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.