And Moses went out and told the people the words of Jehovah; and he gathered the seventy men of the elders of the people, and set them round about the tent.
In Numbers 11 Moses tells God he cannot carry this people alone, and God answers by naming seventy men to stand with him. Here Moses obeys — but what did the seventy receive, and what did obeying cost him?
"Elders" is a word about age and standing, not about office. God gave these seventy something the other elders did not have.
The word is saqen, which means "aged man." They were no doubt also men of standing, including the heads of the families of each tribe. But they held no official place like the one God gave to the seventy He appointed to work with Moses. God chose those seventy from among the elders.
The seventy did not receive a new supply. God took of the Spirit already resting on Moses and put it on them.
There was no fresh power introduced. It was the same Spirit, whether in one or in seventy. There was no more value or virtue in the flesh of seventy men than in the flesh of one man. "It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh is no help at all" (John 6:63). This move on Moses' part gained nothing in power. It cost him a great deal in dignity.
The exact wording of God's promise carried a sting. He did not offer the elders a fresh gift from Himself; He drew on what Moses already had.
Moses loses something of the importance of his place. God does not say, "I will give them of My Spirit," but, "I will take of the spirit that is upon you and will put it upon them," which really was a strong rebuke.
Yet the rebuke arrived as help. Moses had said the load was too heavy; God gave him men to share it.
The unbelief and grievous sin of the people led Moses to break down. But it is very beautiful to see how kindly the Lord stooped to meet His fainting servant. Moses should no longer feel lonely, as though he had to bear the weight alone. God gave him human support in the form of seventy elders of the people. Yet they could give that support only because they shared the spirit that had been on him.
Moses did not scatter the seventy through the camp. He stationed them at the tent.
But the voice of prophecy breaks out especially around the entrance of the tabernacle — the voice that calls Israel back, and how fitting that is in that place! Those who draw near to the sanctuary of God hear it in its fullness, not as scattered voices, but the full harmony of the mind of God.
Their task was not administration but speaking for God to a people drifting away from Him.
They are to share with Moses the burden of the people, and for this they are to share the Spirit that rests upon Moses. They too are to be prophets, to bring the word of God directly to the people of God, and by its means to stop departure from Him. Of what they said we have not a single word. The point for us is not any particular message, but simply the fact that they prophesied — the prophesying of elders who are overseers of the congregation.
Their prophesying proved the Spirit had come on them. It did not continue:
In demonstration of this the elders prophesied at the time, but only then.
Seventy capable men added nothing that the Spirit had not already supplied. The same rule holds for all service now.
The true secret of all ministry is spiritual power. It is not man's genius, or man's intellect, or man's energy, but simply the power of the Spirit of God. This was true in the days of Moses, and it is true now. "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts" (Zechariah 4:6)… If a man is drawing on his own resources, he will soon run dry. His gifts may be great, his reading wide, his store of knowledge vast. But if the Holy Spirit is not the spring and power of his ministry, it will sooner or later lose its freshness and its effect.
- Obedience. Moses obeys a word that costs him: he gathers the very men who will share his place.
- Shared. God did not create a new gift for the seventy; He took of the Spirit on Moses and put it on them. One man or seventy, it was the same Spirit, and flesh added nothing.
- Placed. Stationed at the tent, they prophesied — carrying God's word to His people to stop them drifting from Him.
- Gracious. The move rebuked Moses' unbelief and at the same time showed real kindness to a servant who had collapsed.
- Dependence. What was true at the tent is true still: service that draws on human ability runs dry, and only the Spirit keeps it fresh.
And Jehovah came down in a cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was upon him, and put it upon the seventy men, the elders; and it came to pass, that when the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but they did not repeat [it].
Moses had just told God that the people were too heavy a load to carry alone. This verse is God's answer — and writers differ over whether it was kindness, rebuke, or both.
The verse opens with the cloud. That was how God had long made His presence visible to Israel.
Clouds were the heavenly veil of the presence of God — His chariot, and the hiding place of His power. It pleased God to show His presence to Israel in a cloud. The pillar of cloud guided the children of Israel through the wilderness (Ex. 40:34-38). On special occasions the LORD came down in a cloud and spoke to Moses (Num. 11:25).
