A young man ran and reported to Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp!” Num. 11: 26,27

‘Two men, Eldad and Medad, had stayed behind in the camp. They were listed among the elders, but they had not gone out to the Tabernacle. Yet the Spirit rested upon them as well, so they prophesied there in the camp.  A young man ran and reported to Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp!” Num. 11: 26,27

The background to this passage is that Eldad and Medad should have been in the Tabernacle to be anointed to share in Moses leadership but they stayed in the camp. Therefore, when the Spirit came upon the elders, even those 2 who were not physically present at the Tabernacle began to prophesy. That is why the young man came running to Moses!

He turned ‘informer’ and tattled on Eldad and Medad. He actually thought he was doing good by telling on them; by highlighting their seeming ‘sin’!

Too often we in the Church have set structures that mark out righteousness and when anyone does not follow those demarcations, we get all hot and bothered under our collar and sound the alarm that once again there’s a sinner in our midst- maybe hoping to get them in trouble! Yet I loved Moses response to his tattling:

‘But Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit upon them all!” (v.29)

So my friends I hope you agree with me that we should desist from being ‘holy informers’ or ‘sin police’ and leave that business to the One who knows and sees ALL and thus can judge fairly and more accurately than us mere mortals!

Rev. Tanya Conliffe

Methodist Chaplain,

The University of the West Indies, Cave Hill Campus.