Numbers 12:3

‘Now the man Moses was very humble, above all the men that were on the face of the earth.'

Moses himself was not like that, says the writer. He probably did not defend himself. Nor did he go to Yahweh about it. He was very humble, above all men who were on the face of the earth. This does not mean ‘meek and mild', it means that he did not defend himself or become concerned when he was attacked, unless it was likely to harm the cause of God. As we know he could get angry when that happened. That was why he had said nothing to Yahweh. The idea was that he was self-effacing and concerned only for God's glory.

This comment was probably put in by the one who was writing down his words. It is not likely that it is to be seen as the words of Moses himself. But that it is an important part of the chiastic pattern demonstrates that it was not a later interpolation. It was written down at the same time as Moses' words were being finally recorded.

EXCURSUS. The Meekness of Moses.

The question is often put as to whether Moses could have spoken of himself as humble/meek above all men on the face of the earth. Is it not, people ask, a contradiction in terms? Clearly we cannot say with certainty who wrote these words. But the first question we must ask is whether Moses could have spoken of himself in these terms. After all, the use of the third person by a writer speaking of himself is not unusual. It is a literary technique.

The first point we must make is that the comment is not necessarily just a huge compliment. Consider if we translate 'meek' as 'diffident', and thus as not being willing to defend himself because of a certain withdrawal in his personality. We have seen at his calling in Exodus how he tried to avoid God's call because he felt unable to cope with it, and wanted to hide behind his poor speech (Exodus 3:11; Exodus 4:1; Exodus 4:10; Exodus 4:13). We find it difficult to recognise the fact but Moses was in fact sometimes portrayed as being to some extent of a shy and retiring nature. He was bold in some things (like, as a trained martial arts expert, probably armed, in his dealings with a few shepherds) but he was not always so when it came to the big picture.

The fact that he did what he did was because God had spurred him on and given him little choice. But Exodus demonstrates that in fact it was Aaron who made the first overt moves in the deliverance from Egypt. It was only once Moses had gained confidence that he took over. Possibly what Moses is saying here is that God acted on his behalf because he himself was so naturally diffident the most diffident man on earth, and was thus deriding himself. For the meaning of the word translated 'meek' compare Job 24:4 'the meek of the earth hide themselves together'; Psalms 147:6 'Yahweh lifts up the meek'. It is not a boasting word but in a sense a disparaging word. It describes someone ''humble' because they are lowly and wanting and seek to cringe from public notice. They see themselves as not of sufficient courage to defend themselves. So it may well be that Moses saw himself as the least forthcoming person in the whole world (not to be taken too literally - shy people can often feel like this) and therefore was speaking disparagingly of himself. This comment may thus well have arisen from his own personal shyness, especially at dealing with aspects of his married life. It may simply be describing an excess of meekness that was actually not a good thing, an indication that he was not forthright in his own defence because of this lack in his make up. Not many men would see themselves as boasting if they described themselves as meek.

Or alternately if we insist on assuming that meekness is intended to indicate a good feature it may be that God actually told Moses that He Himself was about to defend him because he was so meek and would not defend Himself, that He was defending him because he was the meekest man on earth. And God had reason to know. He had had to struggle with Moses' meekness. Thus Moses may simply have been writing down God's own description of himself and not have felt proud of the fact at all.

In fact what might be considered more unlikely is that anyone else would call Moses meek, lowly and humble in position, where 'humble' means of a lowly position and stature. Many things, yes, but not 'meek' (we read into 'meek' a good Christian trait, signifying not aggressive, but that was probably not the original meaning of the Hebrew word). Even though it is true that Moses was humble in the best sense, would anyone have described him as ‘meek'?

We must remember in this context that here in the West we hesitate to speak the truth about ourselves, because it is not 'the done thing'. A friend of mine who played tennis for England was asked by a colleague whether she played tennis and she replied 'a little'. When he played her and was soundly beaten the humiliation was such that he never spoke to her again. Her meekness had led her into trouble. But it would not have been English to say 'I play for England'. So she learned to deliberately lose when playing men instead. Was that good? Would not honesty have been better? But she was shy too, and meek, and it misled people. However, in the East things are very different. I remember the shock I had when I first came across this Eastern trait. They spoke what they believed to be a true estimate about themselves, with no false humility, and spoke correctly. And I was astounded. I thought them conceited until I realised that they all did it and that their description of themselves was true. They were in fact just making an honest assessment of themselves. It was simply an aspect of their culture. So we must not necessarily judge the words by over-humble Western standards.

Others (usually Westerners with the Westerners code) have suggested that while Moses was responsible for the content of the Pentateuch the actual engraving and finalising might have been done by a master scribe, even possibly Joshua when he was alone or with Moses in the Tent of Meeting (Exodus 33:7), and then later possibly as acting secretary in Moses' own tent. Thus this may be a comment added by Joshua or any other scribe, and be equally the word of God. But it could be argued that it is doubtful whether it would be used by these people of Moses. The word is not really complimentary. Each must decide the matter for themselves, but it does not affect the genuineness of the saying, nor does it discount the overall authorship of Moses. Indeed we should note how well it fits into the chiastic pattern.

End of Excursus.