Bamidbar Chapter 12: Miriam and Aharon's Challenge to Moshe's Unique Prophetic Status

The Context: A Series of Leadership Challenges

Today we are reading chapter 12 in the book of Bamidbar [Numbers]. Very interesting chapter. And as I framed yesterday, we can understand this entire series of complaints or trials as really pertaining to the question of the leadership here, the way in which Hashem is leading them and of course leading them through Moshe and his leadership, Aharon and his leadership, whoever else is part of the leadership structure, as we've seen added in the previous story, 70 elders to the leadership structure, whatever is happening with Yehoshua in that story where he is somehow sidelined in that story because Moshe didn't accept his jealousy or his anger over the 70 people becoming part of the structure and so on.

So now we have the story of Miriam and Aharon and their speaking about Moshe. And in response to this we get an angry response from Hashem just like we get for all these complaints but specifically against Miriam, although Miriam and Aharon are said to speak about Moshe. And a very important clarification of what is the difference between Moshe and all these other prophets.

The Pendulum Swings: From Delegation to Distinction

So we can probably see this as a counter to the previous story, right? In the previous story we had Moshe delegating some of his prophecies, some of his leadership position to all these 70 elders, to all these other prophets, or making them prophets by delegating some prophecy to these elders. And now we have a sort of opposite reaction. So if so, then is Moshe equal to them? Is he on the same level of them? And that seems to have been the mistake of Miriam and Aharon. And we have this important story as clarifying that.

Of course this story gets used later by the Rambam for his very important principle, to him at least, of Moshe's prophecy being of an entirely different kind of all the other prophets including the prophets of his day like Moshe and Aharon. But we can debate if that's theologically the point of the story here. It's for sure the point of there being another set of questions about Moshe's leadership, about Moshe's place, and this story clarifying it.

From the Lowest to the Highest: Two Types of Challenges

And again, another way of spelling out the difference between this story and the previous story or the connection between them is that the previous story started with Asafsaf [the rabble], right? The sort of lowest class people having problems with Moshe, with Aharon, with the leadership. And now we have not their problems, but the problems of the elite. The Aharon and Miriam were the highest people in the hierarchy, the closest to Moshe here, having also some kind of complaints about Moshe and then being smacked down, so to speak, or maybe literally smacked down by Miriam getting tzara'at [leprosy] and Moshe getting a talking to from Hashem to explain that no, Moshe's leadership is still justified even after all of this.

So we can take these questions, these remarks in many directions. But this seems to be the context of this story. And of course, afterwards we have the story of the Meraglim [spies], and then the story of Korach, which is an explicit challenge to Aharon's leadership, right? Not Moshe, but Aharon. So there seems to be all these series of stories which are very much clearly connected to the question of the legitimacy of the leadership. The story of the Meraglim has Yehoshua in it, so again, connecting to the question of who is the successor of Moshe, who is the leader under him, and so on.

Reading the Text: Miriam and Aharon Speak Against Moshe

So let's read the story. And the story goes like this.

Verse 1: The Complaint About the Cushite Wife

Vatidaber Miriam v'Aharon b'Moshe [And Miriam and Aharon spoke about Moshe]. Miriam v'Aharon spoke b'Moshe, b'Moshe means about Moshe, and it seems like this language, there's discussion about this in the Mefarshim [commentators], this language usually means to be speaking against or derogatory of Moshe. So it's a speaking, derogatory in parentheses, right? Not just a speaking about, in praise, there must be a different way, a different idiom of saying when someone just speaks about someone in praise, but speaking about someone means here always, maybe usually when people speak about other people it's not in praise, but here especially it means something like they express something not nice about him.

And more specifically, and the Torah gives us the complaint, it's about his wife, this Isha Kushit [Cushite woman], literally means Ethiopian wife or Kushite wife, that he took, and the sort of narrator adds, ki Isha Kushit lakach [because he took a Cushite woman], because that actually happened, he took one.

Of course, this is a very weird story, because we've never heard of any Isha Kushit that Moshe took, what's going on here, who is she, whoever heard of her, there's a famous Midrash that has an explanation of this, but whatever it is, it seems like there's some complaint about Moshe's marriage situation, that everyone agrees on, exactly how to spell out this Isha Kushit, which we never heard of in other places, so again, this also goes to the fragmentary status of these stories, in some sense they're giving us glimpses of stories and glimpses of challenges that there were, glimpses of questions that are only partially resolved, and we don't entirely know who this Isha Kushit is and what's the story with her, but we know the response, the part of the story that the Torah wants us to know.

Verse 2: The Explicit Challenge to Moshe's Unique Status

And again, and they say, and this is the explicit thing that they say, this is their language, there's a quote from them, and they say, Harak ach b'Moshe diber Hashem, halo gam banu diber [Did Hashem speak only through Moshe? Did He not also speak through us?]

