Caput VII (opening)

When the Lord willed to fill with His holy Spirit the 70 men chosen and enrolled by Moses (Num. 11, v. 16), of them only two of the seventy did not come to Moses himself [at the tabernacle]; and these [two] the Lord endowed excellently with that great gift of His Spirit. “Now there remained in the camp two of the men, of whom one was called Eldad and the other Medad, upon whom the Spirit rested; for they also had been enrolled, and they were not gone forth to the tabernacle. And when they prophesied in the camp, there ran a boy [puer], and told Moses, saying: Eldad and Medad prophesy in the camp. Forthwith Joshua, the son of Nun, the minister of Moses and chosen out of many, said: My lord Moses, forbid them. But he said: Why hast thou emulation for me? O that all the people might prophesy, and that the Lord would give them his Spirit!” And so Joshua held his peace. But since this whole story is not to be discussed here, [this] should be known: if we say that 72 — namely six from each of the [twelve] tribes — were chosen, [then] 70 gathered to the tabernacle.