Although they are an important method of divine revelation, scripture makes clear that neither the vision nor the dream is the pinnacle of divine communication. In Numbers 12 the Lord parallels dreams and visions by which the Lord certainly "speaks" and "makes known." He also contrasts them with the kind of direct visitation that Moses sometimes enjoyed.
Moses saw "the similitude of the Lord" (a phrase that brings to mind Ether 3:16-17) and he spoke with him "mouth to mouth." Aaron and Miriam had indeed enjoyed some of the gift of prophecy - dreams, visions and "dark sayings" - and could claim with some justice that the Lord had "spoken by us." The Lord rebukes their attempt to put themselves thus on an equal footing with his anointed by first reminding them of the clarity Moses had been given (qualitatively superior to their own) and by giving Miriam a week of being a leper. The experience is a sobering reminder that revelation (like most gifts) is a "limited good," subject to misuse and abuse, and must be accompanied by Charity (see I Corinthians 13) if it is not to lead to pride.
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