The Pulpit Commentary — Numbers — Section 139

I. Uega.rding TilE STATUS AND FUNCTIONS OF THIS COMPANY OF SEVENTY there have been many debates. Some ha,·e identified them with the Sanhedrim or .Council of Seventy whom we meet with so often in the Gospels and the Acts. Passing by these questions, le! us note the facts recorded in the text itself. What was wanted was not the appointment of ordinary rulers or judges. Every tribe had already a prince, a body of elders and officers, and rulers of tens and fifties and hundreds and thou- sands, who judged between man and man. What was wanted was a council to nid Moses with their advice and assistance in the administration of the national affairs. (Compare the Governors and Council in a British dependency.) IJ. THE MANNER OF THE APPOINTMENT OF THE SEVENTY IS CAREFULLY DESCRIBED. 1. No one was appointed who was not in publu office already. "Gather unto me seventy men, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them ; " i. e. they were not to be raw, inexperienced, untried men. Only those were eligible who had given proof of ability and faithfulness in the public service, either as elders or as officers (i. e. writers or scriveners-this is the literal meaning of the Hebrew shotenm. The reference is to professional scribes, the assessors of 11on-professional magistrates, such us the Hebrew elders were). This rule was a good one. No man should be raised at one bound to high office, either in Church or State. 2. They were nomina.teil by Moses. In this respect the procedure was ex- ceptional. There was far less of centralisation in the government of Israel than a modem and Western reader of the Bible is apt to think. To be sure, there were no representative bodies such as we are familiar with. Nevertheless, the government was truly popular. Even in Egypt the people were ruled1 in the first instance, by their own elders--the heads of families and tribes ; and tnis primitive system was continued in a more perfect form in Palestine. But although local government could be best administered by local magistrates, it was otherwise with the supreme and central government with which Moses was charged. A council such as he required could only be had by freely calling forth men of outstanding ability and approved wisdom. 3. They were invested with ojfice in the face of the congregation, and bejore the Lord. In the face of the congrt>gation, to remind them that they were to act for the public good, and not in pursuance of any private interest. Before the Lord, to remind them that "there is no power but of God; " their authority is from God, and is to be used as they shall answer to him. 4. They were endoweil from above with new gifts to qualify them for their new office. When Moses gathered them before the tabernacle, "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." This has been interpreted to mean that there was abstracted from Moses some part of the spirit by which he had hitherto been sust_ained. But that is cert~inly n ~e~v~rsD misinterpretation. Twenty lamps may be lighted from one lnmp without d111;11nsh- ing its brightness ( cf. 2 Kingg., ii. 9). God sendeth no man to warfare at his own charges. When he calls any man to public service, whether in Church or State, the man so caUed may, without doubting, nsk and expect the wisdom, strength, courage which the service requires (James i. 5--8). Ill The most picturesque feature in the narrative is that which remains yet to he noticed-THE STRIKING SIGN DY WHICH NOTIFICATION WAS GIVEN THAT THE SEVENTY ELDERS IIAD TRULY DEEN CALLED DY GOD AND WOULD DE COUNTENANCED DY HIM. "When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, and added no more" (such is the render- ing now preferred by all the best translators). "They prophesied,'' that is, they l:lpoke as men who were for the time lifted above themselves-us men under the in- fluence of an irresistible power external to themselves. We may presume that what they did say would be of such a kind as to make it plain that the power acting upon them was Divine and heavenly. This prophesying was intended to signalise th_e inward gifts with which the newly-appointed elders were now being endowed. This is plain from the parallel case related in 1 Sam. x. The Lord in oppointing Saul to be king over Israel promised to "be with him ; " to "give him another heart," so that he should " be turned into another man." With the kingly office he was to get from the Lord the kingly mind, In token of this, the Spirit came upon hin_i, n11d he propl1esied ( cf. Acts ii. 3, 4; x. 44-4 7). The impu)ije was only a transient one. "TLey prophesied, and l\dded no more.'' The miracle, having served its purpose, Oh, XI. 4-95.] THE BOOK OF NUMBERS. 119