Parshat B’haalotkha:

While Chapter 11 in the book of Bamidbar bears little resemblance to the famous reorganization process of the Bankruptcy Code, it does have a series of setbacks that seem to put the people in a negative light. Disobedience, complaining, people getting punished by fire, or their bodies suffer the effects of too much quail.

Towards the end of the chapter there is a tale concerning two men, Eldad and Meidad, and their prophesying in the camp. Were they good or bad? Is this a positive story, or does it follow the theme of the rest of the chapter – which is largely negative?

The Gemara Sanhedrin (17a) describes a dilemma Moshe was faced with. He had to gather 70 elders from 12 tribes. Were he to take five elders from each tribe, he’d only have 60 elders. 6 elders from each tribe would result in having two extra elders. To resolve the dilemma – because he did not want to favor any specific tribe or to make such choices – he created a lottery of sorts, in which he prepared 72 pieces of paper for the six representatives per tribe. Each picked one – 70 said on them “Zaken” indicating that it’s recipient was chosen, and 2 of them were blank – freeing their recipients of any responsibility. Eldad and Meidad (E&M) received the blank sheets.

The Gemara goes on to describe their humility. While others were clamoring to be the elders, E&M saw themselves as unworthy to be the elders. As a result, G-d rewarded them with greatness. While other prophets prophesied and their careers ended, E&M’s prophesies did not end.

The Medrash Tanchuma (22) lists four additional differences: The elders could only prophesy about the coming day, while E&M prophesied about what would take place in 40 years. The elders did not enter the land, while E&M merited to enter the land (following the opinion that Eldad was Elidad ben Kislon of 34:21, while Meidad was K’muel ben Shiftan of 34:24). The elders were not named, and we have no record of their identities, while E&M are obviously named. The elders had their prophesy come from Moshe, while the prophesy of E&M came directly from G-d.