민수기 11:28의 주석

כלאם — (This is taken as the equivalent of כַּלֵּם, “destroy them”, “make an end of them”; cf. Rashi on Exodus 17:9) — He meant: cast upon them the responsibility for public affairs and they will of themselves soon come to an end (through the worry and anxiety this entails). — Another explanation is: that the word means put them into prison (כלא). He said this because they were prophesying, “Moses will die and Joshua will bring Israel into the Land” (cf. Sifrei Bamidbar 96; Sanhedrin 17a).

MY LORD MOSES, ‘K’LA’EIM’ (SHUT THEM IN). The meaning of this is that Moses had told the people the words of G-d, that He would take of the spirit which was upon him and put it upon those that will stand with him in the Tent of Meeting. Now those that did not go to the Tent [i.e., Eldad and Medad who had also been designated for that honor], and yet held themselves to be among those upon whom Moses’ spirit had been put [by prophesying in the camp,²⁵⁵Verse 27. as Eldad and Medad did], were as rebels against Moses’ words. Therefore Joshua said to Moses, “Shut them in, for perhaps it is a lying spirit²⁵⁶I Kings 22:22. in their mouths, or it is an evil spirit that terrifies them,²⁵⁷See I Samuel 16:14. and thus they must be put in a prison like a man that is mad, and maketh himself like a prophet.”²⁵⁸Jeremiah 29:26. But Moses in his humility answered: “Would that all the people of the Eternal were prophets, that the Eternal would give His spirit upon them!²⁵⁹Verse 29. — for G-d put His spirit directly upon them without taking of the spirit which was upon me, and would that this would happen to all the people.”
However, from the words of our Rabbis it appears that the custom in Israel was that no one would prophesy about future events in the presence of a prophet who is greater than him, but they would follow him as his disciples, and these were the sons of the prophets.²⁶⁰I Kings 20:35. Rambam defines the sons of the prophets as “those who sought the prophetic gift. And although they directed their minds towards it, the Divine Spirit might or might not rest upon them” (Hilchoth Yesodei Hatorah 7:5). Thus the Rabbis have said in Tractate Sanhedrin [with reference to the prophecy of Eldad and Medad]:²⁶¹Sanhedrin 17 a. “We can well understand according to that Sage who said that [Eldad and Medad prophesied that] ‘Moses will die [before entering the Land],’ that Joshua therefore said, My lord Moses, shut them in [since he wished to save Moses from grief]. But according to the Sage who said that [they prophesied] about the quails [that they would come from the sea], why should they be shut in [and not prophesy]? It is because the case resembled that of a pupil who renders a decision in the presence of his master.” Similarly [this was the reason why they were forbidden to prophesy] according to the Sage who says that they prophesied about Gog and Magog.²⁶²Ezekiel 38:17. And the Rabbis have mentioned a similar case in Tractate Megillah in the matter of Deborah.²⁶³In Megillah 14 b the Talmud lists the seven prophetesses that prophesied in Israel, mentioning among them Deborah, Huldah, etc. It is related in the Book of Kings that King Josiah of Judah sent to Huldah a delegation to inquire about a certain matter (II Kings 22:14). On this the Gemara asked: “But how could Huldah prophesy whilst Jeremiah [[illegible]] the leading prophet in Jerusalem — was present?” To this question the answer is given that “Huldah was a relative of Jeremiah and therefore he did not mind her prophesying.” Thus it is clear from this text that there was a rule in Israel that no one should prophesy in the presence of a greater prophet. Ramban’s mentioning “Deborah” is merely a reference to the text in the Gemara which begins this discussion, but the actual reference is to Huldah, as explained above. But Moses said that he, being the master, foregoes the honor due to him [and the law is that a Rabbi is able to renounce the honor due to him],²⁶⁴Kiddushin 32 a. and he desires and is happy [that they prophesy]. And I have seen that the Targum Yerushalmi²⁶⁵This is found in our Targum Yonathan ben Uziel. rendered: “k’la’eim — withhold from them the Holy Spirit.” The Targum thus understood the word k’la’eim to be like the expressions: Behold, ‘lo echla’ (I did not refrain) my lips;²⁶⁶Psalms 40:10. ‘lo thichla’ (Thou wilt not withhold) Thy compassions from me.²⁶⁷Ibid., Verse 12.
Now the reason for this matter is that Joshua thought that [Eldad and Medad] were prophesying because they were of them that were recorded²⁶⁸Verse 26. [among the prescribed number of seventy men that were to join Moses], because the spirit of Moses was transmitted to all that were recorded, for he intended that all [seventy of them should become prophets]. Therefore Joshua said to Moses: “It is not fitting that they [Eldad and Medad] should prophesy in the camp, since they did not fulfill the word of G-d who commanded: and thou [Moses] shalt bring them unto the Tent of Meeting, that they may stand there with thee,²⁶⁹Verse 16. and thus it might appear that not all of them prophesied through His putting of the spirit which was upon you [on them]. It is therefore fitting for my lord to direct your mind towards the spirit of G-d [which is upon you] and to bring it [completely] back to you, so that it should not be taken from you except for those who stand before you in accordance with the word of G-d. For it was because you intended at first that all who were recorded [should be prophets] that some of your glory came upon them, and if you will now intend to withdraw it from them, it will come to rest only upon those who stand before you in accordance with the word of G-d.” But Moses answered [Joshua by saying] that he should not be zealous for his sake, for he wishes that they prophesy whether in his presence or outside it, since G-d had put His spirit upon them — either by transmission from Moses or [directly from G-d] without such a transmission.