So Moshe is acting in some kind of way of privilege, maybe the point is that he's taking another woman, he's taking too many women, or according to Chazal [the Sages], the opposite, he's not with his wife, and we're also prophets, which we understand that this is not okay. So in other words, they're comparing themselves, they're saying, Moshe doesn't deserve to have whichever privilege or whichever level that he claims to have, the way he acts with, we're also prophets, and as I said, this very much goes back to the previous parasha, but of course, Miriam and Aharon, Miriam is explicitly said to be a prophet already in parashat Beshalach [the portion of Beshalach], Aharon is explicitly, of course Chazal are not entirely happy with that, but Aharon explicitly in parashat Sefer Shemot [the portion in the book of Exodus], explicitly describe Hashem speaking to Aharon just as they describe Him speaking to Moshe, so they're saying, He's not greater than us, these are of course Moshe and Aharon's siblings, Moshe's siblings, right, Miriam and Aharon, his older siblings even.

Verse 2b-3: God Overhears and the Narrator's Interjection

Vayishma Hashem [And Hashem heard], so just like earlier, there's this interesting story where, interesting like description, the last two stories we had the same thing, like people complain, people say something, and God is eavesdropping, God heard.

And now here we have another insertion by the narrator, the narrator says, this was not correct, so this complaint obviously is some kind of way in which Moshe is acting in a way of privilege, in a way of being above the people, and the Torah says this is not true, V'ha'ish Moshe anav me'od mikol ha'adam asher al penei ha'adamah [And the man Moshe was very humble, more than any person on the face of the earth], this is a very extreme superlative language, Moshe was the most humble person of any person to ever live, in other words, they're complaining that Moshe is acting with the opposite of humility, he's acting with arrogance, or we could say maybe snobbishly, which is the opposite of anav [humble], and the Torah says no, Moshe actually acted very nicely to everyone, he spoke to people on equal footing, he didn't act in the way of the opposite of anav.

But apparently they interpreted something that he did as the opposite of that.

God's Response: The Sudden Summons

And now we have God, Hashem's response, Vayomer Hashem pit'om [And Hashem said suddenly], pit'om [suddenly], so suddenly, this suddenly is meant to signify something like unexpected, something like they did not realize that this was going to happen, so there's some harshness in this pit'om, and he speaks to these three people, Moshe, Aharon, and Miriam, so also to Moshe, and he says tze'u shloshetchem el Ohel Mo'ed [go, the three of you, to the Tent of Meeting], in other words, remember from before, that's the meeting place, Ohel Mo'ed literally means the set-up place where meetings happen, Hashem speaks to Moshe, so they all go out, vayetze'u shloshtem [and the three of them went out], so we shouldn't send out of the camp, out of where they were, to the Ohel Mo'ed.

Vayered Hashem b'amud anan [And Hashem descended in a pillar of cloud], and Hashem descends with his cloud, with his pillar of cloud, vaya'amod petach ha'Ohel [and stood at the entrance of the Tent], to the petach Ohel [entrance of the Tent], which we discussed, which is the meeting place, this is where the great assemblies happen, vayikra Aharon u'Miriam [and He called Aharon and Miriam], and he calls to Aharon and Miriam, vayetze'u shneihem [and the two of them went out], and they go out, so out of where, not clear, maybe they're in the Ohel Mo'ed and they go out of it, or they go out, further out of the camp, closer to Hashem, so this is Hashem speaking specifically only to them, so he called Moshe there, somehow, Moshe is also part of the audience, but he's not speaking to Moshe, he's speaking to Aharon and Miriam very specifically, Moshe might have heard this, might be a little weird to think that Moshe didn't hear it, and maybe he's also eavesdropping on this conversation the same way that Hashem is eavesdropping all this time, but Moshe is not spoken to, he's spoken about, so that's very explicitly, he speaks to them.

The Definitive Statement: Moshe's Unique Prophecy

And this is what he tells them, Shimu na devarai [Listen now to my words], listen to me, im yihiyeh nevi'achem [if there is a prophet among you], yes, you are prophets, if you are prophets of Hashem, this is one of the instances of Hashem saying his name, Hashem, in third person, Hashem [Hashem], if Hashem speaks to you, and then he goes back to first person, bamar'ah elav etoda, bachalom adaber bo [in a vision I make Myself known to him, in a dream I speak to him], it's in a vision or in a dream, I make myself known to you, to you, to the prophet, to Aharon and Miriam, in a vision, or I speak to them in a dream.

