Moses' Resume, Moses' Eulogy
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This sheet on Numbers 12 was written by Deborah Silver for 929 and can also be found here
One of the challenges of Torah narrative is that it can be hard to keep track of who is on stage at any given moment. Here is an example:
The Lord came down in a pillar of cloud, stopped at the entrance of the Tent [of meeting] and called out “Aaron and Miriam!” The two of them came forward… (12:5).
But we know from verse 4 and from back in Exodus (29:42) that this spot was Moses and God’s designated meeting place. So even though he says nothing in this scene, Moses was there.
This is important because of what God is going to say: When a prophet of the Lord arises among you, I make Myself known to him in a vision, I speak with him in a dream. Not so with My servant Moses; he is trusted throughout My household. With him I speak mouth to mouth, plainly and not in riddles, and he beholds the likeness of the Lord (12:6-8).
These verses are a poem. They are a tightly worded ‘menorah’ (chiastic) structure with two different kinds of vision on the outside, the opposition between dreams and direct encounter the next layer in, and a declaration of Moses’ faithfulness at the heart. God has moved out of the ordinary level of discourse to describe Moses in the best kind of elevated language Biblical Hebrew has to offer. There is a deeply personal quality to the poem, as if God is savoring the special connection God and Moses have.
At the end of the Torah we find an echo of our text here: Never again did there arise in Israel a prophet like Moses whom the Lord singled out face to face…(Deut. 34:10).
This is followed by a sort of resume in prose - the wondrous acts, the signs, the wonders, the way that Moses displayed God’s might and power. We can see how it would make sense to end the Torah on a high. But while impressive in its scope and accurate in terms of Moses’ achievements, the end of the Torah lacks the intimacy that we find in our own chapter.
In our tradition, it is a mitzvah to give a eulogy, generously to praise the good characteristics of the person who has left the world. This can also bring profound comfort to those who remain on earth, confirming what made their loved one special.
Everything that made Moses special to God is contained in the poem God recites in this chapter. God’s words here are Moses’ true eulogy.
And in an act of consummate generosity and comfort, God delivers it while Moses is standing there to hear it.
The Lord came down in a pillar of cloud, stopped at the entrance of the Tent [of meeting] and called out “Aaron and Miriam!” The two of them came forward… (12:5).
But we know from verse 4 and from back in Exodus (29:42) that this spot was Moses and God’s designated meeting place. So even though he says nothing in this scene, Moses was there.
This is important because of what God is going to say: When a prophet of the Lord arises among you, I make Myself known to him in a vision, I speak with him in a dream. Not so with My servant Moses; he is trusted throughout My household. With him I speak mouth to mouth, plainly and not in riddles, and he beholds the likeness of the Lord (12:6-8).
These verses are a poem. They are a tightly worded ‘menorah’ (chiastic) structure with two different kinds of vision on the outside, the opposition between dreams and direct encounter the next layer in, and a declaration of Moses’ faithfulness at the heart. God has moved out of the ordinary level of discourse to describe Moses in the best kind of elevated language Biblical Hebrew has to offer. There is a deeply personal quality to the poem, as if God is savoring the special connection God and Moses have.
At the end of the Torah we find an echo of our text here: Never again did there arise in Israel a prophet like Moses whom the Lord singled out face to face…(Deut. 34:10).
This is followed by a sort of resume in prose - the wondrous acts, the signs, the wonders, the way that Moses displayed God’s might and power. We can see how it would make sense to end the Torah on a high. But while impressive in its scope and accurate in terms of Moses’ achievements, the end of the Torah lacks the intimacy that we find in our own chapter.
In our tradition, it is a mitzvah to give a eulogy, generously to praise the good characteristics of the person who has left the world. This can also bring profound comfort to those who remain on earth, confirming what made their loved one special.
Everything that made Moses special to God is contained in the poem God recites in this chapter. God’s words here are Moses’ true eulogy.
And in an act of consummate generosity and comfort, God delivers it while Moses is standing there to hear it.
(ה) וַיֵּ֤רֶד יְהֹוָה֙ בְּעַמּ֣וּד עָנָ֔ן וַֽיַּעֲמֹ֖ד פֶּ֣תַח הָאֹ֑הֶל וַיִּקְרָא֙ אַהֲרֹ֣ן וּמִרְיָ֔ם וַיֵּצְא֖וּ שְׁנֵיהֶֽם׃
(5) The LORD came down in a pillar of cloud, stopped at the entrance of the Tent, and called out, “Aaron and Miriam!” The two of them came forward;
Rabbi Deborah Silver is the Rabbi of Shir Chadash in Metairie, New Orleans.
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