אדוני משה כלאם!, he thought that the reason why these two men had not come to the tent of Meeting was because they wanted to demonstrate that they could prophesy without being within the spiritual sphere and physical presence of Moses.

ויען יהושע ויאמר…אדני משה כלאם, Joshua reacted and said: "my lord Moses arrest them!" What gave Joshua the right to make a halachic decision in the presence of his teacher? Our sages in Eyruvin 63 have said that anyone who makes a halachic pronouncement in the presence of his teacher will die without leaving behind children. The Talmud quotes our verse as its source. Perhaps we can explain what Joshua did with the help of the Sifri on verse 26 where the Sifri claims that Eldod and Medod kept prophesying that Moses would die and Joshua would lead the Israelites into the Holy Land. When Joshua heard these words he resolved to take a stand in the presence of his teacher in order to demonstrate his displeasure with this prophecy. He believed that Eldod and Medod were not fit to prophesy and indeed spoke falsely. By taking a stand he showed that he was not interested in assuming the leadership role prophesied by Eldod and Medod. He may have meant either one of two things with his suggestion that Moses lock these people up. The confinement could be temporary until the matter came to trial, or he meant that they be banished from this world. Either possibility is in accord with the two views we have quoted as to whether Eldod and Medod belonged to the 70 elders who had been chosen or whether they were the two men who had drawn blanks.

מבחוריו, as if the Torah had written: מנעוריו, ever since his youth. We find the expression בחור for a young person also in Kohelet 11,9 בימי בחורותיך, “in the days of your youth.” On the other hand, in Isaiah 9,16 the line על כן על בחוריו לא ישמח ה', the word is not used in a complimentary way as here, but G’d is portrayed as scorning the follies of the young and immature in spirit.

משרת משה מבחוריו, “the servant of Moses from his youth.” Ibn Ezra writes that some commentators understand the word מבחוריו to mean that Joshua was one of Moses’ most devoted servants, whereas others view the word מבחוריו as if it were glued to the words משרת משה, meaning that he had been a servant of Moses from his earliest youth. This latter explanation cannot be correct as what is described here occurred only in the second year of the people’s being in the desert, and we have no evidence that Joshua who was only about 24 years younger than Moses already served in that function in Egypt. I believe that the proper explanation is that Joshua was one of several men who attended to Moses’ needs.

