Numbers 12:7

Num 12:7 My servant Moses [is] not so, who [is] faithful in all mine house.

Ver. 7. My servant Moses is not so.] God had never so much magnified Moses to them, but for their envy. We cannot devise to pleasure God’s servants so much as by despiting them. Quisquis volens detrahit famae meae, nolens addit mercedi meae, saith Augustine; He that willingly detracteth from mine honour, doth, though against his will, add to my reward.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Num 12:7. My servant Moses is not so — He is a prophet of a higher rank.

To him I impart my mind in a far more noble and clear way. Who is faithful in all my house — God had set him over all Israel, who were his house, his family, or chosen people, and Moses was faithful in the performance of the trust reposed in him, executing all the divine commands, and doing nothing partially or of himself, as he was now falsely accused. In this he was an eminent type of Christ, as the apostle represents him, Heb 3:1-6.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

In all Israel which was his Church.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 7. Moses - is faithful] נאמן neeman, a prefect or superintendent. So Samuel is termed, 1Sa 2:35; 1Sa 3:20; David is so called, 1Sa 18:27, Neeman, and son-in-law of the king. Job 12:20, speaks of the Neemanim as a name of dignity. It seems also to have been a title of respect given to ambassadors, Pr 13:17; Pr 25:13. Calmet well observes that the word fidelity is often used for an employ, office, or dignity, and refers to 1Ch 9:22, 1Ch 9:26, 1Ch 9:31; 2Ch 31:12, 2Ch 31:15; 2Ch 34:12, &c. Moses was a faithful, well-tried servant in the house of God, and therefore he uses him as a familiar, and puts confidence in him.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(7) My servant Moses . . . —Better, Not so (in regard to) my servant Moses; he is faithful. Reference is made to these words in Heb_3:5 : “And Moses verily was faithful in all his house,” i.e., in the whole of the Mosaic economy or dispensation, or the house of Israel, which is spoken of as God’s house. A contrast is drawn in Num_12:6 between the vocation of Moses as a servant in the house of God and that of Christ as a Son over His own house.

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7. faithful in all my house] i.e. in everything that has to do with Israel, who are often called the ‘house of Israel.’ The passage is referred to in Heb_3:2; Heb_3:5, where it is understood to mean that Moses was faithful in such a way that his influence (like that of a trusted servant) extended over the whole of the Old Dispensation, as that of Christ (the Son) does over the New.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

My servant Moses is not so,.... Or such a prophet; he is not so used; it was not in such a manner the Lord spake to him; not in visions and dreams, as he had to Abraham and Jacob, and did to others in later times:

who is faithful in all mine house; in the house of Israel, or among that people which were the Lord's family, where Moses was a servant and steward, and did all things according to the will of the Lord, the master of the family; he faithfully delivered to them all the laws, statutes, and ordinances, which he appointed to be observed by them: unless this is to be understood of the tabernacle, which was the house of God, in which he dwelt, and which was made, and all things in it, exactly according to the pattern given by the Lord to Moses: see Heb 3:2.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Faithful: Hebrew Neeman, steward or master of the palace. Such was Samuel, 1 Kings iii. 20; David, (Calmet) 1 Kings xxii. 14; Naaman, the general of Syria, 2 Kings v.; and Bacchides, 1 Machabees vii. (Haydock) --- Ambassadors had this title, (Proverbs xiii. 17,) and fidelity often denotes an office, 1 Paralipomenon ix. 22. Job (xii. 20,) speaks of the Namonim. (Calmet) --- But none among the Israelites was more justly entitled to this honour than Moses. He announced the word of God without any mixture of falsehood, and did not arrogate to himself more than his due, as Aaron seems to have done, ver. 2. (Haydock)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

i.e. Whom I have set over all my house, i.e. my church and people, and therefore over you, and who hath discharged his office faithfully, and not partially and selfseekingly, as you falsely accuse him.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

7. Faithful — Tried, trustworthy, and true. The root of the Hebrew word is amen. See Rev_3:14.

All mine house — The whole family of Israel, to the government of which Moses had been called. Baumgarten says that the house is “primarily his dwelling, the holy tent.” But in this sense the word “all” would be out of place. Moreover, after the consecration of Aaron the tabernacle was in his charge. The duties of Moses were not sacerdotal, but administrative and prophetic. Not to the priests, but to Moses and succeeding prophets, was intrusted the office of receiving and declaring the holy oracles which make wise unto salvation. The aggregate of believers in Jesus Christ are now God’s house. Heb_3:6.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

My servant Moses is not so. No words could more clearly and sharply draw the distinction between Moses and the whole laudabilis numerus of the prophets. It is strange that, in the face of a statement so general and so emphatic, it should have been doubted whether it applied to such prophets as Isaiah or Daniel. It was exactly in "visions" and in "dreams," i.e., under the peculiar psychological conditions so-called, that these greatest of prophets received their revelations from heaven. The exceeding richness and wonder of some of these revelations did not alter the mode in which they were received, nor raise them out of the ordinary conditions of the gradus propheticus. As prophets of future things they were much greater than Moses, and their writings may be to us far more precious; but that does not concern the present question, which turns exclusively upon the relation between the Divine Giver and the human receiver of the revelation. If words mean anything, the assertion here is that Moses stood on an altogether different footing from the "prophet of the Lord" in respect of the communications which he received from the Lord. It is this essential superiority of position on the part of Moses which alone gives force and meaning to the important declarations of Deuteronomy Joh_1:21 Joh_6:14 Joh_7:40, Joh_18:15; &c. Moses had ;no successor in his relations with God until that Son of man came, who was "in heaven" all the time he walked and spake on earth. Who is faithful in all mine house, man with B means to be proved, or attested, and so established. (cf. 1Sa_3:20 1Sa_22:14) The Septuagint gives the true sense, en olw tw oikw mou pistov , and so it is quoted in the Epistle to the Hebrews. (Num_3:2) The "house" of God, as the adjective "whole" shows, is not the tabernacle, but the house of Israel; the" word "house" standing for household, family, nation, as so often in the sacred writings. (see Gen_46:27 Lev_10:6 Heb_3:6)

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

In all my house - That is, whom I have set over all my house, my church and people, and therefore over you; and who hath discharged his office faithfully, and not partially as you falsely accuse him.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

In My entire house — as a member of the household, who may enter without permission, and if he needs something he can speak about it anytime. To Aharon and Miriam, on the other hand, Hashem would only reveal Himself in a dream, and if not, they had no permission to ask.

Ibn Ezra on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Yalkut, Sifsei Chachomim Chumash, Metsudah Publications, 2009” (CC BY 4.0); and “Commentary of Ibn Ezra on Isaiah - trans. by M. Friedlander, 1873” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.