Or HaChaim on Numbers 11:26/אור החיים על במדבר י״א:כ״ו

1 וישארו שני אנשים במחנה, Two men remained within the camp, etc. Firstly, what is the meaning of "they remained?" Relative to whom and to what did they remain? Secondly, why did the Torah have to mention the names of these two men when none of the seventy elders have been named though they were selected and these men were not? Why does the Torah say that the spirit rested on them? If the men were part of the seventy elders selected, what did the Torah add that we did not know before? If they were not part of the seventy elders the Torah had spoken about, why would they be granted Holy Spirit seeing G'd told Moses to select only seventy men? Besides, what is the meaning of the words והמה בכתובים? Why did the Torah say ולא יצאו, they did not go out? If they have been reported as "remaining," they obviously had not "gone out to the Tabernacle?" Why did the Torah write at the end of the verse: "they prophesied inside the camp?" The Torah should have written the verse in the following order: "Two men who were amongst those whose names had been suggested as prospective elders did not go out to the Tabernacle; the spirit came to rest on them and they prophesied." Why did the Torah see fit to completely jumble this verse?

2Our sages in the Sifri were of two minds as to who these men were who were "left behind." Some say they were left behind out of the total of 72 (12 times 6 from each tribe) whom Moses had invited (in writing) to take part in the draw for the selection of a total of 70 elders. Moses prepared 72 slips of paper (invitations); afterwards he drew lots 70 of which had the name "elder" inscribed on them. The other two slips of paper were blank. Our verse speaks about the two men who had drawn blanks and thus had not been appointed as elders. Rabbi Shimon, on the other hand, claims two of the seventy men selected were so humble that they did not want to enter the Tabernacle and preferred to stay behind in the general camp of the Israelites. If we accept the latter explanation we must explain the verse as follows: "Two men remained behind in the camp as they considered themselves superfluous. The Torah gives their names to tell us that these people were renowned for their modesty. Had they not been renowned for their modesty the people would have upraided them for refusing Moses' invitation to high office which included G'd granting them Holy Spirit. Their refusal would have been a public desecration of the name of G'd. However, their very names protected them against their conduct being interpreted negatively. As a result they were granted Holy Spirit even though they had remained in the general camp as confirmation that their motives in remaining within the camp had been above-board. The Torah chose the expession ותנח to indicate that whereas the other seventy elders experienced only a brief elevation to prophetic insights, these two men retained the spirit of prophecy granted to them. Before mentioning the substance of their prophetic insights, the Torah mentions matters which caused the people to judge these men's behaviour in a favourable light, i.e. that their prophecy proved true. In order that we should not think that the words והמה בכתובים refer to the slips of paper making up the lottery, the Torah says that לא יצאו האוהלה, they did not leave their abode to go to the Tabernacle, i.e. although they had been entitled to do so. When they were nonetheless able to prophesy all of a sudden, this convinced their peers that they had been found worthy and had not insulted G'd by declining Moses' invitation.

3According to the view that Eldod and Medod were part of the 72 elders concerning whom no decision had as yet been made which two would not be chosen, the word וישארו means that although two people whose names were Eldod and Medod were surplus and had to remain in the מחנה, the general camp, the spirit of prophecy came to rest on them although they had not been allowed to proceed to the Tabernacle. This was in addition to the 70 people who had had Holy Spirit bestowed upon them as described in verse 25. Seeing that these people had not been mentioned in the previous verse as amongst the 70 men Moses had assembled at the Tabernacle, they did have to be mentioned separately. The words והמה בכתובים serve to provide the justification why these two were granted Holy Spirit. Their names had appeared amongst the list of the original 72 names Moses had made as possible candidates to become elders. This fact had made them fit to receive prophetic spirit no less than the other 70. In order that we should not think that the words והמה בכתובים meant that they were part of the 70 out of the original 72, the Torah added that they never left their respective tents to go to the Tabernacle to receive some of Moses' spirit.

4A homiletical approach to this paragraph is that the two candidates who drew blank pieces of paper in the lottery were initially upset about not having been chosen. As a result of their rejection they had to return to the general camp after having first assembled at the Tabernacle. They were so embarassed that they went into hiding. When G'd saw that they were terribly ashamed at having been rejected, He granted them prophetic powers. The words והמה בכתובים mean that the reason they would not come out of hiding was that their names had originally appeared on the list of candidates. G'd compensated them for their disappointing experience.