Eldad () and Medad () are mentioned in the
Book of Numbers, and are described as having prophesied among the
Israelites
Israelites were a Hebrew language, Hebrew-speaking ethnoreligious group, consisting of tribes that lived in Canaan during the Iron Age.
Modern scholarship describes the Israelites as emerging from indigenous Canaanites, Canaanite populations ...
, despite the fact that they had remained in the camp, while 70 elders had gone to the tabernacle outside the camp to receive the ability to prophesy from
God
In monotheistic belief systems, God is usually viewed as the supreme being, creator, and principal object of faith. In polytheistic belief systems, a god is "a spirit or being believed to have created, or for controlling some part of the un ...
. According to the narrative,
Joshua
Joshua ( ), also known as Yehoshua ( ''Yəhōšuaʿ'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: ''Yŏhōšuaʿ,'' Literal translation, lit. 'Yahweh is salvation'), Jehoshua, or Josue, functioned as Moses' assistant in the books of Book of Exodus, Exodus and ...
asked
Moses
In Abrahamic religions, Moses was the Hebrews, Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites out of slavery in the The Exodus, Exodus from ancient Egypt, Egypt. He is considered the most important Prophets in Judaism, prophet in Judaism and Samaritani ...
to forbid Eldad and Medad from prophecy, but Moses argued that it was a good thing that others could prophesy, and that ideally all the Israelites would prophesy.
In
rabbinical tradition, there are a number of opinions as to what Eldad and Medad prophesized. According to one source they are said to have predicted a war with
Gog and
Magog, with the king from Magog uniting the non-Jews and launching war in Israel against the Jews, but these non-Jews being defeated and slain by fire from the
Throne of God. Some classical rabbinical literature argues that the non-Jews would be at the mercy of the
Jewish Messiah; such Messianic connections of Eldad and Medad also circulated among early
Christian
A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...
groups, and a particularly popular discussion of such prophecy was even quoted in the
apocryphal Shepherd of Hermas. According to other Rabbinic sources they predicted God's forthcoming sending of the quail in response to the Israelites's complaining of hunger in . Lastly according to the other source, which Rashi quotes, they predicted that Moses would pass and Joshua would lead the children of Israel into the Land of Israel.
The unique Greek quotation is in the
Visions of The Shepherd of Hermas 2.3.4, which
Latin
Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...
,
Ethiopic, and
Coptic versions are derived from.
According to
biblical scholars
Biblical studies is the academic application of a set of diverse academic discipline, disciplines to the study of the Bible, with ''Bible'' referring to the books of the Biblical canon#Jewish canons, canonical Hebrew Bible in mainstream Judais ...
, the real purpose of the story was to indicate that prophecy was not restricted to a select few people.
[Cheyne and Black, '' Encyclopedia Biblica''] However, the text states that Eldad and Medad "were of them that were written down", making them less representative of the general population, although some
textual scholars believe that this is a
gloss added to the original
Elohist account, by a later editor who objected to the idea that anyone could become a prophet.
The names themselves are hence unimportant to the point of the story, and may have been chosen simply for the sake of
assonance;
they seem to refer to , suggesting
polytheism and/or a non-Israelite origin:
*if the names are
Hebrew
Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
, then could mean 'paternal uncle', with thus meaning 'God is the brother of my father' or '
El is the brother of my father',
and meaning '(one who is) of my father's brother'
*if the names are
Assyria
Assyria (Neo-Assyrian cuneiform: , ''māt Aššur'') was a major ancient Mesopotamian civilization that existed as a city-state from the 21st century BC to the 14th century BC and eventually expanded into an empire from the 14th century BC t ...
n, then could be a corruption of , meaning 'beloved', with thus meaning 'God is beloved' or 'El is beloved',
and meaning 'object of affection'
*if the names are
Akkadian, then could be a corruption of , the name of a deity known to the
Aramaeans as , with thus meaning 'El is Hadad' or 'Hadad is God',
and meaning '(one who is) of Hadad'
According to Jewish tradition, Eldad and Medad were buried in the same cave in
Edrei.
[''Burial Places of the Fathers'', published by Yehuda Levi Nahum in book: ''Ṣohar la-ḥasifat ginzei teiman'' (Heb. צהר לחשיפת גנזי תימן), Tel-Aviv 1986, p. 253]
Notes and citations
{{Prophets of the Tanakh
Book of Numbers people
Mythological duos