Numbers 12:5

But in what follows also the reading which was recited contains this, that Moses took the Ethiopian woman as his wife, and that Miriam and Aaron disparaged Moses, because he had taken the Ethiopian woman, and they say: "Has God spoken to Moses alone? Has He not also spoken to us?" "And the Lord heard," it says. And after these things He orders them to go out to the tabernacle of the testimony, and there, a certain judgment having been held, Miriam is made leprous until a fixed time, and thus is called back into the camp. That we may explain this more concisely, we say that Miriam had the figure of the former people, and that Moses, that is, the law of the Lord, passed over to marriage with this Ethiopian woman, who was gathered from among the nations. Her, therefore, Moses, that is, the spiritual law, took as wife; and on account of this deed Miriam, who is now the synagogue, is indignant and disparages together with Aaron, that is, with the priests and Pharisees. That people, therefore, disparages even to this day Moses, who is placed with us, and he seems base to them, because among us he does not teach the circumcision of the flesh, nor the observance of the sabbath, nor of the new moon, nor sacrifices of blood, but the circumcision of the heart, and rest from sinning, and feast days in the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth, and sacrifices of praise, and admonishes that now not victims of cattle, but of vices, should be slain. God therefore judges concerning these things, and confirms the marriage of the Ethiopian woman, and indeed permits Moses gladly to dwell with her and to rest, but casts Miriam outside the camp and puts her far from the tabernacle of the testimony, with whom Aaron also is cast out. Moreover, Miriam is also made leprous. Look now upon that people and see how great in it is the leprosy of sin, how great the darkness of understanding, how great the foulness of observance, how great the baseness of aspect. Nevertheless this leprosy does not remain forever, but when the week of the world shall have begun to be completed, she shall be called back to the camp. For at the end of the world, when the fullness of the nations shall have entered in, then also all Israel shall be saved, and that is when the leprosy shall cease from the face of Miriam; for she shall receive the glory of faith, and shall receive the splendor of the knowledge of Christ, and her countenance shall be restored, when both shall become one flock and one shepherd. In which it must truly be said: "O the depth of the riches and of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God"; who so shut up all under sin, that He might have mercy upon all, in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory unto the ages of ages. Amen.

Just as the Apostle says: "all these things happened to them as figures, but they were written for our admonition," I ask what admonition we may receive from that which has been read to us, namely that Aaron and Miriam spoke against Moses and on account of this were rebuked, and Miriam indeed was even made a leper. And so great was the concern of this rebuke that, while Miriam was completing the space of a week in leprosy, the people of God did not make their journey toward the land of promise, nor was the tabernacle of testimony moved. First of all, meanwhile, I am admonished, and usefully and necessarily admonished, from this deed, not to disparage my brother, not to speak evil of my neighbor, not to open my mouth to detract not only from the saints but even from any of my neighbors whatsoever, seeing how great was the indignation of God from this, how great a vengeance proceeded. Indeed, against this sin we see God likewise moved with similar indignation even in the Psalms, and saying: "sitting you spoke against your brother, and against the son of your mother you laid a stumbling-block." And likewise also in another Psalm, from the person of the just man, who knows that this displeases God most greatly, it is said: "him that secretly detracted against his neighbor I persecuted." From all these words, therefore, of divine Scripture, as though from certain swords sharpened on both sides, let us cut away the vice of disparaging our brothers and detracting from the saints: for leprosy follows those who detract and speak evil. But after these things let us pass over from the moral matters to the mystical understanding; although in the earlier treatise a few things have already been said, nevertheless we will add what seems to have been lacking. Let us see, then, who it is that detracts from Moses, who speaks evil of him. Not only the Jew, but also the heretics, who do not receive the law and the prophets, they too detract from Moses. Indeed, they are accustomed even to fasten a charge upon him, saying that Moses was a murderer, for he killed an Egyptian, and they contrive many other things with blasphemous mouth either against him or against the prophets. These men, therefore, because they detract from Moses, have leprosy in their soul and are lepers in the inner man, and for that reason are held to be outside the camp of the Church of God. Whether, then, it be heretics who detract from Moses, or those who are of the Church who disparage their brothers and speak evil of their neighbors, all who are driven by this vice — there is no room for doubt that they are lepers in their soul. And Miriam indeed, by the intervention of Aaron the high priest, is healed on the seventh day; but we, if by the vice of disparagement we fall into the leprosy of the soul, until the end of the week of the world, that is, until the time of the resurrection, will remain lepers in soul and unclean; unless, while there is time for repentance, we are corrected and, turned to the Lord Jesus and supplicating him through repentance, we are cleansed from the uncleanness of our leprosy. But I think that not only that former people, nor only the heretics whom we mentioned above, detract from Moses, but also everyone who understands his writings badly and who receives the spiritual law carnally detracts from Moses, because he teaches men carnally concerning the words of the Spirit. You have heard what judgment the disparagers and evil-speakers gain for themselves, and what condemnation; hear now also how great a benefit they confer upon those whom they disparage. Never do we find that God spoke such great praises about Moses his servant as we now see said, when he was detracted from by men.

