כו וַיִּשָּׁאֲרוּ שְׁנֵי-אֲנָשִׁים בַּמַּחֲנֶה שֵׁם הָאֶחָד אֶלְדָּד וְשֵׁם הַשֵּׁנִי מֵידָד וַתָּנַח עֲלֵהֶם הָרוּחַ, וְהֵמָּה בַּכְּתֻבִים, וְלֹא יָצְאוּ, הָאֹהֱלָה; וַיִּתְנַבְּאוּ, בַּמַּחֲנֶה.
כז וַיָּרָץ הַנַּעַר, וַיַּגֵּד לְמֹשֶׁה וַיֹּאמַר: אֶלְדָּד וּמֵידָד, מִתְנַבְּאִים בַּמַּחֲנֶה.
כח וַיַּעַן יְהוֹשֻׁעַ בִּן-נוּן, מְשָׁרֵת מֹשֶׁה מִבְּחֻרָיו--וַיֹּאמַר: אֲדֹנִי מֹשֶׁה, כְּלָאֵם.
כט וַיֹּאמֶר לוֹ מֹשֶׁה, הַמְקַנֵּא אַתָּה לִי; וּמִי יִתֵּן כָּל-עַם יְהוָה, נְבִיאִים--כִּי-יִתֵּן יְהוָה אֶת-רוּחוֹ, עֲלֵיהֶם.
Here is the translation:
26 But there remained two men in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad; and the spirit rested upon them; and they were of them that were recorded, but had not gone out unto the Tent; and they prophesied in the camp.
27 And there ran a young man, and told Moses, and said: 'Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.'
28 And Joshua the son of Nun, the minister of Moses from his youth up, answered and said: 'My lord Moses, shut them in.'
29 And Moses said unto him: 'Art thou jealous for my sake? would that all the LORD'S people were prophets, that the LORD would put His spirit upon them!'
From the Jewish Encyclopedia:
Two men who prophesied in the camp during the wanderings in the wilderness (Num. xi. 26-29). According to an old rabbinical tradition, they predicted the war with Gog and Magog. "The king from the land of Magog will unite all the hosts of the heathen in a warfare on the soil of Palestine against the Jews returning from the Exile at the Messianic time, but the Lord [
= Κύρις] will be ready in the time of distress and slay them with the fire issuing forth from His throne, and their bodies will fall upon the mountains of the land of Israel and be eaten up by the wild beasts and the birds of heaven. Then will all the dead of the people of Israel be revived and partake of the bliss prepared for them from the beginning" (Targ. Yer. to Num. xi. 26; comp. Sanh. 17a; Tan., Beha'aloteka, ed. Buber, 22). According to the fragment of Targum Yer. (ib.), the heathen will fall into the hand of the Messiah (comp. Bacher, "Ag. Tan." i. 88, ii. 119; "Monatsschrift," 1857, pp. 346 et seq.).This Messianic prophecy of Eldad and Medad seems to have been made the subject of a special work, consisting of 400 lines, which circulated in the first Christian century; it is quoted in the "Shepherd of Hermas," vision ii. 3, as containing the sentence found also in the Targum: "The Lord [Κύριος] is nigh to those in distress." See Schürer, "Gesch." 3d ed., iii. 266.
From Legends of the Jews (speaking as to their identity and the nature of their prophecy):
When Moses had completed the appointment of the elders and had asked them to accompany him to the Tabernacle, there to receive the Holy Spirit, Eldad and Medad, two of these elders, in their humility, did not obey his summons, but hid themselves, deeming themselves unworthy of this distinction. God rewarded them for their humility by distinguishing them five-fold above the other elders. These prophesied what would take place on the following day, announcing the appearance of the quails, but Eldad and Medad prophesied what was still veiled in the distant future. The elders prophesied only on this one day, but Eldad and Medad retained the gift for life. The elders died in the desert, whereas Eldad and Medad were the leaders of the people after the death of Joshua. The elders are not mentioned by name in the Scriptures, whereas theses two are called by name. The elders, furthermore, had received the prophetic gift from Moses, whereas Eldad and Medad received it directly from God.
Eldad now began to make prophecies, saying: "Moses will die, and Joshua the son of Nun will be his successor as leader of the people, whom he will lead into the land of Canaan, and to whom he will give it as a possession." Medad's prophecy was as follows: "Quails will come from the sea and will cover the camp of Israel, but they will bring evil to the people." Besides these prophecies, both together announced the following revelation: "At the end of days there will come up out of the land of Magog a king to whom all nations will do homage. Crowned kings, princes, and warriors with shields will gather to make war upon those returned from exile in the land of Israel. But God, the Lord, will stand by Israel in their need and will slay all their enemies by hurling a flame from under His glorious Throne. This will consume the souls in the hosts of the king of Magog, so that their bodies will drop lifeless upon the mountains of the land of Israel, and will become a prey to the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air. Then will all the dead among Israel arise and rejoice in the good that at the beginning of the world was laid up for them, and will receive the reward for their good deeds."
When Gershon, Moses' son, heard these prophecies of Eldad and Medad, he hurried to his father and told him of them. Joshua was now greatly agitated about the prophecy that Moses was to die in the desert and that he as to be his successor, and said to Moses: "O lord, destroy these people that prophesy such evil news!" But Moses replied: "O Joshua, canst thou believe that I begrudge thee thy splendid future? It is my wish that thou mayest be honored as much as I have been and that all Israel be honored like thee."
Eldad and Medad were distinguished not only by their prophetic gift, but also by their noble birth, being half-brothers of Moses and Aaron. When the marriage laws were revealed, all those who had been married to relatives by blood had to be divorced from them, so that Amram, too, had to be separated from his wife Jochebed, who was his aunt, and he married another woman. From this union sprang Eldad, "not of an aunt," and Medad, "in place of an aunt," so called by Amram to explain by these names why he had divorced his first wife, his aunt.
A couple of interesting questions/points:
1. Who is the "Na'ar" in Verse 27? Legends of the Jews identifies him as Gershon, son of Moshe.
2. This is one of only 2 places in Tanach to use the format describing 2 people as "שֵׁם הָאֶחָד ......וְשֵׁם הַשֵּׁנִי". The other is in Shmuel 2 (4:2).
3. Why does it now describe Yehoshua in Verse 28 as "Moshe's servant from his youth"? It doesn't seem relevant to this story.
4. In Verse 28, this is the only use of the wors "כְּלָאֵם" in Tanach, meaning "shut them in."
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