Numbers 11:26

"But there remained two men in the camp, the name of one was Eldad, and the other Medad: and the Spirit rested upon them; and they were of them that were written, but had not gone out unto the Tent; and they prophesied in the camp. And there ran a young man, and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp. And Joshua the son of Nun, the minister of Moses, one of his chosen men, answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them. And Moses said unto him, Art thou jealous for my sake? would that all Jehovah's people were prophets, that Jehovah would put his Spirit upon them! And Moses gat him into the camp, he and the elders of Israel."

"There remained in the camp ... Eldad ... Medad ... of them that were written ..." (Numbers 11:26). We do not know why these two were not with the others before the Tent, for they were "written among them," meaning that they surely belonged. Amazingly, their absence did not prevent their also receiving the blessing.

Perhaps one reason for the inclusion of this incident by the Divine author was the typical nature of the response of Moses. Moses' unselfish forgiveness of others and his total lack of any desire for the glory of men were indeed typical of those same wonderful qualities in the Saviour himself. In a similar way, the disciples of John the Baptist were jealous for their leader and complained that the Lord's disciples were baptizing more people than were the followers of John the Baptist. The traits of men appear to be the same in all ages.

The efforts of Biblical critics who find in two accounts of the appointing of seventy men what they call "divergent accounts" of but one event "are unfounded and untrue."[23]