The Contrast: Moshe's Direct Access

Lo chein avdi Moshe [Not so with My servant Moshe]. But Moshe is not like this, my servant Moshe is not like this, b'chol beiti ne'eman hu [in all My house he is trustworthy], he is trustworthy in my whole house, peh el peh adaber bo [mouth to mouth I speak with him], I speak to him mouth to mouth, which is another idiom that means the same thing as face to face, u'mar'eh v'lo b'chidot [with a vision but without riddles], with a vision but without riddles, u'tmunah Hashem yabit [and he sees the image of Hashem], and he sees my image, he glimpses or stares at my image, u'madua lo yereitem l'daber b'avdi b'Moshe [and therefore, why are you not afraid to speak about my servant Moshe?]

So what he seems to be saying is, and this is why of course the Rambam found this as a very explicit statement of the prophecy of Moshe being of a different quality as any other prophet, he says, your argument was, the answer is, you're wrong, you don't understand that there's a difference, Hashem speaks to you, yes, in dreams, in visions, he speaks to Moshe also in visions, but in some level of clarity of visions, not with riddles, he speaks to you apparently in visions, you see something in a dream, you don't clearly see him, you don't see him during the day, you're not trustworthy, in other words, I reveal everything that I have to say, my inner secret, like someone who is trustworthy in the home means something like it's said in the Yosef said about his master, he leaves all the matters of the house to me, so he doesn't like hide anything from me because he's scared he's going to steal it or take control of it, Moshe gets on everything, he is part of this, he is not an outsider looking in, he gets the full permission, he has the full trust to see everything, but you, you don't have the full trust, sometimes at night you get a vision something like that, it's not in the same sense of trust, it's not in the same sense of personal speaking person to person so to speak, seeing the image of God directly, that's—

The Meaning of "Eved" — Servant as a Term of Honor

It's an interesting thing to notice: in the entire Tanakh almost, servant is a term of endearment, a term of honor. It's not diminishing Moshe — it's not saying Moshe is only a servant. There isn't a higher level than being a servant. It's like we have avdei Paroh [servants of Pharaoh] — servant in this sense means something more closer to ministers, people I trust. It's not saying Moshe is something low, it's saying Moshe is something high: he is mine.

So servant — or we can interpret this as saying that the word eved [servant/slave], which of course does mean slave in different contexts — but what it's talking about is the belongingness of the slave, more than the lowliness of the slave in which it doesn't have agency. That's not the point. The point in these descriptions of slavery is the belongingness of the slave, the closeness. It highly belongs to me. And belonging is of course something that can be very intimate, can be loving. It doesn't need to be out of fear. It's saying you should be fearful of speaking of Moshe because he is not in your level.

And that's the statement, that's what he says, answering their arguments. And this might be interesting because there might not be — we have to be mediocre, we have to read all the other complaints. In many of them at least God doesn't entirely answer the complaints, we did see that. Like when Moshe complains and he says I can't carry all this, this will give a great of a burden for me, and Hashem sort of agrees and gives him people to help with his burden. But that's also in an angry way. This is also somewhat in an angry way, but there is an answer to the complaint. It's not like — to the extent that the complaint is not just complaining, it's not just whining, there is some content in it — God answers that content.

God's Anger and Its Expression in Miriam's Affliction

And then, Hashem is mad at them and he leaves, he goes away. And of course this angriness, this anger that is angry at them, in them, is not explained — what does it mean? Where I think we're supposed to explain that what happens in the next moment is the expression of God's anger. So that's what happens. And in other words, this passage — both the anger and the [departure] are spelled out in the next passage.

The cloud disappears, it raises up from the isle [Ohel], so that's — and where is the af Hashem [anger of God]? And here Miriam is in the cloud, and suddenly Miriam has the cloud as snow. So snow is maybe a nice thing, but it's interesting that in the Torah at least, I think snow is only used as an image, an image of whiteness. So this white leprosy or whatever it is, the disease that is the cloud, it's just compared to the whiteness of snow, or maybe the texture of snow or something like that. But so, that's Miriam.

Why Only Miriam Is Punished

And Aaron turns to Miriam and he sees that. So there is something unclear here, because why would only Miriam be punished if Aaron is also speaking with her? Maybe the vayifen Aharon [and Aaron turned] — Miriam is trying to show that in some sense Aaron is included in the punishment. There is like, Miriam suddenly being metzora'at [afflicted with tzara'at], and Aaron turning to her and seeing her metzora'at — maybe that bothers him too.

Aharon's Confession and Plea for Forgiveness

So they understand that they have sinned against Moshe, they have not respected him. And therefore Aaron turns to Moshe and he tells him, and he begs him for forgiveness. Says, Bi adoni [Please my lord], don't put a sin upon us. In other words, don't blame us, we've been silly and we've sinned.

So this is like a vidui [confession], this is one of the very explicit instances of a kind of vidui. We had something like that by the brothers talking to Yosef and other places, but this is one of the instances — of course there is also Moshe speaking to Hashem. In any case, there is an admission of guilt, a taking of responsibility of the yourself is one of the important parts of reconciliation. But they are saying also don't blame us, don't punish us, don't put our sin on us, which means something like don't let the results of our sin stay on us.

