At the end of Parshas Behaaloscha (Numbers 12) we read of the incident where Miriam and Aaron, the elder siblings of Moses, speak critically of Moses. As prophets themselves, they believed that they understood the demands that Moses’ position placed upon him, and they believed that this did not justify his actions. (The exact nature of their criticism of Moses is left extremely vague in the text, and is discussed in the commentaries.) God Himself intervenes, and speaks to Miriam and Aaron (Numbers 12:6-8):
And He said: “Hear now My words: when one of you is a prophet, I Hashem [the LORD], I make Myself known to him in a vision, I speak with him in a dream. This is not so with My servant Moses; he is trusted in all My house. I speak to him mouth to mouth, in a vision without riddles; and he sees the image of Hashem. Why then are you not afraid to speak against My servant Moses?”
These verses teach us one of the most basic and central principles of Judaism, the supremacy of the prophecy of Moses. Maimonides included this principle as the seventh of his thirteen foundations of Judaism. Maimonides opens his discussion of this principle with this basic summary:
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Author: Eliezer Abrahamson
Keywords: Bible study, Torah, Torah study, Miriam Aaron, Moses, Moses humble, Moses humility
Bible reference(s): Numbers 12:3, Numbers 12:6-8
Source: “Behaaloscha—Humility and Torah,” Olive Seedlings.
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