Eldad
“Whom God has loved”
Summary
One of the seventy elders appointed to assist Moses who, together with Medad, prophesied in the camp rather than at the tabernacle, prompting Moses' famous wish that all God's people were prophets.
☩The Prophesying in the Camp
Eldad was one of the seventy elders appointed at God's command to share 'the burden of the people' with Moses. When the Spirit rested upon the elders at the tent of meeting, it also came upon Eldad and Medad who had remained in the camp, and they prophesied there. Their mode of prophecy was probably the extempore production of inspired hymns and utterances, similar to Saul's experience when the Spirit came upon him. The fact that they prophesied away from the tabernacle appeared irregular to some.
☩Moses' Response
When a young man reported to Moses that Eldad and Medad were prophesying in the camp, Joshua urged Moses to forbid them, perhaps fearing they were using the gift for self-aggrandizement or unauthorized purposes. Moses' reply demonstrated characteristic magnanimity: 'Enviest thou for my sake? Would God that all the Lord's people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them!' This response anticipated the wider distribution of spiritual gifts that would come at Pentecost, when the Spirit was poured out on all believers regardless of official position.
References
- 1.James Orr (ed.), "Eldad," in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. II (Howard-Severance Company, 1915).
- 2.John McClintock and James Strong, "Eldad," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. III (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 3.Andrew Robert Fausset, "Eldad," in The Englishman's Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia (Hodder & Stoughton, 1878).