Numbers 11:24

24 Therefore Moses came, and told the people the words of the Lord; and he gathered seventy men of the elders of Israel, which he made (to) stand about the tabernacle.

Numbers 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.

Numbers 11:24 In-Context

22 Whether the multitude of sheep and of oxen shall be able to be slain, that it may suffice (to) this people to meat (that it can suffice for enough food for these people), either whether all the fishes of the sea shall be gathered together, that those [ful]fill them?

23 To whom the Lord answered, Whether the Lord's hand is unmighty? right now thou shalt see, whether my word shall be fulfilled in work. (To whom the Lord answered, Is the Lord's hand unmighty, or without power? thou shalt see right now, if my word shall be fulfilled in work, or not.)

24 Therefore Moses came, and told the people the words of the Lord; and he gathered seventy men of the elders of Israel, which he made (to) stand about the tabernacle.

25 And the Lord came down by a cloud, and spake to Moses, and took away of the spirit that was in Moses, and gave (it) to the seventy men; and when the spirit had rested in them, they prophesied, and moreover they ceased not. (And the Lord came down in a cloud, and spoke to Moses, and then took away some of the spirit that was on Moses, and gave it to the seventy men; and when the spirit had rested on them, they prophesied, and they did not cease.)

26 Forsooth two men dwelled still in the tents, of which men one was called Eldad, and the tother Medad, on which the spirit rested; for also they were described, or ordained/or chosen, and they went not out to the tabernacle. And when they prophesied in the tents, (But two men still remained in the tents, one of whom was called Eldad, and the other Medad, and the spirit also rested on them; for they were also chosen, but they did not go out to the Tabernacle. And when they prophesied in the tents,)