What distinction does the Lord make between Moses and other prophets when Mary and Aaron speak against him?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

He says other prophets receive visions or dreams, but Moses is most faithful in his house and hears him mouth to mouth, plainly. He asks why Mary and Aaron were not afraid to speak ill of his servant.

Chapter breakdown

Numbers 12 concerns Mary and Aaron speaking against Moses, the Lord’s response, Mary’s leprosy and her separation from the camp. Mary and Aaron speak against Moses because of his Ethiopian wife.

Challoner identifies the wife as Sephora of Madian, bordering Chus or Ethiopia, and says the Ethiopia meant here is in Arabia rather than Africa. This identification is the annotation’s explanation.

Mary and Aaron ask whether the Lord has spoken only through Moses, and whether he has not spoken to them in like manner. The Lord hears. The text describes Moses as exceedingly meek, above all people dwelling on earth.

Challoner says Moses would not contend for himself because of his meekness. He explains that God inspired Moses to write his own defence, and the Holy Spirit whose words he wrote obliged him to state the truth even though it praised him. This explanation belongs to the annotation.

The Lord immediately tells Moses, Aaron and Mary that those three alone must come to the tabernacle of the covenant. They come out. He descends in a pillar of cloud and stands at its entry, calling Aaron and Mary. He tells them to hear: if there is a prophet of the Lord among them, he appears in a vision or speaks in a dream. It is different with Moses, his servant most faithful in all his house. He speaks to Moses mouth to mouth and plainly; Moses sees the Lord without riddles and figures. The Lord asks why they were not afraid to speak ill of his servant Moses. Angry with them, he departs.

The cloud departs from over the tabernacle. Mary appears white as snow with leprosy. Aaron looks and sees her all covered with it. He asks Moses, calling him his lord, not to lay upon them the sin they foolishly committed. He asks that Mary not be like one dead, or like an abortive child cast from its mother’s womb. He then says that one half of her flesh is now consumed with leprosy.

Moses cries to the Lord, asking God to heal her. The Lord answers that if her father had spat in her face, she ought to have been ashamed at least seven days. She must be separated outside the camp for seven days and afterward called back. Mary is put outside the camp for seven days. The people do not move until she is called again. These verses record separation and recall, without separately narrating a cure.

The story inside

The reply to the challenge names how the Lord speaks, rather than giving Mary and Aaron an invented private motive. They ask whether he has spoken only through Moses. The Lord calls them to the tabernacle and contrasts visions and dreams with plain, mouth-to-mouth speech to his faithful servant. After Mary’s leprosy appears, Aaron admits their foolish sin and asks Moses for help. Moses asks for healing, and the Lord answers with the father-and-daughter comparison and seven days outside the camp. The people wait until Mary’s recall. The prayer is recorded; a cure must not be added to the final verse, nor may an invented Challoner note explain why only Mary is afflicted.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The Lord gives a specific answer to the comparison with Moses. Visions and dreams are contrasted with plain speech, and Moses is called faithful in all his house; the answer is more precise than a general ranking of offices.
2
Aaron’s request names shared fault. He asks that their foolishly committed sin not be laid on them, while the half-flesh statement describes Mary separately from the comparison with an abortive child.
3
The last event is recall after seven days. Moses’ healing prayer and the people’s wait are preserved, but no reason for the people’s wait or separate cure event is invented.

Test your recall

How does the Lord’s description of speaking to Moses answer Mary and Aaron’s question about prophetic speech?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 15490–15498
Numbers Chapter 12 Mary and Aaron murmur against Moses, whom God praiseth above other prophets. Mary being struck with leprosy, Aaron confesseth his fault. Moses prayeth for her, and after seven days’ separation from the camp, she is restored. 12:1. And Mary and Aaron spoke against Moses, because of his wife the Ethiopian,
Lines 15500–15502
Ethiopian.... Sephora the wife of Moses was of Madian, which bordered upon the land of Chus or Ethiopia: where note, that the Ethiopia here spoken of is not that of Africa but that of Arabia.
Lines 15504–15508
12:2. And they said: Hath the Lord spoken by Moses only? Hath he not also spoken to us in like manner? And when the Lord heard this, 12:3. (For Moses was a man exceeding meek above all men that dwelt upon earth)
Lines 15510–15513
Exceeding meek.... Moses being the meekest of men, would not contend for himself; therefore, God inspired him to write here his own defence: and the Holy Spirit, whose dictate he wrote, obliged him to declare the truth, though it was so much to his own praise.
Lines 15515–15534
12:4. Immediately he spoke to him, and to Aaron and Mary: Come out you three only to the tabernacle of the covenant. And when they were come out, 12:5. The Lord came down in a pillar of the cloud, and stood in the entry of the tabernacle calling to Aaron and Mary. And when they were come, 12:6. He said to them: Hear my words: if there be among you a prophet of the Lord, I will appear to him in a vision, or I will speak to him in a dream. 12:7. But it is not so with my servant Moses who is most faithful in all my house: 12:8. For I speak to him mouth to mouth: and plainly, and not by riddles and figures doth he see the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak ill of my servant Moses? 12:9. And being angry with them he went away:
Lines 15536–15545
12:10. The cloud also that was over the tabernacle departed: and behold Mary appeared white as snow with a leprosy. And when Aaron had looked on her, and saw her all covered with leprosy, 12:11. He said to Moses: I beseech thee, my lord, lay not upon us this sin, which we have foolishly committed: 12:12. Let her not be as one dead, and as an abortive that is cast forth from the mother’s womb. Lo, now one half of her flesh is consumed with the leprosy.
Lines 15547–15558
12:13. And Moses cried to the Lord, saying O God, I beseech thee heal her. 12:14. And the Lord answered him: If her father had spitten upon her face, ought she not to have been ashamed for seven days at least? Let her be separated seven days without the camp, and afterwards she shall be called again. 12:15. Mary therefore was put out of the camp seven days: and the people moved not from that place until Mary was called again.