"Elder" was an ordinary word for an older man of standing, not a title. The seventy were picked out of that wider group and given something the rest did not have.
The word is saqen, which points to an "aged man." They were no doubt also men of good reputation, including heads of the households of each tribe. But they held no official place like the one God gave to the seventy who worked with Moses. God chose those seventy from among the elders (Num. 11:16-17, 24, 25).
Commentators differ on how to read God's response. Some see God stooping to comfort a worn-out servant.
The unbelief and grievous sin of the people led Moses to break down. But it is very beautiful to see how the Lord stooped in kindness to meet His fainting servant. Moses should no longer feel lonely, as though he had to bear the weight alone.
Others weigh the exact words God used.
Moses loses something of the importance of his place. God does not say, "I will give them of My Spirit." He says, "I will take some of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them." That was in fact a strong rebuke.
Seventy-one men now carried what one had carried. That did not mean more power was at work in the camp.
Moses lost a great privilege. The LORD still exercised the same power, though He used seventy other men to do it. He spread the power of the Spirit wider; He did not increase it.
Scripture records not one word of what the seventy said. The point is that they prophesied at all.
They are to share with Moses the burden of the people, and for this they are to share the Spirit that rests upon Moses. They too are to be prophets. They are to bring the word of God straight to the people of God, and so hold back their drifting away from Him.
Prophecy has a pattern in Scripture. It shows up when things break down.
We shall find that prophecy is the constant resource in days when people turn away from God. When the priesthood failed in the days of Eli the priest, God raised up Samuel to stand between the people and God. When the kings had failed in Israel, the prophets came into ever-increasing importance. Sometimes the regular order breaks down and the usual channels of blessing close up. Then prophecy is the sign of God's sovereign grace, pouring itself out through new channels of its own making.
The Spirit resting on these men is not the same thing Christians receive.
Let no one think we mean that the Holy Spirit did not act on earth before this. Scripture is plain about it. At creation, He brooded over the face of the waters (Gen. 1:2). Before the flood He strove with men (Gen. 6:3). He came upon men for prophecy or for power (Num. 11:25-26; Judges 14:6)… But none of these is the baptism of the Spirit, which unites believers to a glorified Christ and to one another. That took place at Pentecost.
What was true for Moses holds for anyone who serves God.
The true secret of all ministry is spiritual power. It is not man's genius, or man's intellect, or man's energy, but simply the power of the Spirit of God. This was true in the days of Moses, and it is true now… A ministry that flows from steady dependence on the Holy Spirit can never become barren. If a man is drawing on his own resources, he will soon run dry.
- Cause. Moses said the burden was too heavy for him. God answered by coming down in the cloud — the veil of His presence and the hiding place of His power.
- Gift. God took the Spirit for the seventy from what already rested on Moses. Some read this as kindness to a fainting servant. Others read it as a rebuke that cost him part of his place.
- Measure. Sharing changed the number of carriers, not the amount of power. God spread the power of the Spirit wider; He did not increase it.
- Reach. The mark of the gift was prophecy. God's word came straight to His people to hold back their drifting. It is His standing resource whenever the usual channels close up.
- Result. The Spirit came upon men then for power. He now unites believers to a glorified Christ. In every age, service that leans on Him never runs dry.
And two men remained in the camp, the name of the one, Eldad, and the name of the other, Medad; and the Spirit rested upon them (and they were among them that were written, but they had not gone out to the tent); and they prophesied in the camp.
Two of the seventy men chosen to help Moses never went out to the tent of meeting. The Spirit came on them anyway, and they prophesied where they stood, inside the camp. That raises two questions. What was this gift given to the elders? And what do we make of God acting outside the place He Himself had appointed?
Moses had just told God the load of the people was too heavy for him. The answer was seventy men who would carry it with him, and the sign that they were fit for it was prophecy — speaking God's own words to the people.
