*Scripture: Numbers 11:24-29; 12:1-6 (NKJV)* 11:24 So Moses went out and told the people the words of the LORD, and he gathered the seventy men of the elders of the people and placed them around the tabernacle. 25 Then the LORD came down in the cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was upon him, and placed the same upon the seventy elders; and it happened, when the Spirit rested upon them, that they prophesied, although they never did so again. 26 But two men had remained in the camp: the name of one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad. And the Spirit rested upon them. Now they were among those listed, but who had not gone out to the tabernacle; yet they prophesied in the camp. 27 And a young man ran and told Moses, and said, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” 28 So Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, one of his choice men, answered and said, “Moses my lord, forbid them!” 29 Then Moses said to him, “Are you zealous for my sake? Oh, that all the LORD’s people were prophets and that the LORD would put His Spirit upon them!”
12:1 Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married; for he had married an Ethiopian woman. 2 So they said, “Has the LORD indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us also?” And the LORD heard it. 3 (Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on the face of the earth.) 4 Suddenly the LORD said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, “Come out, you three, to the tabernacle of meeting!” So the three came out. 5 Then the LORD came down in the pillar of cloud and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam. And they both went forward. 6 Then He said, “Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, make Myself known to him in a vision; I speak to him in a dream.” *Devotion* Moses was by no means guilty of “turf protection.” He had asked the Lord for relief from the pressures of his task of leading the Israelites and God had, therefore, shared some of the Spirit that was on Moses with seventy elders in order to give them power and validity in their positions. Even when Eldad and Medad were prophesying in the camp, Moses responded by saying, “Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets.” Moses’ brother and sister, Aaron and Miriam, had been given special gifts by God. There was no one among the women of Israel esteemed as a prophetess above Miriam; and Aaron, as high priest, was spiritual head of the whole nation. Not satisfied, they chose to become jealous of Moses and attacked him under the pretext of his having taken an Ethiopian wife. “Who made you the sole mouthpiece of God?” There may be any number of people in a congregation with better people skills and speaking ability, but the Lord has called only one to serve as Pastor. Granted, he does not see God directly, as did Moses, or receive visions and dreams, but is, instead fed and directed by the same Word of God which lightens the way for the entire priesthood of believers. Praise God that when he humbly utters the words of Holy Absolution, we may hear him as if Jesus Himself were speaking to us from the chancel. Rev. Dcn. Jerry Dulas, as eCourier of the Evangelical Lutheran Diocese of North America
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