Midrash su Numeri 5:25

The master said above: "All the seventy had prophesied once, and ceased; but these two did not cease to prophecy." Whence do we infer this? Shall we assume it from the following passage (Num. 11, 25) They prophesied V'lo yassoff, which means they never prophesied again. If so, then how will you explain the passage (Deut. 5, 19) "With a great voice V'lo yassoff?" Does this also mean that it was never heard again? [The Shechina was surely heard in later times]. We must therefore say Yassoff means "not ceased;" if so, then the above inference is gone! We infer it from this passage: "And they prophesied [in the past] while concerning Eldad and Medad it is written, "are prophesying" [present tense]. In regard to the statement that their prophecy was "Moses shall die," it is readily understood, for it is written (Num. 11, 28) My Lord Moses, forbid them. But according to him who said they prophesied about other things, why, then, should they be forbidden? Because it was not seemly for them thus to prophesy in the presence of Moses, which appears as if a scholar decides a question in the presence of his teacher. What is meant by the words, forbid them? He said to Moses: "Throw upon them the care for the public, and they will cease [to prophesy] by themselves."

3) How does he execute (tenufah)? He (a Cohein) brings the fats (from the slaughtering site) to the hand of the owner, the two kidneys and the lobe of the liver above them, and the breast and shok above them. and if there were bread (as in the terumah of the thanksgiving loaves and the ram of the Nazirite and of the miluim), he places the bread above them.) And he (a second Cohein, places his hand under the hand of the owner and) brings it forward and back, and up and down, as it is written (Shemoth 24:27): "which was waved and which was lifted." Tenufah was in the east (of the altar), and hagashah (presentation at the corner of the altar, in the instance of the meal-offering of the omer and the meal-offering of rancor) in the west. Tenufah preceded hagashah (viz. Bamidbar 5:25). "before the L–rd" — in the east.

6) — But, their ("strategic") common factor might be that they are similar in being offered by both rich and poor and requiring "touching" (as opposed to the meal-offering of a sinner, which is offered by a poor man only); it is, therefore, written: "the (implying "any") meal-offering," to indicate both a gift meal-offering and the meal-offering of a sinner as requiring "touching." R. Shimon says: "And you shall bring" — to include the meal-offering of the omer as requiring "touching," it being written (Ibid. 23:10): "And you shall bring the omer, the first of your harvest to the Cohein"; "and he shall present it" — to include the meal-offering of the sotah as requiring "touching," it being written (Bamidbar 5:25): "And he shall present it (the sotah's meal-offering) to the altar."

(Bamidbar 5:25) "And the Cohein shall take from the hand of the woman": and not from the hand of her representative — If she were in her menstrual period, she did not drink, (being forbidden to enter the azarah at that time). (5:24) "And he shall make the woman drink": Why is it written again (Ibid. 27) "and he shall make her drink the water"? For if the scroll were erased and she said "I will not drink," they shake her and make her drink perforce. These are the words of R. Akiva. R. Shimon says: (Ibid. 26) "and then he shall make the woman drink": What is the intent of this? It is written afterwards "and he shall make her drink the water"! (To indicate that) three things are categorically required for (the validity of) the sotah (procedure): the erasure of the scroll, the offering of the fistful, and her acceptance of the oath. If the scroll were erased and she said; I am tamei, the waters are spilled out, the offering is scattered in the beth hadeshen, and the scroll is not valid for the drinking of a different sotah. R. Achi b. R. Yoshiyah says: It is valid. "and he shall wave the offering": back and forth and up and down. Whence is this derived? From (Shemot 29:23) "which was waved and which was lifted": Lifting is hereby likened to waving. Just as waving is back and forth, so, lifting. And just as lifting is up and down, so, waving — whence they ruled: The mitzvah of waving — back and forth, up and down. "before the L-rd": in the east (i.e., at the eastern side of the altar [opposite the sanctuary]). Wherever "before the L-rd" is written, the east is intended unless specified otherwise. "and he shall wave the offering before the L-rd, and he shall present it at the (south-west corner of the) altar" — whereby we are taught that the offering of the sotah requires waving and presentation. (Ibid. 26) "And the Cohein shall take a fistful from the offering as its 'remembrance,' and he shall smoke it on the altar.": This refers to the smoking of the fistful, which is called "remembrance" (viz. Vayikra 2:2) "and then he shall make the woman drink the water": as mentioned above.