The Lord met His weak and discouraged servant. He told him to call seventy elders, and He would put the Spirit who was upon Moses on them too. They were to share the burden with him. But while this freed him from some of the care, it also cost him dignity... The elders who received the Spirit prophesied and did not cease. The record does not tell us what they prophesied. They spoke the words of God, urging the people as they drifted further from the LORD. Prophecy always comes to the front in days of failure and falling away. Here we also learn that prophecy is a gift.
Because it is a gift, it does not work like the priesthood, which passed from father to son.
Prophesying was not handed down and inherited, as the priesthood was. It was a distinct gift to each person who received it.
Eldad and Medad were on the list with the rest, but they stayed behind. Their names carry a meaning that fits what God was doing in the camp that day.
We can see the special meaning in Eldad and Medad prophesying in the camp. Their glorious names mean "God has loved" and "Love." The Spirit of God breaks over boundary-lines and refuses distance. This shows how His heart overflows toward the people. The irregularity looks wrong, and misguided zeal would have rebuked it. That only makes the action of God more noticeable. Worthy of Him are all His ways.
Joshua objected to what was happening in the camp. One writer traces his mistake to a right principle stretched too far. Joshua had learned to value the separated tent. Now he used that lesson to fence God in.
The very truth that had once kept him out of defiling company, and in step with God's mind, now narrows his spiritual vision. He uses it to limit God, instead of treating it as only part of what God has revealed of His mind. This link matters, for it is God Himself who is to counsel me and decide my walk and judgment — not any single line of His truth. While Israel was falling away, staying in the separated tabernacle was the truth and the way of blessing. But when Eldad and Medad prophesy in the camp, we must acknowledge God's Spirit, even though they do not come to the separated tabernacle.
Moses could have kept the honour to himself.
Moses was far removed from that wretched spirit of envy which would let no one speak but himself. By grace he was ready to rejoice in true spiritual power, no matter where or through whom it showed itself. He knew well that no one can prophesy rightly except by the power of the Spirit of God. Wherever that power appeared, who was he to try to quench or hinder it?
Moses did more than answer.
Joshua, who was Moses' servant, was envious for his master's sake when Eldad and Medad prophesied in the camp. But Moses rebuked him, and not with words only. He acted: he goes straight into the camp, clearly to enjoy and profit from the gift and ministry of those two men, on whom the Spirit had just fallen.
Commentators read this irregularity in two ways. One writer sees God stepping outside an arrangement He Himself made, and calls us to bow to Him, not to the arrangement.
Eldad and Medad prophesied; it was outside the order God had set up. So when some preached Christ out of rivalry, Paul was glad of it because Christ was preached. "Would that all the LORD's people were prophets!" Whenever the Lord acts by the holy power of truth, let us say, "The Lord glorify Himself." God has the right to act against His own set order, and our part is to bow to it. In the middle of failure, the energy of the Spirit of God will act despite the failure.
Another writer looks ahead, and separates these two men from Korah, who later reached for Moses' place and Aaron's priesthood.
What was pictured here — the pouring out of the Spirit on all — was, in principle, fulfilled in the Christian age. Korah, Dathan and Abiram, later on, did not act by the influence and energy of the Spirit in testifying to the people. They wanted to take authority — the kingship of Moses and the priesthood of Aaron. That was their fault.
- Burden — the people crushed Moses, so God spread the Spirit that rested on him over seventy men to share the load.
- Gift — prophecy came to each man as a gift, not by descent like the priesthood.
- Boundary — the two who never reached the tent still received the Spirit, who "breaks over boundary-lines and refuses distance."
- Envy — Joshua used a true principle to limit God. Moses corrected him, then walked into the camp to hear the two men.
- Wish — "Would that all the LORD's people were prophets" points forward to the Spirit poured out on all.
And there ran a youth, and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.
A young man runs to Moses with news: two men are prophesying in the camp, away from the tent where the elders had gathered. Everything that follows — Joshua's protest, Moses' reply — turns on one question. May God work outside the order He Himself set up?
