Don’t Be Overzealous

The incident involving Eldad and Meidad is a lesson in being overly zealous. When Moshe asked for help in managing עם ישראל, Hashem chose six men from each tribe to help form the new Sanhedrin of seventy. Twelve times six equals seventy-two, which meant that two of the seventy were not chosen. These two were Eldad and Meidad.

Although not chosen to serve in the Sanhedrin, they still acquired רוח הקודש, and they began prophesying in the camp. This disturbed Yehoshua very much. He was particularly bothered because their prophecy predicted that Moshe would die, and he would lead the Jewish people into Eretz Yisrael.

Yehoshua could not deal with the reality that his beloved rebbe and teacher, would one day pass away. His zeal got the better of him, and he lost touch with reality.

He asked Moshe, כלאם, to restrain them. ( This word has the word, כלא, meaning jail, in it.) This was not viewed as the appropriate response to the Eldad and Meidad situation. Moshe needed to get Yehoshua back in touch with reality. He said, המקנא אתה לי, are you zealous on my account? Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the entire nation became prophets. There was nothing to be upset or zealous about.

This is the message here. We should certainly observe Mitzvot with enthusiasm. But if we become overly zealous, we might become out of touch with reality, and we might draw the wrong conclusions regarding right and wrong. Moshe taught this lesson to Joshua, but it is certainly relevant to us all.