The Enigmatic Appeal to Sibling Solidarity

And then here there is a very enigmatic passage, the second half. Nobody really knows the meaning of it. It says, Do not be like a dead person, like a dead something, which as he leaves his mother's womb, half of his flesh is eaten.

The most plausible or somewhat close reading to this would be something like: look, we're your brothers, we both came out of the same womb, and so therefore we're like half your flesh. So having Miriam literally being afflicted in her flesh, right — tzara'at is something that's sort of a disease of the flesh — is eating her up. So don't be like that. So you hurting us is also hurting yourself in some sense, since we're siblings. So this is like the reason why you should forgive us.

Moshe's Prayer — The Shortest Prayer

And Moshe forgives. Moshe, like he does to the people always, he goes to Hashem and eats [pleads] like Moshe to Hashem. He prays or demands from God: El na refa na lah [God please heal her]. Famously this is the most, the shortest prayer. It's a five word prayer, and that was more than enough. He really got what he needed.

So from here we learn in the Talmud [Bavli Masechet Berakhot], that there is no prayer too long and no prayer too short. Once Moshe prayed for forty days, once he prayed for five words. How do we know which is which? We don't know. But sometimes that's all that's needed, and sometimes forty days are not enough.

Hashem's Compromise Response — Seven Days of Segregation

Hashem answers Moshe, also something somewhat enigmatic. Again, the enigma in both has to do with this family relation going on. And obviously it's enigmatic — probably when the Pesach [text] was written, people understood what this means. It's enigmatic to us because we lost the language, we don't know the idioms, what they mean. There's in every language and every culture, there's these idioms that don't literally mean what they mean, but everyone knows what they mean. And many of the terms in the Torah we forgot, so we don't really know what this means. But we can see from the words that there's some expressions that are probably expressing how people should interact with their siblings or with their parents and so on.

And Moshe — Hashem tells Moshe something that is halfway answering. He's saying, yes, I will forgive her, I will heal her, but also not entirely. So there should be something in between.

The Cultural Idiom of Shame

And He says, if her father would have spit on her face, she would have been embarrassed for seven days. So in other words, yes, ok, al na sik hamet [do not be like the dead], very good, but there's some — you should take this more seriously. You should somewhat like if your father spits on a daughter's face, she's embarrassed for seven days. Maybe that's also like a cultural thing, like for seven days you act in mourning, like we have mourning for seven days, things like that.

Hasgara as an In-Between State

So therefore, she should be tisageh [segregated] — I don't think we should read this as being locked, but something like locked out or put out or put in some kind of segregation outside the camp for seven days. And then tell us if she will come back, gathered back into, become back part of the thing.

Of course, what I'm saying is that this is a kind of in-between situation, because earlier, in Parashat Metzora, we already had this concept of l'hasgir et hanega [to segregate the affliction], to segregate the nega [affliction], or to quarantine the nega for seven days, explicitly as a kind of in-between state. Right? We don't know if it's tamei [impure] — if it's tamei, then there's something worse than seven days being musgar [segregated]. You have to go entirely out of the camp and so on. And if it's tahor [pure], if there's not a problem at all, there's no hasgara [segregation]. It's good as some in-between state, like we see it as a waiting state, or like a quarantine state, like to see if the sickness will spread or something like that.

But here also, here it is given a moral meaning. Maybe it means also she will like — she should have literally this halakha of hasgir [segregation] for seven days to see if the tzara'at that she got will last. And obviously the implication is that it won't last. It's a one-time thing, it will be going away, it will stop being infectious or whatever, it will disappear after seven days. But she deserves this because of this reasoning.

So that's Hashem's answer.

Miriam's Leadership Status Revealed

And that's what happened. Miriam gets musgar [segregated] outside the camp for seven days, and the people are waiting for her until she comes back. Adi yosef Miriam [until Miriam was gathered back].

So here we see, of course, Miriam's position. Ha'am lo nasa [the people did not travel] — also ha'am [the people] always, as we said earlier, ha'am means everyone, also including the low class at least. Some people always say whenever it says ha'am it means the low class. That might not necessarily be correct, but at least includes everyone. It's not saying Moshe told them not to travel until Miriam comes. It's saying the people didn't travel until Miriam came back. And that shows us that she had some leadership here. She wasn't just a passive player in this whole story, and that's why they wouldn't agree to leave her outside of the camp.

Conclusion — Departure to Midbar Paran

And after those seven days they left Chatzerot — of course this story started with them getting to Chatzerot — and they moved to Midbar Paran [the Wilderness of Paran], which is the next stop, and that's where we have the next story.