1Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married; for he had married a Cushite woman. 2They said, “Has Yahweh indeed spoken only with Moses? Hasn’t he spoken also with us?” And Yahweh heard it.
3Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all the men who were on the surface of the earth. 4Yahweh spoke suddenly to Moses, to Aaron, and to Miriam, “You three come out to the Tent of Meeting!”
The three of them came out. 5Yahweh came down in a pillar of cloud, and stood at the door of the Tent, and called Aaron and Miriam; and they both came forward. 6He said, “Now hear my words. If there is a prophet among you, I, Yahweh, will make myself known to him in a vision. I will speak with him in a dream. 7My servant Moses is not so. He is faithful in all my house. 8With him, I will speak mouth to mouth, even plainly, and not in riddles; and he shall see Yahweh’s form. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant, against Moses?” 9Yahweh’s anger burned against them; and he departed.
10The cloud departed from over the Tent; and behold, Miriam was leprous, as white as snow. Aaron looked at Miriam, and behold, she was leprous.
11Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord, please don’t count this sin against us, in which we have done foolishly, and in which we have sinned. 12Let her not, I pray, be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he comes out of his mother’s womb.”
13Moses cried to Yahweh, saying, “Heal her, God, I beg you!”
14Yahweh said to Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, shouldn’t she be ashamed seven days? Let her be shut up outside of the camp seven days, and after that she shall be brought in again.”
15Miriam was shut up outside of the camp seven days, and the people didn’t travel until Miriam was brought in again. 16Afterward the people traveled from Hazeroth, and encamped in the wilderness of Paran.
One receives several items of information from this short account of the healing of an Israelite man. First, this is the second occasion in the Bible of an Israelite being healed. The other example is in the Old Testament, in Numbers 12:10-15, in which Miriam, sister of Moses, had opposed Moses because he had married a Cushite woman. Since she did so, Yahweh struck her with leprosy. God healed her due to the intercession of Moses, but she was required to be quarantined from the camp of Israel for seven days.
Second, the interchange between Jesus and the leper is important to consider. The text reveals a strong faith in the heart of the leper. He worshipped Jesus and expressed complete belief that Jesus was capable of healing him, if he chose to do so. In view of this Jesus replied, "I want to," a direct response to the statement of the leper, "if you want to, you can make me clean." God does not always choose, or want to, heal someone, or do a miracle, because this does not fit within His plan. Simply because someone wants God to do something, such as healing, is not an indication that this request is answered "yes" by God. The kind of faith that this man expressed is found in the account of the three Hebrew men who faced a fiery furnace because of obeying God by not worshipping an idol (Dan 3:1-30). When faced with punishment for this refusal, they responded "If it happens, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace . . . But if not, let it be known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image which you have set up" (Dan 3:17, 18). The lesson is plain in both instances. Even if people of great faith ask God for a miracle, whether God chooses to perform one does not indicate a lack of faith, and not due to His inability. God does not do His works in the world except according to His own purposes (see Eph 1:3-12).
Third, in this text Jesus violates the Old Testament prohibition against touching a person with leprosy. According to the rules on touching a leper there would be a ceremonial defilement (Lev 14:45; Num 5:2, 3; Deut 24:8), though it is clear medically that a casual touch or contact does not pass the disease. What is unique is that touching the leper made the "person of faith" physically whole, and Jesus told him to make the long journey from the Sea of Galilee to the city of Jerusalem to fulfill his obligations of the law by seeing a priest and giving a gift for the healing (Lev 14:4-32). The leper was healed through his faith, and the sovereign will of God, but this faith was to be demonstrated through obedience.
Last of all, there is a matter to resolve in whether Jesus wanted to hide His identity from the authorities (sometimes called the Messianic secret), by telling the man "to tell nobody" or whether He was desiring to focus the healed man to his duties of the law rather than talking about who did it.