“Adonai came down in a column of cloud and stood at the entrance to the tent. He summoned Aharon and Miryam, and they both went forward. He said, ‘Listen to what I say: when there is a prophet among you, I, Adonai, make myself known to him in a vision, I speak with him in a dream. But it isn’t that way with my servant Moshe. He is the only one who is faithful in my entire household. With him I speak face to face and clearly, not in riddles; he sees the image of Adonai. So why weren’t you afraid to criticize my servant Moshe?'”-Numbers 12:5-8
When you were in grade school (or junior high school or high school) were you ever called into the principal’s office?
It was pretty scary, wasn’t it?
You had to deal with the embarrassment of being singled out in front of your classmates.
When you got to the principal’s office, you were told to sit outside like a convict about to be sentenced.
After waiting for what seemed like hours, you were finally told to go inside the principal’s office.
You approached the door with a lump in your throat and your heart beating 1,000 miles an hour because you knew that whatever news the principal had for you, it wasn’t gonna be good.
Well, this was exactly the kind of the situation that Aaron and Miriam were now facing for criticizing Moses.
The Great Judge of the Universe was big time upset with Moses’ sister and brother for openly attacking His Chosen Servant Moses and in a voice that must have been intimidating as hell says “come forward and hear My words“.
Understand we’re witnessing here is a situation where God is separating the guilty rebels (in this case Miriam and Moses) from the innocent (Moses).
I’ve heard some Hebrew commentaries say that Moses didn’t even hear what God was communicating to Miriam and Aaron.
This is what He told them:
“Listen to what I say: when there is a prophet among you, I, Adonai, make myself known to him in a vision, I speak with him in a dream. But it isn’t that way with my servant Moshe. He is the only one who is faithful in my entire household. With him I speak face to face and clearly, not in riddles; he sees the image of Adonai. So why weren’t you afraid to criticize my servant Moshe?”
Wow!
These are some powerful words!
God is basically saying that Moses is in a class by Himself.
He’s saying that among all men on the face of the earth, there is nobody like Moses!
Moses is unique.
God goes so far to say that when He communicates to Moses, it is in an entirely different manner than how He deals with any other person on the planet.
With other people, He may communicate to them in a vision or via perplexing riddles.
But not so with Moses.
God spoke to Moses “face-to-face“.
The original Hebrew from which we get the expression “face-to-face” is PE ‘EL PE.
God spoke with Moses PE ‘EL PE.
But here’s the thing.
PE ‘EL PE does NOT mean “face-to-face“.
Literally it means “mouth-to-mouth“.
In other words, God had audible conversations with Moses like one buddy to another.
We’re talking about direct revelation here.
The Torah further tells us that God revealed more of Himself to Moses than He did to any other man at this stage in Biblical history.
Now before I close, I wanted to ask you a question.
Who else in Biblical history kinda matches the description of what I’ve just described above?
I’m talking about somebody who also spoke with the Father face-to-face.
Somebody who was also unique in Biblical history, in fact he was so unique he actually split secular history in half via the indicators of BC and AD.
I’m talking about somebody who claimed such a high degree of intimacy with the Father that he said to physically see him was pretty much the same thing as seeing the Father.
Of course, we all know who I’m referring to.
The Chosen Anointed Servant of Adonai who gave Himself for the sins of mankind!
I don’t know about you but I see the footprints of Messiah in the character of Moses.
CONNECTING THIS TEACHING TO THE NEW TESTAMENT
“For God so loved the world that
He gave his only and unique son,
so that everyone who trusts in
him may have eternal life,
instead of being utterly destroyed.
For God did not send the son into the world
to judge the world, but rather so that through him,
the world might be saved.
Those who trust in him are not judged;
those who do not trust have been judged already,
in that they have not trusted in the one
who is God’s only and unique son.”
-John 3:16-18
“And he is the propitiation for our sins:
and not for ours only,
but also for the sins of the whole world.”
-1 John 2:2
“I and the Father are one.”
-John 10:30
“Yeshua answered:
“Don’t you know me, Philip,
even after I have been among
you such a long time?
Anyone who has seen me
has seen the Father.
How can you say,
‘Show us the Father’?”
-John 14:9
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