Numbers 12:10

“And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle, etc.] Not from off the door of the tabernacle, as Aben Ezra, for that is implied in the last clause of (<041209>Numbers 12:9), but from off that part of the tabernacle, the most holy place, where it had used to abide; but now it went up higher in the air, or removed at some distance from thence, which was a further indication of the sore displeasure of God; that as he would not stay with Aaron and Miriam at the door of the tabernacle, so neither would he suffer the cloud to continue over it, as it was wont to do, so long as they were there: and, behold, Miriam [became] leprous, [white] as snow; was smote immediately with a leprosy by the Lord,…”

“MIRIAM'S LEPROSY. (Num 12:10-16) the cloud departed from the tabernacle--that is, from the door to resume its permanent position over the mercy seat. Miriam became leprous--This malady in its most malignant form (Exo 4:6; Kg2 5:27) as its color, combined with its sudden appearance, proved, was inflicted as a divine judgment; and she was made the victim, either because of her extreme violence or because the leprosy on Aaron would have interrupted or dishonored the holy service.”

“Miriam, as a prophetess (compare Exodus 15:20-21) no less than as the sister of Moses and Aaron, took the first rank among the women of Israel; and Aaron may be regarded as the ecclesiastical head of the whole nation. But instead of being grateful for these high dignities they challenged the special vocation of Moses and the exclusive authority which God had assigned to him. Miriam was the instigator, from the fact that her name stands conspicuously first Numbers 12:1, and that the punishment Numbers 12:10 fell on her alone. She probably considered herself as supplanted, and that too by a foreigner. Aaron was misled this time by the urgency of his sister, as once before Exodus 32:0 by that…”

“From the tabernacle - Not from the whole tabernacle, but from that part, whither it was come, to that part which was directly over the mercy - seat, where it constantly abode. Leprous - She, and not Aaron, either because she was chief in the transgression or because God would not have his worship interrupted or dishonoured, which it must have been if Aaron had been leprous. White - This kind of leprosy was the most virulent and incurable of all. It is true, when the leprosy began in a particular part, and thence spread itself over all the flesh by degrees, and at last made it all white, that was an evidence of the cure of the leprosy, Lev 13:12-13. But it was otherwise when one was suddenly…”

“the cloud: Exo 33:7-10; Eze 10:4, Eze 10:5, Eze 10:18, Eze 10:19; Hos 9:12; Mat 25:41 behold: Deu 24:9 leprous: Lev 13:2, 3-46; Kg2 5:27, Kg2 15:5; Ch2 26:19-21 Numbers 12:11”