🔢WEB · Numbers 11:26
What does Numbers 11:26 mean?
"But two men remained in the camp. The name of one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad: and the Spirit rested on them; and they were of those who were written, but had not gone out to the Tent; and they prophesied in the camp."
— Numbers 11:26 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
Yahweh said to Moses, “Has Yahweh’s hand grown short? Now you will see whether my word will happen to you or not.”
Moses went out, and told the people Yahweh’s words; and he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people, and set them around the Tent.
Yahweh came down in the cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was on him, and put it on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, but they did so no more.
But two men remained in the camp. The name of one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad: and the Spirit rested on them; and they were of those who were written, but had not gone out to the Tent; and they prophesied in the camp.
A young man ran, and told Moses, and said, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp!”
Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his chosen men, answered, “My lord Moses, forbid them!”
Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all Yahweh’s people were prophets, that Yahweh would put his Spirit on them!”
Explanation
Numbers 11:26 tells us that two Israelite men, Eldad and Medad, stayed behind in the camp while others gathered at the Tabernacle, yet the Spirit of God still came upon them, and they began to prophesy right where they were. The verse specifically notes that they had been among those chosen and registered for this outpouring of the Spirit, but for whatever reason had not gone out to the Tent of Meeting with the rest of the group. Despite their absence from the official gathering place, God's Spirit did not wait for them to be in the "right" location—it rested on them in the camp itself.
To understand this verse, we need the surrounding context in Numbers 11. Moses was overwhelmed by the burden of leading the complaining, grumbling Israelites through the wilderness after the Exodus from Egypt. God told Moses to gather seventy elders of Israel at the Tent of Meeting, where the Lord would take some of the Spirit that was on Moses and put it on them, so they could share the responsibility of leading the people. Numbers 11:24-25 describes this happening at the Tent, with the elders prophesying as a sign of the Spirit's presence on them. Verse 26 then reveals that two of the seventy chosen elders, Eldad and Medad, were not physically present at the Tent when this happened—yet they still received the Spirit and prophesied in the camp.
Theologically, this passage demonstrates that God's Spirit is not confined to a single sacred location or bound by human expectations of how and where He should work. Eldad and Medad
Compare translations
Go deeper with ScriptureCompanion AI
Ask questions about any verse, follow reading plans, write personal prayers, and track your daily habit — all grounded in verified scripture text.