Numbers 11:27

27 A young man ran and told Moses, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp!"

Numbers 11:27 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 11:27

And there ran a young man
From the camp to the tabernacle, who had heard Eldad and Medad prophesy; which he thought was not right, being done without the knowledge and approbation of Moses, and in a private tent in the tabernacle, not among the elders, but the common people: who this young than was is not material to know; some of the Rabbins, as Jarchi says, affirm he was Gershon the son of Moses; whoever he was, no doubt, it was with a good design, consulting the glory of God and the honour of Moses, and therefore in great haste ran to him with the information:

and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp;
who seem by this, to be persons well known, and of some note and figure; since not only the young man could call them by their names, but there needed no other description of them to Moses and those with him.

Numbers 11:27 In-Context

25 God came down in a cloud and spoke to Moses and took some of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy leaders. When the Spirit rested on them they prophesied. But they didn't continue; it was a onetime event.
26 Meanwhile two men, Eldad and Medad, had stayed in the camp. They were listed as leaders but they didn't leave camp to go to the Tent. Still, the Spirit also rested on them and they prophesied in the camp.
27 A young man ran and told Moses, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp!"
28 Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses' right-hand man since his youth, said, "Moses, master! Stop them!"
29 But Moses said, "Are you jealous for me? Would that all God's people were prophets. Would that God would put his Spirit on all of them."
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.