The Pulpit Commentary — Numbers — Section 151

deliberately married n Cushite woman in order Ver. 3.-Now the man lloaes waa veryo to set forth the essential fellowship between meek, above all the men which were upon. Jew and Gentile. It is true that such mar- the face of the earth. For the Hebrew \tV riages as those of Joseph, of Salmon, of the Septuagint has ,rpavt here; tho vu1. Solomon, and others undeniably became in- gate, mitis. The Targum Palestine ho.s vested with spiritual importance and evan- '' bowed down in his mind," i. e. overwhelmed gelical significance, in view of the growing (" plagued," Luther). The ordinary ver• narrowness of Jewish feeling, and of the sion is undoubtedly right; the object of coming in of a wider dispensation; but such the parenthesis wo.s either to expla.m that significance was wholly la.tent at the time. there was no real ground for the hostility If, however, the choice of Moses is inexplic- of Miriam and Aaron, or to show that the able, the opposition of Miriam is intelligible direct interference of the Lord himself was enough. She was a prophetess (Exod. xv. necessary for the protection of his servant. 20), and strongly imbued with those national The verse bears a difficulty on its very face, and patriotic feelings which a.re never far because it speaks of Moses in terms which removed from exclusiveness and pride of race. could hardly ha.vo been used by Moses of She bad-to use modern words-led the To himself, Nor is this di.fliculty in the least Deum of the nation after the stupendous degree diminished by the expl.a.nations which overthrow of the Egyptians. And now her a.ro offered by those who a.re determined to l1rother, who stood a.t the head of the nation, maintain a.t any cost the Mosaic authorship· had brought into his tent a. Cnshite woma.u, of every word in the Penta.tench. It is no one of the dark-skinned race which seemed doubt true to some extent that when a great even lower in the religions scale than the and good man is writing of himself (and Egyptians themselves. Such Rn alliance especially when he writes under the influence might easily seem to Miriam nothing better of the Holy Spirit), he can speak of himself than an act of apostasy which would justify with the same calm and simple truthfulness any possible opposition. with which he would speak of a.uy other. It Ver. 2.-And they said, Hath the Lord is sufficient, however, to refer to the example, indeed spoken only by Moses ! hath he not of St. Paul to show that neither any height spoken also by us ! This is evidently not of spiritual privilege and authority, nor any the "speaking against Moses" mentioned in intensity of Divine inspiration, obliterates the the previous verse, for that is distinctly said natural virtue of modesty, or a.llows a really to have been on the score of Moses' marriage. humble man to praise himself without pa.in This is their justification of themselves for and shrinking. It is also to be observed that daring to dispute his judgment and arraign while St. Paul forces himself to speak of his his proceedings ; a. thing which clearly re- privileges, distinctions, and sufferings, all of quired justification. Moses himself, or more which were outward to himself, Moses would likely others for him, had remonstrated with here be claiming for himself the posseBSion of them on the language they were using. They a.n inward virtue in greater measure than retorted that Moses had no monopoly of any other living soul. Surely it is not too Divine communications; Aaron also received much to say that if he did possess it in such the revelation of God by Urim and Thum- measure, be could not possibly have been mi.m, and Miriam was a. prophetess. They conscious that he did ; only One was thus were acknowledged in a. general sense as conscious of his own ineffable superiority, sharing 1<ith him the leadership of Israel and this very consciousness is one of the (see Micah vi 4); upon this they meant to strongest a.rgumen ts for believing that he was found a. claim to co-ordinate authority. They infinitely more than a. mere man, howsoever would have had perhaps all matters settled good and exalted. Thero is but one theory in a. family council in which they should have that will make it morally possible for Moses had an equal voice. It was hard for them to have written this verse, viz., that in writ- both to forget that Moses was only their ing he was a mere instrument, and not younger brother: for Miriam that she had morally responsible for what he did write. saved his life as a.n infant ; for Aaron that he Such a theory will find few upholders. But, had been as prominent as Moses in the original further, it is neceBSa.ry to prove not only that commission from God to the people. And Moses might have ma.de this statement, but the Lord heard it. In one sense he hears also that he might have ma.de it in this everything ; in another sense there are many form. Granted that it was necessary to the things which he does not choose to hear, be- narrative to point out that he wa.s very cause he does not wish to take judicial notice meek ; it was wi necessary to assert that he of them. Thus he had not "heard" the was absolutely the meekes_t man living. passionate compl.a.in te of Moses himself a And if it was unnecessary, 1t was also un. short time before, because his will was then natural No good man would go out of his to pardon, not to punish (cf. Isa.. xlli. 19; way to comp11ro himself to his own advantage .Mal. iiL 16), with all mun upon thu fac., of the e111ih,. Oil, XII,] THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. 131