Two Wild and Crazy Prophets

“Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp,” could be an adage that fits into our modern world pretty comfortably. Here are two guys who were so moved by the Spirit of God that they started interpreting God’s will with charismatic ferver in the middle of the camp. Two wild and crazy prophets! Of course, not everyone was happy about this. People came up to Moses expecting he would stop them. Moses was the prophet for the people, not Eldad and Medad. There are times and places where people expect to find God speaking to them. This was a rupture of that safe normalcy. God had broken out of the confines that Israel had prepared for God, or maybe Eldad and Medad were just faking a connection with God. For the people in this situation, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp” was a statement of concern with ambiguity. Are these guys good? Are they bad? Something is different here, and we aren’t sure how we feel about it.

This sort of ambiguity is something we have to deal with regularly. “Is this an appropriate question to ask, or not?” “Is this a good time to talk about my faith in Jesus, or isn’t it?” “Should I speak out against injustice, or should I just be cool around my friends and stay out of politics?” “Are Eldad and Medad supposed to be prophesying in the camp, or are they breaking the rules?” “Is God supposed to show up here, or is God transgressing social boundaries by showing up in public?”

To give context to this potential proverb from Numbers 11:27, this comes after a case of the Israelites complaining, and even the narrator is getting fed up with them. They were a “rabble” with a “craving” so they “wept again.” God is angry, and one would expect that at this point, God would complain to Moses about these complainers, but Moses actually beats God to the punch. Moses complains about God putting him in charge of the people in the first place. Maybe he is a little dramatic, asking God to put him to death rather than deal with the Israelites like this anymore, but it is clear that everyone is fed up with the Israelites.

But frankly, I’m not so sure I can be too angry with them. I can eat the same food every night for a long time, but even with my relatively spartan appetites, I think I would go crazy with eating the same bread every meal of every day. The Israelites have experienced a miracle in this food, but they need some variety. I can’t help but think of a family with small children on vacation. The children are crying in the back saying they want some real food not these snacks that Mom packed, and the parents are reassuring them that they’ll get it as soon as they get back on the interstate and find something that looks safer than this part of the city they’ve found themselves lost in. Everyone is just tired of each other, tired of travelling, and tired of the circumstances that are causing them so much trouble. 

So, instead of berating the people, God has a different plan. God tells Moses to gather the elders to the tent where God comes to meet Moses. Once they arrive, God’s Spirit rests on them and they begin to prophesy. They become like Moses for a while. Instead of fighting back against the people with anger and judgment, God lets them in on the plan. God guides them to a deeper understanding.

This is when Eldad and Medad began prophesying in the camp. They are outside of the tent, not among the elders, not under the close supervision of Moses. They are speaking to the people who were complaining. They are proclaiming God’s message directly to those who need to hear it. 

Joshua feels jealous on behalf of Moses. Proclaiming God’s will to the people is the duty of Moses, not Eldad and Medad. But Moses is encouraged. Maybe if everyone were more like Eldad and Medad, with the Spirit of God touching them and driving them to prophesy, the people wouldn’t have these problems. 

We would like to think that we are past Israel’s problems. We have their example to go by, so we can do better. At least, we ought to do better. But in reality, we suffer from very similar problems. We continue not trusting God fully. We continue complaining when we ought to give thanks. However, and perhaps more to the point, we continue to experience an emptiness, a deep longing. The manna we have been given isn’t always enough.

Society gives most of us the basics we need to survive, and so many people are still unhappy. As it turns out, poverty is not the only factor in making people miserable. People are hungering for deeper, more profound relationships. People are longing to be heard, known, respected, and loved by others for who they really are, not what other people want them to be. People are crying out for some fixed significance in life. It isn’t enough to have food and shelter, people need meaning. They need to know that their struggles aren’t in vain. Sometimes, we need more than just manna. 

And it isn’t just society that fails to meet the needs of the people. Many churches peddle in platitudes. Nice bumper sticker sentiments are easier to communicate than life changing theological ideas. We keep telling each other and ourselves the same things about God without applying God’s Word to new contexts. We have found our rut and are sticking to it. At least we can find the bread of heaven here. But sometimes people need God’s Word to be new and challenging. If God’s Word is an active and living thing, then it must drive forward in time, not get caught up in stale dogmatics of the past. Of course, I’m not saying that culture should shape our interpretation of God’s Word, rather that God’s will should, and does, shape the course of history. People long for a living God that speaks to their situations, their times, their challenges, and joys and sorrows. 

When Eldad and Medad were prophesying in the camp, God had broken free to actively engage with the people where they were. And shortly after that, God sent quail to meet the needs of the people. God spoke and provided. Today, we don’t need to lock the Word of God within the walls of the Church. We don’t need to be afraid of the Eldads and Medads of today, prophesying in the world. In fact, we ought to pray that God would choose us for the task. May God use our voices to break into the world and meet the challenges there head on.