Hear, then, in what follows, what the Holy Spirit relates and with what praises he extols Moses. "And the Lord came down," he says, "in a pillar of cloud, and stood at the door of the tabernacle of testimony; and Aaron and Miriam were called, and both stood forth. And he said to them: hear my words; if there be a prophet of yours to the Lord, I will be known to him in visions and I will speak to him in dreams. Not so with my servant Moses, who is faithful in all my house; mouth to mouth will I speak to him, in his form and not in a riddle, and he saw the glory of the Lord; and why were you not afraid to detract from my servant Moses?" And the wrath of the Lord's fury was made upon them, and they departed. And the cloud withdrew from the tabernacle, and behold, Miriam was made leprous as snow. You see what penalty the disparagers brought upon themselves, but what praise they sought out for him whom they had disparaged. For themselves they sought foulness, for him splendor; for themselves leprosy, for him glory; for themselves reproach, for him magnificence. Yet Moses, before he received the Ethiopian woman, it is not written that God spoke to him in his form and not in a riddle; but when he received the Ethiopian woman, then God says concerning him: "mouth to mouth will I speak to him, in his form and not in a riddle." For now, when Moses has come to us and has been joined to this our Ethiopian woman, the law of God is now recognized no longer in figures and in images as before, but in the very form of truth; and the things which before were signified in a riddle are now fulfilled in form and truth. And therefore he who expounded the forms of the figures and riddles says: "but we know that our fathers were all under the cloud, and were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank of the spiritual rock following them; and the rock was Christ." You see how Paul resolves the riddles of the law and teaches the forms of the riddles, and says that the rock was in a riddle with Moses, before it was joined to this our Ethiopian woman. Now in form the rock is Christ; for now God speaks mouth to mouth through the law. Before, the baptism in the cloud and in the sea was in a riddle, but now in form there is regeneration in water and the Holy Spirit. Then in a riddle the manna was food, but now in form the flesh of the Word of God is the true food, as he himself says: "my flesh is truly food, and my blood is truly drink." Thus, therefore, now already Moses, placed among us and joined to this Ethiopian woman, whether he himself to us or God to him, speaks not in a riddle, but in form. And to this is added: "and he saw," he says, "the glory of the Lord." When did Moses see the glory of the Lord? I say, then, when the Lord was transformed on the mountain and Moses was present with him together with Elijah and they conversed with him. And therefore in what follows he rightly adds: "and why were you not afraid to detract from my servant Moses?" Which is evidently directed, at any rate, against those who seem indeed to receive the Gospels, but detract from Moses, and are deservedly reproved, because, when they learn through the Gospel that Moses together with Elijah saw the glory of the Lord, they have dared to detract from the law and the prophets. And therefore let us not detract from Moses nor disparage the law, but let us be not only hearers of the law, but also doers, that with Moses himself we may be counted worthy to be glorified together. But I think that they too furnish material for detracting from Moses who, for example, when the book of Leviticus or the reading of Numbers is read, do not show how these things, which are written in a riddle, ought to be understood through the form — that is, those who do not spiritually expound the things which are read in the law. For necessarily those who hear the rite of sacrifices or the observance of sabbaths or of the other like things recited in the church are offended, and say: what need is there that this be read in the church? What profit to us are the Jewish precepts and the observances of a rejected people? These things are of the Jews, and let the Jews see to them. Therefore, lest offenses of this kind befall the hearers, effort must be given to the knowledge of the law, and, according to this, that the law is spiritual, the things which are read must be understood and explained, lest by the fault of the teachers — nay rather, by their sloth and negligence — Moses be detracted from by the unskilled and unlearned; but let us turn to the Lord, that he may take away from us the veil of the letter, so that not a disfigured countenance of Moses, but a glorious and comely one may appear to us, so that we not only do not disparage him, but even, for the greatness of his meanings, confer praise and glory upon him. "And the wrath of the Lord's fury was made upon them, and they departed. And the cloud withdrew from the tabernacle, and behold, Miriam was made leprous as snow." The wrath of the Lord's fury is brought about upon those who speak evil and detract. But what he says: "the cloud withdrew from the tabernacle, and behold, Miriam was made leprous as snow," must be considered more diligently, that first the cloud withdraws and thus the leprosy fills her: so that it may be shown that, even if there is in someone the grace of the Holy Spirit and he disparages and detracts, it withdraws from him after the disparagement, and thus his soul is filled with leprosy. For that former people too had in itself the grace of God, but after they stretched forth the tongues of their blasphemy against the true Moses, our Lord Jesus Christ, the cloud departed from them, and passed over to us onto the high mountain, when our Savior was transformed and the shining cloud overshadowed his disciples and a voice came from the cloud saying: "this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." After this, therefore, Miriam was made leprous as snow. While the cloud was present, Miriam was not leprous, but when it departed. For while the visitation of God was in that people, it was not leprous; but when it departed, the ignominy of its own countenance covered it. But let us also fear, lest perhaps we put this cloud to flight from us by speaking evil, by acting evilly, by thinking evilly; and then the leprosy of sin will appear in us, when the grace of God has deserted us.