And they will destroy themselves. [Rashi] means to say that prophecy will automatically leave them, because the Divine Presence does not rest upon a person in the midst of mourning and burden. Similarly we find with Yaakov that “the spirit of Yaakov their father was revived” (Bereishis 45:28), and there Rashi explains that the Divine Presence rested upon him.

V. 28. בחורים ,מבחוריו, ebenso gebildet wie נְעוּרִים, in Prediger 11, 9 u. 12, 1. בְחוּרוֹת: die Jugendzeit. אדני משה כלאם, Josua erkannte in dem Auftreten Eldads und Medads einen Eingriff in Mosche Autorität, eine Verletzung seiner Prärogative, den berufenen Ältesten war ein Anteil am Prophetengeiste nur als Mitteilung von Mosche Geist geworden, Eldad und Medad aber traten in eigener, selbständiger Erwählung auf!

!ויאמר: אדוני משה כלאם, he said: “my lord Moses”. lock them up!” according to the plain meaning of the text, that only seventy elders were to be chosen according to G–d, the man described here as הנער, assumed that these two men must be false prophets, as there were already seventy such men apart from Eldod and Meydod. As a result, they deserved to be locked up pending judgment by the court.

מבחוריו, “from his early youth.” We find this word having this meaning also in Kohelet 12,1: בימי בחורתיך, “in the days of your youth.”An alternate interpretation of this word: “from amongst the choicest to serve Moses,” for there were others with him. (Ibn Ezra)

כלאם, “arrest them!” in the same sense as Genesis 8,2 ויכלא הגשם, “the rain stopped, was arrested.” Some grammarians consider the construction as parallel to שמעני when Avraham implores Efron saying “listen to me!” (Genesis 23,6) and as parallel to Deuteronomy 32,10 ימצאהו, “it has been found.”

אדוני משה כלאם, ”my lord Moses, lock them up!” Nachmanides writes that the reason why Joshua said this was that Moses was in the habit of communicating G’d’s words to the people and he thereby also caused some of his spirit to devolve on the elders who stood around him at the Tent of Meeting. By prophesying in a location far removed from the Tabernacle, the two men, Eldod and Meydod, had presumed to arrogate to themselves a status similar to that of the elders. He therefore wanted them confined, as they behaved as if challenging Moses’ authority. Alternately, Joshua suspected these two men to be false prophets or that they were out of their minds and deserved to be locked up to prevent them causing further harm. Moses, in his characteristic modesty, replied:

In prison. Rashi explains in Parshas Beshalach on the verse “Choose men for us…” (Shemos 17:9) that “destroy them” means, destroy them from the world [for] they are liable to be destroyed. One must say that this is according to the other interpretation here, which explains [to “detain them” means] “detain them in prison…” This is termed destruction because they would be incarcerated in a vault.

The wording אדני משה, "my lord Moses," suggests that Joshua expressed his desire for Moses to remain his lord, i.e. that he harboured no secret desire to supplant Moses. The apparently unnecessary word ויען means that he replied to the words (the content) that Eldod and Medod had prophesied. At any rate, Joshua was punished for having spoken out in this manner at that time, as, after all is said and done he violated the rule of giving a halachic opinion in the presence of his teacher. [There is no evidence in the Bible that Joshua left children behind when he died; compare Chronicles I 7,27. Ed.]

אדוני משה כלאם, “my lord Moses lock them up!” Joshua wanted these two men put under house arrest so that their prophecies would not become public. The other seventy men who had also displayed prophetic insights had done so only in the relative privacy of the sacred precincts of the Tabernacle which was out of bounds to the people at large. They had done so only in the presence of Moses. (verse 16) Eldod and Meydod had not asked for permission to prophesy publicly, and had prophesied outside the sacred precincts.