NUM121 There are numerous biblical stories about Moses that describe the many fine traits he possessed. Thus, Moses was courageous (he defended a Jewish slave from the Egyptian overseer who was beating him; Exodus 2:11–12), and determined to fight injustice (in Midian, he defended women shepherds from male shepherds who were bullying them; Exodus 2:16–17). Moses was also compassionate (he prayed for the health of his sister Miriam when she was stricken with leprosy as God's punishment for having spoken to ill of him (Numbers 12:1–13). Yet nowhere does the Bible refer to Moses as "courageous," "a defender of justice," or "compassionate." Rather, we infer these characteristics from what we are told about him. There is only one virtue that the Bible explicitly describes to Moses: "Now, Moses was a very humble man, more so than any other man on earth" [this verse]. That this is the only virtue the Torah attributes to its greatest hero is itself the most significant indication of the importance of humility in the Jewish tradition.