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Numbers 11:16

And the LORD said unto Moses, Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them unto the tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand there with thee.

17

And I will come down and talk with thee there: and I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone.

18

And say thou unto the people, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow, and ye shall eat flesh: for ye have wept in the ears of the LORD, saying, Who shall give us flesh to eat? for it was well with us in Egypt: therefore the LORD will give you flesh, and ye shall eat.

19

Ye shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days;

20

But even a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you: because that ye have despised the LORD which is among you, and have wept before him, saying, Why came we forth out of Egypt?

21

And Moses said, The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand footmen; and thou hast said, I will give them flesh, that they may eat a whole month.

22

Shall the flocks and the herds be slain for them, to suffice them? or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to suffice them?

23

And the LORD said unto Moses, Is the LORD'S hand waxed short? thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass unto thee or not.

24

And Moses went out, and told the people the words of the LORD, and gathered the seventy men of the elders of the people, and set them round about the tabernacle.

25

And the LORD came down in a cloud, and spake unto him, and took of the spirit that was upon him, and gave it unto the seventy elders: and it came to pass, that, when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, and did not cease.

26

But there remained two of the men in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad: and the spirit rested upon them; and they were of them that were written, but went not out unto the tabernacle: and they prophesied in the camp.

27

And there ran a young man, and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp.

28

And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them.

29

And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the LORD'S people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his spirit upon them!

30

And Moses gat him into the camp, he and the elders of Israel.

31

And there went forth a wind from the LORD, and brought quails from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, as it were a day's journey on this side, and as it were a day's journey on the other side, round about the camp, and as it were two cubits high upon the face of the earth.

Numbers 11:26

11:26 they prophesied. The Holy Spirit empowered these men to “prophesy” just as He had Moses (Numbers 11:17). However, to prophesy does not necessarily mean to predict the future, even though this could be involved on occasion. Rather, it meant essentially, to speak the words given by God under divine inspiration. See II Peter 1:20.

Numbers 11:31

11:31 two cubits high. Critics contend this ironic miracle of the quail, sent in response to the complaint of the people wanting flesh to eat (Numbers 11:4), is physically absurd. The picture, however, is not what it seems at first, with quail stacked three feet high for miles all around. The language permits the more understandable rendering that the quail were easily accessible, flying two cubits about the ground. This was the second time God had providentially directed quail to the camp in great numbers (see Exodus 16:13).

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