פירוש על במדבר 11:27

וירץ הנער THERE RAN THE LAD — There are some who say that it was Gershom, the son of Moses (Midrash Tanchuma, Beha'alotcha 12).

וירץ הנער ויגד למשה, The lad ran and told Moses; Why was the lad so upset that he told Moses that Eldod and Medod prophesied? Even allowing for the fact that he had adequate reason to tell Moses about it, why did he demand that they be locked up? Since when had prophecy become a punishable crime? According to those who believe that these two men were those who had been rejected out of the original 72 candidates we can understand Joshua very well. Moses had told the Israelites that seventy people would be endowed with prophetic spirit by G'd. All of a sudden Joshua saw that seventy-two people had become prophets. This could have one of two possible reasons. 1) Moses had not spoken the truth; 2) these people prophesied falsely. According to the opinion that these two prophets had indeed been part of the seventy elders who had been chosen, Joshua told Moses of the misdemeanour of people who had been bidden to come to the Tabernacle and who had failed to do so now prophesying inside the regular camp. According to Joshua these two, i.e. Eldod and Medod, committed two wrongs. 1) They ignored Moses' order. 2) They refused to become recipients of Moses' Holy Spirit but wanted to receive their Holy Spirit from a still higher source as a result of which they practiced their prophecy within the general camp.

וירץ הנער, “The disciple ran.” The lad in question was Gershon, son of Moses. The reason the Torah adds the words “the servant of Moses since his youth” in verse 28 is that he was one of the choicest among a number of men who acted as Moses’ disciples.