an angry face (if he was offended with her), הלא תכלם שבעת ימים SHOULD SHE NOT BE PUT TO SHAME FOR SEVEN DAYS? — It follows therefore à fortiori with respect to the Shechinah (i.e. in the case where God rebukes her in such a stern way) that she ought to be put to shame for fourteen days!) But since there is a rule דין לבא מן הדין להיות כנדון “It is sufficient for a law that is derived by a conclusion a fortiori (הבא מן הדין) to be only as strict as the law from which it is derived (נדון), and not go beyond it, therefore even as a consequence of My reprimand, תסגר שבעת ימים LET HER BE SHUT OUT [FROM THE CAMP] SEVEN DAYS only (Sifrei Bamidbar 106; Bava Kamma 25a).
h.ואחר תאסף AND AFTER THAT LET HE BE GATHERED IN AGAIN — I say that all the different forms of the root אסף which are employed in reference to lepers (cf. e. g. 2 Kings 5:6, 11) are used because he (the leper) is sent forth from the camp and when he becomes healed he is taken again into the camp; — on this account it uses of him the term אסיפה, which has the meaning of “taking in” something that was outside.
h.והעם לא נסע AND THE PEOPLE JOURNEYED NOT [TILL MIRIAM WAS BROUGHT IN] — This honour the Omnipresent showed her as a reward for the single hour she tarried for Moses’ sake when he was thrown into the river, as it is said, (Exodus 2:4) “And his sister placed herself afar off (i. e. she waited) [to know what would be done to him]” (Sotah 9b).