Bamidbar (Numbers): Behaalotecha > Ch 12

Miriam & Aaron complain to G-d that Moses married a Cushite woman

  • Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses regarding the Cushite woman he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman. They said, "Has the Lord spoken only to Moses? Hasn't He spoken to us too?" And the Lord heard.
  • Moses was exceedingly humble, more so than any person on the face of the earth. The Lord suddenly said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, "Go out, all three of you, to the Tent of Meeting!" And all three went out. The Lord descended in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the Tent. He called to Aaron and Miriam, and they both went out.


G-d explains how He talks to prophets and how Moses is far more special than any prophet

  • Please listen to My words. If there be prophets among you, [I] the Lord will make Myself known to him in a vision; I will speak to him in a dream. Not so is My servant Moses; he is faithful throughout My house. With him I speak mouth to mouth; in a vision and not in riddles, and he beholds the image of the Lord.


G-d afflicts Miriam with tzara’ath for 7 days

  • So why were you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses? The wrath of the Lord flared against them and He left. The cloud departed from above the Tent, and behold, Miriam was afflicted with tzara'ath, [as white] as snow. Then Aaron turned to Miriam and behold, she was afflicted with tzara'ath. Aaron said to Moses, "Please, master, do not put sin upon us for acting foolishly and for sinning. Let her not be like the dead, which comes out of his mother's womb with half his flesh consumed!" Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, "I beseech you, G-d, please heal her."
  • The Lord replied to Moses, "If her father were to spit in her face, would she not be humiliated for seven days? She shall be confined for seven days outside the camp, and afterwards she may enter. So Miriam was confined outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not travel until Miriam had entered.


People travel to the desert of Paran

  • Then the people departed from Hazeroth, and they camped in the desert of Paran.