70 Benjamin D. Sommer
Concrete Examples
From among thousands of examples in midrashic literature that display
these characteristics, space permits consideration of a few midrashim
on a single passage. In Numbers 11:16, God directs Moses to choose sev-
enty men from among the elders of Israel who will become prophets; the
men accorded this honor were to station themselves alongside Moses at
the Tent of Meeting. Numbers 11:26 informs us that two of these men, El-
dad and Medad, did not go out to the Tent of Meeting, yet they became
prophets nonetheless and broke out into prophesying inside the Israelite
encampment, some distance from the Tent. In verses 27 – 29, a lad ran and
informed Moses that they were prophesying, whereupon Moses’s assistant
Joshua said, “My lord Moses, restrain them!” Moses, however, approved of
their prophesying and rebuked Joshua for being jealous on his behalf.
According to Numbers Rabbah §15.15 (15.19 in some editions), Eldad and
Medad were rewarded for acting with humility. Because they decided to re-
main in the camp rather than accepting the honor of being publicly recog-
nized as prophets, their prophetic status was greater than that of the other
elders in fi ve ways. In what follows, I examine the midrashic derivation of
one of these ways. Th e midrash says of Eldad and Medad,
For minimizing their own stature, they became greater than the elders [i.e.,
the other sixty-eight prophets] in fi ve respects. Th e elders’ prophecies con-
tained predictions concerning only the next day, as the biblical text says,
“Tell the people, ‘You will become holy concerning the morrow’ ” [Num-
bers 11:18]. But these two issued prophecies concerning what would hap-
pen years later, as it states, “Two men remained in the camp” [Numbers
11.26]. What did they predict? Th ere are those who say that they proph-
esied [concerning the end of days], predicting the fall of Gog and Magog.
And there are those who say they prophesied concerning what would hap-
pen forty years later [at the end of the Children of Israel’s time in the wil-
derness, specifi cally] that Moses would die, and that [his assistant] Joshua
would lead them into the Land of Israel. Th is is clear, since Joshua said to
Moses [Numbers 11.28]: “Joshua the son of Nun answered.”Th e midrash tells us that Eldad and Medad prophesied concerning the
far future, predicting either the fall of Gog and Magog at the end of days
or the death of Moses forty years aft er their own prophecy was issued.
It is worthwhile to study the fi rst possibility more closely. Th e evidence