Concepts of Scriptural Language in Midrash 71suggesting that Eldad and Medad spoke concerning Gog and Magog is not
at all clear from the local context in Numbers 11. It becomes clear, how-
ever, when one examines Numbers 11:26 (which the midrash cites rather
cryptically to support this reading) together with Ezekiel, chapter 38. Th at
chapter contains the biblical account of the ascent and fall of Gog, a leader
from the land of Magog. According to Ezekiel’s prophecy, Gog will as-
semble a multinational force to attack Israel, only to fall in a defeat that
will usher in the restoration of the nation Israel to its land at the eschaton.
A crucial element that provides a link to Numbers 11:26 appears in Eze-
kiel 38:17, which reads (and I translate quite literally), “Th us says the Lord
Yhwh: Are you the one concerning whom I spoke in ancient days through
my servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied during those days years
that I would bring you against the Israelites?” Th e Hebrew of this verse is
odd, since the word “years” does not fi t into the syntax of the sentence.
Th is is precisely the sort of textual oddity that attracts the rabbis’ atten-
tion, suggesting to them that the text might be read another way that will
reveal a connection to another verse elsewhere in the Bible. In this case,
as in many others, the rabbis base their reading on the fact that Hebrew
in their days was written without any vowels. Consequently, they suggest
that the word “years” (Hebrew, shanim) should be read as “two” (sh e nayim
— the same exact letters, but with diff erent vowels). Th is yields the transla-
tion, “Are you the one concerning whom I spoke in ancient days through
my servants the prophets of Israel, who prophesied during those days, two
of them, that I would bring you against the Israelites?” In this rereading of
Ezekiel 38:17, the prophet Ezekiel recalls a time long before his own era (“in
ancient days”) when two prophets together issued a prophecy concerning
Gog and Magog. Th is implies the question, when in the Bible do we fi nd
two prophets prophesying in tandem? Th ere is only one such place in all of
Jewish scripture: the story of Eldad and Medad, in Numbers 11. Th us, the
connection between Numbers 11:26 and Ezekiel 38:17 implied by the odd
phrasing in the latter allows us to deduce an additional piece of narrative
that is hidden in the former and becomes clear only when we use the inter-
pretive key in the latter to unlock it. When Eldad and Medad prophesied,
they predicted just what Ezekiel would one day predict: the rise and fall of
Gog from the land of Magog.
In this example, we see the fi rst, third, and fourth characteristics dis-
cussed earlier in play. (1) Th e biblical text, spoken or inspired by God, is
supercharged with meaning. Th erefore, when Ezekiel 38:17 reads “years,” it
also intends “two.” (In this case, it is the unvocalized nature of the Hebrew