Bilangan 12:10

12:10 When ¹  the cloud departed from above the tent, Miriam became ²  leprous ³  as snow. Then Aaron looked at ⁴  Miriam, and she was leprous!

Bilangan 12:2

12:2 They ⁵  said, “Has the Lord only ⁶  spoken through Moses? Has he not also spoken through us?” ⁷  And the Lord heard it. ⁸ 

Kisah Para Rasul 5:27

5:27 When they had brought them, they stood them before the council, ⁹  and the high priest questioned ¹⁰  them,

[12:10]  ¹ tn The disjunctive vav (ו) is here introducing a circumstantial clause of time.

[12:10]  ² tn There is no verb “became” in this line. The second half of the line is introduced with the particle הִנֵה (hinneh, “look, behold”) in its archaic sense. This deictic use is intended to make the reader focus on Miriam as well.

[12:10]  ³ sn The word “leprosy” and “leprous” covers a wide variety of skin diseases, and need not be limited to the actual disease of leprosy known today as Hansen’s disease. The description of it here has to do with snow, either the whiteness or the wetness. If that is the case then there would be open wounds and sores – like Job’s illness (see M. Noth, Numbers [OTL], 95-96).

[12:10]  ⁴ tn Heb “turned to.”

[12:2]  ⁵ tn Now the text changes to use a plural form of the verb. The indication is that Miriam criticized the marriage, and then the two of them raised questions about his sole leadership of the nation.

[12:2]  ⁶ tn The use of both רַק and אַךְ (raq and ’akh) underscore the point that the issue is Moses’ uniqueness.

[12:2]  ⁷ tn There is irony in the construction in the text. The expression “speak through us” also uses דִּבֵּר + בְּ(dibber + bÿ). They ask if God has not also spoken through them, after they have spoken against Moses. Shortly God will speak against them – their words are prophetic, but not as they imagined.

[12:2]  sn The questions are rhetorical. They are affirming that God does not only speak through Moses, but also speaks through them. They see themselves as equal with Moses. The question that was asked of the earlier presumptuous Moses – “Who made you a ruler over us?” – could also be asked of them. God had not placed them as equals with Moses. The passage is relevant for today when so many clamor for equal authority and leadership with those whom God has legitimately called.

[12:2]  ⁸ sn The statement is striking. Obviously the Lord knows all things. But the statement of the obvious here is meant to indicate that the Lord was about to do something about this.

[5:27]  ⁹ tn Or “the Sanhedrin” (the highest legal, legislative, and judicial body among the Jews).

[5:27]  ¹⁰ tn Or “interrogated,” “asked.”