God had just answered Moses' exhaustion by telling him to gather seventy elders. Two of them never came out to the tent, and the Spirit rested on them where they were. One writer sees two weaknesses in the story:
Moses himself is cast down by sorrow and by the distress of his circumstances. He admits that he is not able to bear with His people. Then the LORD tells him to gather to himself seventy of the elders of Israel… This also led to the haste of Joshua, who was rather indignant for his master. This was not right either. It was weakness in Moses that he could not trust the LORD to care for His people. But it was more weakness still in Joshua to be over-jealous for Moses' sake.
One writer explains what prophecy did for the people, and what the two names mean:
The blessing in prophecy is that the voice of the living God speaks out through the prophet. He brings God's word home to the present state and need of people… putting them in touch with Him, and under Him, to be guided and controlled by Him… So we can understand the special significance of Eldad and Medad, with their glorious names, "God has loved" and "Love," prophesying in the camp. The Spirit of God breaks over boundary lines and refuses distance. He shows the overflow of His heart toward the people. The apparent irregularity, which zeal without understanding would have rebuked, only made God's action stand out more. Worthy of Him are all His ways.
Joshua's problem was not carelessness about God's order. It was too narrow a use of it:
That very truth had once saved him from defiling company and kept him in step with God's mind. Here it narrows his spiritual vision, because he uses it to set limits on God, instead of treating it as only part of a revelation of His mind. This is a very important link. It is God Himself, and not any single line of His truth, who is to counsel me and settle my walk and judgment… But when Eldad and Medad prophesy in the camp, we must acknowledge God's Spirit, even though they do not come to the separated tabernacle.
Moses did not only answer Joshua. Watch where he goes next:
Joshua, who was Moses' servant, was jealous for his master's sake when Eldad and Medad prophesied in the camp. But Moses rebuked him, and not with a word only but also by an act. He goes at once into the camp, clearly to enjoy and profit by the gift and ministry of those two men, on whom the Spirit had just fallen.
The camp was the wrong place for prophecy, and the prophecy was still real. One writer draws a principle from that, and points to Paul:
Eldad and Medad prophesied, and it was outside the order God had set up. So when some preached Christ out of rivalry, Paul was glad, because Christ was preached… Whenever the Lord acts by the holy power of truth, let us say, "The Lord glorify Himself." It is God's right to act against His own set order, and our place to bow to it. Where there is failure, the energy of the Spirit of God will still act despite the failure.
The same writer treats Moses' wish as a preview of the Christian age:
Eldad and Medad prophesied in the camp, though they had not come up to the door of the tabernacle, because the Spirit rested upon them. "Would that all the LORD's people were prophets!" said the meek man of God. What was pictured here — the pouring out of the Spirit on all — was fulfilled in principle in the Christian age.
One writer turns the lesson into a prayer for us:
May we have grace to rejoice honestly in the testimony and service of all the Lord's people, even though we may not see eye to eye with them, and though our manner and our measure may differ. Nothing is more shameful than that petty spirit of envy and jealousy which will not let a man take an interest in any work but his own… A man whose heart is full of Christ will be able to say: "As long as the work is done — as long as Christ is glorified — as long as souls are saved — as long as the Lord's flock is cared for and fed, it matters nothing to me who does the work."
- Cause — Moses admitted he could not carry the people. Commentators see weakness in that, and more weakness in Joshua's jealousy for him.
- Gift — The names mean "God has loved" and "Love." The Spirit reached two men who never came to the tent. God's heart was overflowing toward the camp.
- Reach — Joshua took one true principle and used it to fence God in. The Spirit's presence, not the place, shows that God is at work.
- Result — Moses did not silence the two men. He answered the protest, then went into the camp to profit from their ministry himself.
- Reading — Moses' wish pictures the Spirit poured out on all, fulfilled in principle for Christians. So rejoice that the work is done, whoever does it.
And Joshua the son of Nun, the attendant of Moses, one of his young men, answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them!
God has just put His Spirit on seventy elders. Two of them — Eldad and Medad — prophesy in the camp instead of at the tent of meeting, and Joshua wants them stopped.
