Medad
“Love or affection”
Summary
Medad was one of the seventy elders appointed by Moses who prophesied in the Israelite camp rather than at the tabernacle, prompting Moses's famous wish that all God's people were prophets.
☩The Prophecy in Camp
Medad and Eldad were among the seventy elders nominated by Moses to assist in governing the people. Unlike the others who went to the tabernacle, these two remained in the camp—perhaps, as some suggest, from modest self-doubt about their fitness for the office. Nevertheless, the Spirit of God rested upon them even there, and they prophesied in the camp. When a young man reported this to Moses, Joshua urged that they be restrained. But Moses refused, saying, 'Would that all Yahweh's people were prophets, and that Yahweh would put his spirit upon them!'
☩Traditions
The Targum of Jonathan preserves a tradition that Medad and Eldad were half-brothers of Moses and Aaron, being sons of Jochebed by a previous husband named Elizaphan. Various later traditions attempted to supply the subject matter of their prophecy, though Scripture itself is silent on this point. The episode became significant in later Jewish and Christian thought as an illustration of the unpredictable and uncontrollable nature of the Spirit's work, and as precedent for prophetic gifts operating outside official channels.
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Medad," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. VI (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.James Orr (ed.), "Medad," in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. III (Howard-Severance Company, 1915).