'כי יתן ה' את רוחו עליהם': על יכולת ההאצלה

And the LORD said unto Moses: ‘Gather unto Me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them unto the tent of meeting, that they may stand there with thee. And I will come down and speak with thee there; and I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone.

וכי יתן כל עם ה׳ נביאים, “would that all the Lord’s people were prophets!” Moses did not care if they would prophesy in the camp or only in the sacred precincts around the Tabernacle, as long as they would make his task easier to accomplish. כי יתן ה׳ את רוחו עליהם, “as long as G-d directly would bestow His holy spirit upon them!” He wanted them to receive holy spirit from G-d directly, not only as a part of the holy spirit that had been bestowed upon him. He realised that the seventy men had received only part of the Holy spirit that he had been endowed with, and that this Holy spirit would vanish as soon as he would die. He therefore prayed that they would receive permanent Holy spirit.

(Numb. 11:16), “Gather Me seventy men [from the elders of Israel].” When the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses, “Gather Me seventy men,” Moses said, “How shall I manage to get [them] from all the tribes?⁴⁸Numb. R. 15:19; Sifre to Numb. 11:24-26 (95). If I get five each from every tribe, they will not add up to the number seventy. There will [only] be sixty. And if we get six each from every tribe, they will add up to the number seventy-two. But if we get five from one tribe and six from another, I shall be imposing jealousy among the tribes.” What did Moses do? R. Judah says, “He took seventy pieces of paper⁴⁹Petaqim; cf. Gk.: pittikia (“notes”). and wrote ‘elder’ on them. Then he took another (seventy) [two] blank pieces of paper, mixed them up, put them in an urn,⁵⁰Gk.: kalpis. and said to them, ‘Come and take your pieces of paper.’ Whoever took a paper with ‘elder’ written on it knew that he had been appointed an elder. Whoever came up with a blank paper in his hand knew that he had not been appointed an elder.” R. Nehemiah said to him, “There would still have been a controversy, since [a loser] could have said to him, ‘Where is a paper with "elder" written on it? If it had been there, it would have come up in my hand.’” Therefore, how did he manage for them? R. Nehemiah said, “He took seventy-two pieces of paper and wrote ‘elder’ on them plus [seventy-]two other blank pieces of paper. Then he mixed them up and put them in the urn. He said to them, ‘Come and take your papers.’ If a paper with ‘elder’ written on it came up in [a person's] hand he knew that he had been appointed an elder, but if a blank one came up in his hand he knew that he had not been appointed. Then the officer-in-charge would say to him, ‘Look there is another paper there with “elder" written upon it. If you had been worthy of being appointed, [a paper with "elder"] would have come up in your hand.’” When [Moses had followed this procedure] the elders were appointed. Eldad and Medad were there, but they excluded themselves. They said, “We are not worthy to be in the number of the elders.” Now because they excluded themselves, they were found [to have become] superior to the elders in five respects. The elders only prophesied for the morrow as stated (in Numb. 11:18), “And you shall say to the people, ‘Purify yourselves for the morrow,’” but these men prophesied what was going to happen at the end of forty years as stated (in Numb. 11:26), “But two men had remained in the camp; [the name of the one was Eldad and the name of the other was Medad…; and they were…] prophesying in the camp.” But what were they prophesying? Some say [they were prophesying] about the downfall of Gog and Magog, while others say they were prophesying that Moses would die and Joshua would bring Israel into the Land. You yourself know that they so prophesied, since it is what Joshua told Moshe (in vs. 28), “Then Joshua ben Nun, Moses' attendant from his youth, answered.” And it is written (in vs. 27), “But a lad ran and told Moses.” And who was it? It was Moses' son, Gershom. The elders did not enter the land, but these did enter the land. Eldad is [so listed] (in Numb. 34:21) [as] Elidad ben Chislon. Medad is [so listed] (in Numb. 34:24) [as] Kemuel ben Shiphtan. The elders were not designated by their names, but these were designated by their names. The elders had their prophecy cease, but these did not have their prophecy cease. It is so stated (of the seventy in Numb. 11:25), “they prophesied but did not continue.” In the case of the elders, their prophecy was from what belonged to Moses, even as the Scripture has said (in Numb. 11:17), “and I will set aside some of the spirit which is upon you and put it on them”; but these [two] had their prophecy from that which belonged to the Holy One, blessed be He, as stated (in Numb. 11:26), “and the spirit rested upon them.”
Now if you say, “Since the elders had their prophecy from what belonged to Moses, might it not have lessened his prophecy somewhat?” [The answer is] no. To what may Moses be compared? To a lamp which was lit and⁵¹Sifre to Numb. 11:17 (93). everyone lights up from it; yet its light is in no way diminished. So also in the case of Moses. Although the prophets took of his prophecy, the prophecy of Moses was in no way diminished. [It is so stated] (in Deut. 34:10), “And never again did there arise in Israel a prophet like Moses.”

Rabbi Shimon says: Eldad and Medad remained in the camp, as they did not want to come to the lottery for the Elders. At the time that the Holy One, Blessed be He, said to Moses: Gather for me seventy Elders, Eldad and Medad said: We are not fitting for that level of greatness; we are not worthy of being appointed among the Elders. The Holy One, Blessed be He, said: Since you have made yourselves humble, I will add greatness to your greatness. And what is the greatness that he added to them? It was that all of the prophets, meaning the other Elders, who were given prophecy, prophesied for a time and then stopped prophesying, but they prophesied and did not stop.