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From: Numbers 11:25-29
The Appointment of the Seventy Elders
[26] Now two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad, and the other named
Medad, and the spirit rested upon them; they were among those registered, but
they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp. [27] And a
young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”
[28] And Joshua the son of Nun, the minister of Moses, one of his chosen men,
said, “My lord Moses, forbid them.” [29] But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous
for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would
put his spirit upon them!”
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Commentary:
11:24:30. God himself is the source of the spirit and he can give it to whomever
he chooses, irrespective of human qualifications. Moses, for his part, has abso-
lutely the right attitude: he has no desire to monopolize the spirit or to be its only
channel; he seeks only the people’s welfare and is delighted to see signs of the
spirit in other people; indeed, he would like all the Israelites to have it.
Commenting on this passage, St Cyril of Jerusalem teaches: “there is a hint here
of what happened at Pentecost among us” (”Catechesis Ad Illuminandos”, 16,
26). God did indeed promise the spirit to all the people (cf. Joel 3:1-2) and the day
came when that promise was fulfilled through Jesus Christ who, after his ascen-
sion into heaven, sent the Holy Spirit to the Church (cf. Acts 1:13). Therefore, the
Church, “the holy people of God shares also in Christ’s prophet office: it spreads
abroad a living witness to him especially by a life of faith and love [...]. It is not on-
ly through the sacraments and the ministrations of the Church that the Holy Spirit
makes holy the people, leads them and enriches them with his virtues. Allotting
his gifts according as he wills (cf. Cor 12:11), he also distributes special graces
among the faithful of every rank. By these gifts he makes them fit and ready to
undertake various tasks and offices for the renewal and building up of the Church”
(Vatican 11, “Lumen Gentium”, 12).
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Source: “The Navarre Bible: Text and Commentaries”. Biblical text from the
Revised Standard Version and New Vulgate. Commentaries by members of
the Faculty of Theology, University of Navarre, Spain.
Published by Four Courts Press, Kill Lane, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland, and
by Scepter Publishers in the United States.