וַיִּתֵּ֨ן הַמֶּ֜לֶךְ אֶת־בְּנָיָ֧הוּ בֶן־יְהוֹיָדָ֛ע תַּחְתָּ֖יו עַל־הַצָּבָ֑א וְאֶת־צָד֤וֹק הַכֹּהֵן֙ נָתַ֣ן הַמֶּ֔לֶךְ תַּ֖חַת אֶבְיָתָֽר׃
I ustanowił król Benaję, syna Jehojady, miasto niego nad wojskiem, Cadoka zaś kapłana ustanowił król na miejscu Abjatara.
Rabbeinu Bahya
Nachmanides feels that the reason Joshua wanted these men locked up was because they had refused Moses’ instructions to present themselves at the Tabernacle together with the other seventy men. They had failed to obey an order. He considered it possible that what they prophesied was a lie and that they were irrational, and had to be put under guard.
Moses, in a typical display of humility, said that he wished that G’d would bestow prophetic spirit on the entire nation directly not merely using him as an intermediary.
Another nuance in the exclamation by Joshua “lock them up” is that it was against accepted practice to prophesy in the presence of Moses. It had become an accepted norm that no prophet would prophesy about something in the future when there were prophets of greater stature alive among the people. The minor prophets would deport themselves as disciples of the leading prophet of that generation. They were the people often referred to in the Book of Kings as בני הנביאים, “the sons of the prophets” (Kings I 2,35). The Talmud Sanhedrin 17 also says that according to the opinion that what these two men prophesied, i.e. that Moses would die and that Joshua would lead the people to the Holy Land, we can understand why Joshua felt compelled to call for the incarceration of these two men. However, according to the opinion that Eldad and Meidad prophesied concerning matters related to the quails, why would Joshua be so concerned? His demand that these men be locked up would be tantamount to giving a ruling in the presence of a higher authority, something strictly forbidden (maybe even on pain of the death penalty). The Talmud in Megillah 14 raises the same question when it asks by what right the prophetess Hulda prophesied at a time when Jeremiah was the leading prophet? The answer given there is that Hulda was biologically related to Jeremiah so that he did not mind.
Moses, in a typical display of humility, said that he wished that G’d would bestow prophetic spirit on the entire nation directly not merely using him as an intermediary.
Another nuance in the exclamation by Joshua “lock them up” is that it was against accepted practice to prophesy in the presence of Moses. It had become an accepted norm that no prophet would prophesy about something in the future when there were prophets of greater stature alive among the people. The minor prophets would deport themselves as disciples of the leading prophet of that generation. They were the people often referred to in the Book of Kings as בני הנביאים, “the sons of the prophets” (Kings I 2,35). The Talmud Sanhedrin 17 also says that according to the opinion that what these two men prophesied, i.e. that Moses would die and that Joshua would lead the people to the Holy Land, we can understand why Joshua felt compelled to call for the incarceration of these two men. However, according to the opinion that Eldad and Meidad prophesied concerning matters related to the quails, why would Joshua be so concerned? His demand that these men be locked up would be tantamount to giving a ruling in the presence of a higher authority, something strictly forbidden (maybe even on pain of the death penalty). The Talmud in Megillah 14 raises the same question when it asks by what right the prophetess Hulda prophesied at a time when Jeremiah was the leading prophet? The answer given there is that Hulda was biologically related to Jeremiah so that he did not mind.