One writer asks whether the seventy elders were God's full intention, then weighs Joshua's fault against Moses' own:
Was this really the full mind of the Lord? Or did the Lord take Moses at his word, and as a result share his unique honour with these elders? It was weakness in Moses that he could not trust Jehovah to care for His people. It was even more of a weakness in Joshua to be over jealous for Moses' sake. God had honoured Moses with a remarkable distinction, and that should have lifted Joshua above such a feeling.
Joshua had learned to stay at the tent of meeting, away from a camp that had turned to idolatry. That lesson was right. Here he turns it into a rule God Himself must keep:
Here his misunderstanding of God's mind comes out into the open. That very truth had once saved him from joining what was defiled, and had kept him in agreement with God's mind. Here it narrows his spiritual vision, because he uses it to limit God instead of treating it as only a partial revelation of His mind. This connection matters greatly. It is God Himself, and not any single line of His truth, who is to counsel me, or decide my walk and judgment.
One writer names the fault as envy, and refuses to treat it as Joshua's problem alone:
Joshua is one of the last people we would expect to find this evil in. But the seed of it is, sadly, in all our hearts. Here we find Joshua trying to HINDER GOD'S WORK, led on by this fearful and dangerous spirit. It is, however, only fair to add that it is possible the envy was not for his own sake, but for Moses', whose servant he was.
The two men's names carry the message:
Eldad and Medad have glorious names: "God has loved" and "Love." We can understand, then, the special meaning of their prophesying in the camp. The Spirit of God breaks over boundary-lines, and refuses distance, as a witness to the overflow of His heart toward the people: the apparent irregularity, which unintelligent zeal would have rebuked, only making the action of God more noticeable.
Another writer draws the practical conclusion, and points to Paul:
Eldad and Medad prophesied; it was outside the order God had set up. So when some preached Christ out of rivalry, Paul was glad of it because Christ was preached... It is God's prerogative to act contrary to His set order, and for us to bow to it.
Moses did more than refuse. He went to hear the two men himself:
Joshua, who served Moses, was envious for his master's sake when Eldad and Medad prophesied in the camp. But Moses rebuked him, and not with a word only. He rebuked him by an act. He goes at once into the camp, and his purpose is plain: to enjoy and profit by the gift and ministry of the two men on whom the Spirit had just fallen.
Joshua's "stop them" comes back in the Gospels. There a disciple objects to a man working in Jesus' name outside their circle:
"Master, we saw someone casting out demons in Your name, and we tried to stop him, because he does not follow with us." The Lord's answer is as helpful now as it was then: "Do not stop him, for the one who is not against you is for you."... Such a person is working in the common cause. He acknowledges the common Master, and the common Master acknowledges him. No one, therefore, is to forbid him.
The rebuke ended Joshua's proposal, not his usefulness:
A rebuke of this kind is not meant to dishearten. Mistakes made out of personal attachment never bar us from the highest and closest confidence the very next moment. The heart is right, but it has taken counsel from the flesh, and it needs rebuke. Once the rebuke has come, the heart is free for God. Peter voiced the mind of Satan about the Lord's death, and was sharply rebuked for his mistake. Yet that did not disqualify him from going with the Lord up the holy mountain. Neither is Joshua disqualified here from the special service of a spy.
- Motive — Joshua spoke out of loyalty to Moses. Loyalty to a man is no safeguard: it led him to hinder God's work.
- Method — He took a true principle and used it to limit God. God Himself, not one line of His truth, must direct our judgment.
- Mercy — The two names mean "God has loved" and "Love." The Spirit crossed the boundary line to show God's heart toward the people.
- Model — Moses answered with more than words. He walked into the camp to hear the men Joshua wanted silenced.
- Mending — A rebuke that springs from love corrects, but it does not disqualify. Joshua was soon trusted with special service again.
But Moses said to him, Enviest thou for my sake? would that all Jehovah's people were prophets, [and] that Jehovah would put his Spirit upon them!
The people's complaining wore Moses down, so God put His Spirit on seventy elders to share the load — but two of them, Eldad and Medad, prophesied in the camp instead of at the tent. Joshua wants them stopped, and Moses' answer shows what was driving his young helper.
