Medad vs. Eldad

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Zmouth

Zmouth

Senior Member
#1
Nov 21, 2012
3,391
134
63
#1
But I just wanted to point one of greatest debate in the history of the Bible, the prophesies of Eldad v. Medad which might have been whether the LORD was "'Our Father" or "My Father" or some other relevant topic in the Word. Or was about talking religion in public versus in private?

6 But there remained two of the men in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad: and the spirit rested upon them; and they were of them that were written, but went not out unto the tabernacle: and they prophesied in the camp.27 And there ran a young man, and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp.
28 And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them.
29 And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the LORD's people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his spirit upon them!
 
Crustyone

Crustyone

Senior Member
#2
Mar 15, 2015
697
50
28
#2
I see no reason for a debate about this. There are many prophets in ancient times that never even got mentioned in the bible, other than God said that he sent them. Shall we debate about what the unknowns said also?
 
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B

BeyondET

Guest
#3
#3
Maybe Moses, sums it up, rather in public or private doesn't matter.

70 + 2 is interesting as well as 70
 
Zmouth

Zmouth

Senior Member
#4
Nov 21, 2012
3,391
134
63
#4
BeyondET said:
Maybe Moses, sums it up, rather in public or private doesn't matter.

70 + 2 is interesting as well as 70
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Well, for 1 you got admit that the names, MEDAD (Me-Dad) and ELDAD (El-Dad) are unique names.

Yet I am not seeing what the passage is dealing with even thought it wasn't included without reason.

Anyway just wanted to put it out there to see if anyone had more to add to the passage other than Medad and Eldad were kewl names.
 
B

BeyondET

Guest
#5
#5
Zmouth said:
Well, for 1 you got admit that the names, MEDAD (Me-Dad) and ELDAD (El-Dad) are unique names.

Yet I am not seeing what the passage is dealing with even thought it wasn't included without reason.

Anyway just wanted to put it out there to see if anyone had more to add to the passage other than Medad and Eldad were kewl names.
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According to biblical scholars, the real purpose of the story was to indicate that prophecy was not restricted to a select few people. However, the text states that Eldad and Medad were of them that were written down, making them less representative of the general population, although some textual scholars believe that this is a gloss added to the original Elohist account, by a later editor who objected to the idea that anyone could become a prophet. The names themselves are hence unimportant to the point of the story, and may have been chosen simply for the sake of assonance, they seem to refer to dad, suggesting polytheism and/or a non-Israelite origin:

if the names are Hebrew, then dad could mean paternal uncle, with Eldad thus meaning God is the brother of my father or El is the brother of my father, and Medad meaning (one who is) of my father's brother

if the names are Assyrian, then dad could be a corruption of daddu, meaning beloved, with Eldad thus meaning God is beloved or El is beloved, and Medad meaning object of affection

if the names are Akkadian, then dad could be a corruption of Adad, the name of a deity known to the Aramaeans as Hadad, with Eldad thus meaning El is Hadad or Hadad is God, and Medad meaning (one who is) of Hadad
According to Jewish tradition, Eldad and Medad were buried in the same cave in Edrei.
 
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