“Numbers 12:8 “With him (Moses) I will speak mouth to mouth, manifestly and not in dark places and the similitude of the Lord does he behold.”
Aaron and Miriam, Moses brother and sister, began to have some doubts about Moses’s leadership. Moses had married an Ethiopian woman and they began to question if Moses was fit for his leadership role because of this marriage. Miriam even suggested that God speaks to her and Aaron just as much as He does to Moses, so what makes Moses so special. God stepped in and set the record straight.
God advised Aaron and Miriam that when he speaks through a prophet it is through dreams and visions, but with Moses it is mouth to mouth, manifestly and not in dark places and the similitude of the Lord does he behold.”
The word used in the Hebrew for mouth is Peh. This happens to be the same root as the letter Pei Peh means mouth or an opening or entrance. Peh is also cognate to the word Poh. This means here or in this place. Actually when you compare the use of the word Poh you find it is used to describe a very special place, a place where things very important happen. Note too, the phrase is peh el peh ‘adevar bo. Literally this is translated: mouth to mouth in him. The use of the preposition Beth or in gives us a little hint of something deeper. It indicates the touching of these mouths.
Other uses of the word peh is an entranceway, opening, or border. The mouth and the nostrils are the only entrances into the inner man. God went further to say he spoke plainly to Moses, not in dark places. The word in Hebrew for dark places is chidoth which is an enigma or mystery. He does speak to his prophets in visions and dreams, but these are often shrouded in mysteries and are not clear. With Moses he spoke clearly and plainly, there was no second guessing. As dreams and visions are open to individual interpretation, what God had to say to Moses was plain enough, no interpretation was needed.
Then God adds a very interesting phrase: “The similitude of the Lord does he behold.” Similitude in Hebrew is temenu which has the idea of likeness. Moses would take on the likeness of God in the conversation. This would be likeness in desires and wishes. He could only accomplish this by knowing God’s heart.
Here’s the interesting thing of what God is telling Aaron and Miriam. God will speak to the prophet in dreams or visions. God gives a prophet a vision or a dream which the prophet will interpret. However, there is a difference in His relationship with Moses. With Moses, it is not God speaking to Him, but it is mouth to mouth, God and Moses speaking to each other. Then we have that preposition in, mouth to mouth in him. Taking mouth as an entrance or opening, it is coming out as a picture of God speaking to the heart of Moses by pressing his mouth against the mouth of Moses.
What Christian has not said, “God spoke to my heart.” That seems to carry more weight than God speaking in visions or mysteries. But soft, God is saying mouth to mouth or heart to heart. What puts this exchange on a higher level than a dream or vision is that it is not only God speaking to the heart of Moses, it is Moses speaking to the heart of God. You see, mouth to mouth is an ancient Semitic expression of the communication through a kiss. An expression of intimacy.
So to with God. God can reveal things to us in visions and dreams, but they are not always clear. He can reveal things in circumstances, coincidences, etc. We tend to guess that it is of God or God speaking, but we are never really that clear about it. However if, like Moses, we speak heart to heart with God and if we know God’s heart, then what He speaks will be very plain and clear. In other words, if we allow God to kiss us, words need not be exchanged. I know that sort of creeps some of us out, especially if we are men. But remember God is of no gender. The Semitic people had no problem with men kissing each other without a sexual connotation like in our society, although they did not kiss on the lips, usually, it was the cheek or forehead. Still, they had no problem with kissing God or God kissing them, but we in the Western culture do, we cannot imagine such intimacy with God so we simply say God speaks to us mouth to mouth or heart to heart. That is a little less creepy.
A common question for many Christians, especially new Christians is how do you know that God is speaking to you? How do you hear God’s voice? Moses gives us the answer, we will know God’s voice when we know His heart. A woman will not kiss her husband or boyfriend on the mouth unless she is sure he understands her heart. A kiss is a physical expression of the heart. In a kiss, one’s heart does all the talking.
The ancients believed that Shepherds conversed with their sheep. Not in audible words, but with their hearts and the sheep knew their shepherd’s heart which is why they responded. Perhaps that is what Jesus had in mind when he said in John 10:27, “My sheep hear my voice and I know them and they follow me.” In the Aramaic, the word voice is qala, which could mean an inner voice or the voice of the heart and comes from a Semitic root word QL which means a key. The word hear in Aramaic is shema which is an understanding. The word know is yida which is an intimate knowing, it is a word often used to describe the intimacy between a man and a woman. In a sense what Jesus was saying is, “My sheep understand my heart and as a result, I am intimate with them and they follow me.” Jesus is saying He wants to communicate with us like God did with Moses, mouth to mouth, or heart to heart. A man and woman who deeply love each other sometimes do not need to even speak, they can just hold each other and look into each other’s eyes and their hearts will speak more than words can speak. When a man and woman kiss each other they are not speaking with their mouths, but in that kiss, their hearts are speaking volumes to each other. So too when God holds us and we allow Him to kiss us mouth to mouth, we do not need to say a word, for our hearts are doing all the talking and we will naturally follow all of His heart’s desires.
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