Two men failed here, not one. And Joshua's fault was the deeper one.
It was weakness in Moses that he could not trust Jehovah to care for His people; but it was even more in Joshua to be over-jealous for Moses' sake. The remarkable distinction with which God had honoured Moses ought to have raised Joshua above such a feeling.
Moses' generosity here was not a natural gift. It grew out of forty years of God's discipline.
Envy might have found a place in the heart of Joshua, but it had no place in the heart of Moses. The desire for pre-eminence, which is so rooted in the mind of the natural man, had no place with him. He clearly showed the meekness that the next chapter credits him with. When he was forty years old he was not very meek, as Exodus 2:12 shows. Now, after the forty years of discipline from God in Midian, he is "very meek," though he had become "very great" (Ex. 11:3) in the eyes of the world.
Moses did more than refuse to silence them. He went to listen.
Joshua, who was Moses' servant, was jealous for his master's sake when Eldad and Medad prophesied in the camp. But Moses rebuked him, and not with a word only but by an act. He goes at once into the camp, clearly to enjoy and profit by the gift and ministry of those two, on whom the Spirit had just fallen.
The two men were out of position. God is not bound by the order He Himself set up.
Eldad and Medad prophesied; it was outside the order God had set up. So when some preached Christ out of rivalry, Paul was glad of it, because Christ was preached. "Would that all the Lord's people were prophets!" Whenever the Lord acts by the holy power of truth, let us say, "The Lord glorify Himself." It is God's prerogative to act contrary to His set order, and ours to bow to it. In the middle of failure, the energy of the Spirit of God will act despite the failure.
The timing matters as much as the place. Speaking for God comes to the front exactly when things are collapsing.
The elders who received the Spirit prophesied and did not stop. What they prophesied is not revealed in the record. They spoke the words of God, urging the people in their growing departure from Jehovah. Prophecy is always put in the foreground in days of failure and apostasy. Here we also learn that prophecy is a gift.
Moses' wish was more than kindness. Set it beside the later rebellion of Korah, Dathan and Abiram, who grasped at the place of Moses and Aaron.
It is remarkable that those who appeal to Korah, Dathan and Abiram pass by a case just before it, bearing on this very subject. Eldad and Medad prophesied in the camp, though they had not come up to the door of the tent, because the Spirit rested on them. "Would that," said the meek man of God, "all the Lord's people were prophets!" What was here set out in figure — the pouring out of the Spirit on all — was in principle fulfilled in the Christian era. Later, Korah, Dathan and Abiram were not acting by the power of the Spirit in testifying to the people. They wanted to take authority — the kingship of Moses and the priesthood of Aaron. That was their fault. These things were pictures of our own time, as the apostle states. They make preaching by all desirable, and claiming a priestly office a sin.
Moses' wish has an answer already, and another still to come.
This wish of Moses is fulfilled in the church, for all His believing people now have the gift of the Spirit. And the remnant of God's earthly people will yet be prophets, with the Spirit of God poured out on them. This will happen in the future, when the Lord has come.
The same test reaches us. A heart full of Christ cares about the work, not about who does it.
May we have grace to rejoice sincerely in the testimony and service of all the Lord's people. We may not see eye to eye with them, and our method and our measure may differ. A man whose heart is full of Christ will be able to say, and to say it without pretence: "Provided the work is done — provided Christ is glorified — provided souls are saved — provided the Lord's flock is cared for and fed, it matters nothing to me who does the work."
- Two failures. Moses could not trust God with the burden; Joshua could not bear to see his master's honour shared. The second was the worse of the two.
- Meekness grew. Forty years of God's discipline turned a man who was not meek at forty into one who would not silence a rival.
- Gift, not rank. The Spirit rested on two men who never came to the tent door. Place did not decide who spoke for God.
- God outruns His own order. Where He acts in real power, our part is to bow and say, "The Lord glorify Himself," not to forbid.
- The wish came true. All His believing people now have the Spirit — so preaching by all is desirable, and claiming a priestly office is sin.