When the Private Life of a Prophet Like Mosheh Matters
In Numbers 12, we find that Miriam and Aharon spoke against Mosheh concerning the Kushite woman whom he had just married. According to oral tradition, which is not well established, the rabbis have learned that the Kushite woman was Tsippora, the Midianite, the daughter of Yitro, who was called Kushite (Ethiopian) because she was beautiful as the Kushite women were. Although Tsippora was Mosheh’s wife, he had separated from her and refrained from marital relations in order to commune with the Eternal in the Tabernacle on account of purity. Thus far the tradition.
The whole subject in Numbers 12 regarding Mosheh’s second marriage of is perplexing, when we look only at what has been revealed to us in the narration. And if we add the Rabbinic tradition to it, it becomes extremely perplexing. Why so? The obvious questions present themselves. The reason why we are forced to ask these questions is quite clear. The Eternal heard this conversation between Miriam and Aharon and punished only Miriam, but not Aharon. What crime did she do, and how did the punishment fit the crime? Another difficulty in this story is as to why Miriam and Aharon spoke against Mosheh. And why did Mosheh include this story concerning his siblings in the Torah in the first place? We will explain the reason for these questions in due course, as we now turn to continue what we commenced to explain in the previous article “Did Miriam Mean to Speak Evil Tongue?”, which we suggest the reader review before proceeding here.
Numbers 12 begins thus,
Now Miriam and Aharon spoke against Mosheh because of the Kushite woman whom he had taken, for he had taken a Kushite woman. And they said, “Has the Eternal spoken only through Mosheh? Has He not also spoken through us?” And the Eternal heard it. (Num 12:1-2)
In verse 1 above, the verb va-tedabber for “spoke” is grammatically in the feminine singular form instead of the plural form (which we would expect to find, if Miriam and Aharon are both speaking). But if both had spoken, then he had have to be also punished accordingly. The singular feminine verb, however, suggests that Aharon was listening to her in agreement, but she was the one who was doing the talking. The verse is thus to be rendered literally, “And Miriam spoke, and Aharon”.
The Rabbinic tradition (not found in text) interprets the verse as a reference to Mosheh’s separation from his wife Tsipporah, the daughter of Yitro. According to this tradition, Miriam was beside Tsipporah when Mosheh was told that Eldad and Medad were prophesying in the camp (see Numbers 11:27). When Tsipporah heard this, allegedly she said, “Woe to their wives if they have anything to do with prophecy, for they will separate from their wives as my husband separated from me”. But we do not agree with this seeing that this story is not even hinted at in the text. This forces us to search for a different interpretation.
The matter will become clear once we understand what Miriam and Aharon spoke about. We will now remove all the difficulties.
In our opinion, it is possible that the explanation of the verses is as follows. Seeing that the text does not report that Mosheh had divorced Tsipporah but it concerns itself with the marriage with the Kushite woman, the question that is almost forced upon the careful reader is: Why were Miriam and Aharon so disturbed by a divorce that was not reported by the writer of Torah (Mosheh himself)? This is hardly a plain reading of the text. In addition to this, given that the Torah does not say that Mosheh separated from his wife, how is Miriam and Aaron’s complaint in verse 2 connected to verse 1? Or, if we paraphrase the question, How is Mosheh’s marriage to a Kushite woman in verse 1, “Miriam and Aharon spoke against Mosheh because of the Kushite woman”, connected to Miriam and Aharon’s insistence in verse 2 that they too were prophets, “Has the Eternal spoken only through Mosheh? Has He not also spoken through us?”
The point of Miriam and Aaron’s complaint appears to be that (1) Mosheh had taken a non-Israelite wife, or (2) he had taken a second wife, which they saw unfitting. At first glance, it seems that Miriam and Aharon were saying that seeing their younger brother Mosheh had taken another woman, they had the right to reprimand him, for they too were prophets.
What is the issue we are addressing here?
Numbers 12:1 plainly states that Mosheh married a second wife, a Kushite woman, in addition to his first wife, Tsipporah, from whom he had two sons. Miriam and Aaron spoke to each other (as siblings), expressing the concern that one wife should be sufficient for their brother, for they were troubled that he had taken a second wife. This reasoning seems to be supported by the last seemingly redundant words of verse 1, “for he had taken a Kushite woman”, seeing that verse 1 has already informed the reader of that. It seems from their standpoint that Mosheh had acted on his own accord to marry another woman without even telling them. Miriam and Aharon were sincere in their feelings that their brother had made a mistake (something they were entitled to for being his older siblings) and certainly had no intention to speak badly against him. If so, what was their sin?
Their sin is hinted at in verse 8, when the Eternal spoke to them both: “Why did you not fear to speak against my servant, against Mosheh?” How does that help us understand the problem? Miriam and Aharon did not give consideration that there was a difference between their level of standing before YHVH and his. They clearly recognized Mosheh’s level of prophecy, but did not grasp the full extent of his uniqueness as a prophet and leader of the nation; their brother was not like them. Perhaps, from their standpoint they viewed their brother as the number one prophet, greater than they were, but not that he was on an entirely different level of standing before the Eternal.
In other words, for whatever reason Mosheh took a non-Israelite as a second wife, his brother and sister not assuming that he had good reasons for having done so expressed their disapproval in a private conversation; they did not even criticize him in a direct confrontation though. But the Eternal heard them and addressed harshly the issue right there. And He said,
Hear please My words: If there be a prophet among you, I the Eternal do make Myself known to him in a vision, I do speak with him in a dream. My servant Mosheh is not so; he is trusted in all My house; with him do I speak mouth to mouth, even manifestly, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the Eternal does he see. Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant, against Mosheh? (Num 12:6-8)
Their sin was that if Mosheh was the Eternal’s most humble, loyal, and trustworthy servant (see also verse 3), who never sought superiority over any person and certainly not over his brother and sister, which they must have acknowledged, how did they speak against him for no reason? In other words, their sin was that what they did was one step shorter of a slander, if they had spoken publicly. Had they done so, they would have been on the level of sin Korach was on, when he questioned publicly Mosheh and Aharon’s authority in Israel (see Numbers 16) and assembled all the congregation against them to the door of the Tent of Meeting. The earth opened and swallowed them up, and their households. That day fourteen thousand and seven hundred died by the plague, besides Korach and his associates.
But because Miriam and Aharon spoke privately, like siblings, the punishment did not go any harsher than what came upon her; the tsara’at. This interpretation is further supported by the way the Eternal addressed Miriam and Aharon: “Please hear My words” (verse 6), for the Hebrew word נָא na, “please”, always denotes a request.
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