Bamidbar 11:24

24 And Moshe went out, and told HaAm the divrei Hashem, and gathered the seventy men of the Ziknei HaAm, and set them round about the Ohel [Moed].

Bamidbar 11:24 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 11:24

And Moses went out
Either out of his own tent, about which the people assembled, complaining and weeping, ( Numbers 11:10 ) ; or rather, as Aben Ezra, out of the tabernacle of the congregation, and the sanctuary where he had been conversing with God, about the affairs complained of both by the people and by himself; so the Targum of Jonathan says, he went out of the tabernacle, the house of the Shechinah or divine Majesty:

and told the people of the words of the Lord;
what he had ordered him to do for his ease in the government of them, and how he had promised to give them flesh on the morrow:

and gathered the seventy men of the elders of Israel;
sent for them by name, and ordered them to assemble at such a time and place; and though two of them came not, after mentioned, ( Numbers 11:26 ) , yet the full number of seventy is given:

and set them round about the tabernacle;
they seem to be set not promiscuously in a body together, but distinctly, one by another, in a circular form; that they might be seen, observed, and taken notice of by the people that came about the tabernacle, who they were, what were done to them, and what befell them.

Bamidbar 11:24 In-Context

22 Shall the flocks and the herds be slain for them, to suffice them? Or shall all the dag (fish) of the yam be gathered together for them, to suffice them?

23 And Hashem said unto Moshe, Is the Yad Hashem cut short (i.e., limited in power)? Thou shalt see now whether My Devar shall come to pass unto thee or not.

24 And Moshe went out, and told HaAm the divrei Hashem, and gathered the seventy men of the Ziknei HaAm, and set them round about the Ohel [Moed].

25 And Hashem came down in an Anan, and spoke unto him, and took of the Ruach [Hakodesh] that was upon him, and gave [Him] unto the seventy Zekenim; and it came to pass, that, when the Ruach [Hakodesh] rested upon them, they prophesied, but did not continue. [See Shmuel Alef 10:6; 19:24; Ac 19:6]

26 But there remained two of the anashim in the machaneh, the shem of the one was Eldad, and the shem of the other Medad: and the Ruach [Hakodesh] rested upon them; and they were of them that were listed, but went not out unto the Ohel [Moed]; and they prophesied in the machaneh.