05/27/2026
๐๐๐๐ง๐๐ฌ๐๐๐ฒ ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐๐จ๐ฆ ๐๐ฒ ๐๐๐ฏ. ๐๐ข๐๐ก๐๐๐ฅ ๐๐๐๐๐ฆ๐๐ซ๐
"๐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ณ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ๐ด, โ๐๐ญ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ด๐บ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ข๐ฎ๐ฑ.โ ๐๐ฐ๐ด๐ฉ๐ถ๐ข ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ถ๐ฏ, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ๐ดโ ๐ข๐ช๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต๐ฉ, ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ, โ๐๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฅ, ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ฑ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฎ!โโ
- ๐๐ฎ๐ฆ๐๐๐ซ๐ฌ ๐๐:๐๐-๐๐
A little bit of background about this passage. As the Israelites were wandering through the desert, after they had begun to receive manna from heaven, they started to complain that they had no meat. God was starting to get upset about their grumblings. Eventually Moses and God get to talking about it, and Moses expressed his own frustration about having to do everything alone, to carry all of these people.
God, in somewhat of a surprise turn, told Moses that ๐ฌ๐๐ฏ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ฒ ๐๐ฅ๐๐๐ซ๐ฌ would be empowered to help Moses out, and that they were to gather around the tent of meeting and that God would put Spirit in them. So Moses goes about getting everything set up, and part of what happens when God puts Spirit on them is that all those who gather start to prophesy, though only the one time. Although I am not totally sure what prophesying would have entailed exactly, it must have been quite the spectacle to behold.
It ends up though that ๐ญ๐ฐ๐จ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฌ๐๐ฏ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ฒ ๐ง๐๐ฏ๐๐ซ ๐ฆ๐๐๐ ๐ข๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ญ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐จ๐ ๐ฆ๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ and remained in camp with everyone else. Even though they were not with the seventy next to the tent when God sends the Spirit in, they still receive it where they are and start prophesying in the midst of all the other Israelites.
When people start to see Eldad and Medad, the two elders who stayed behind, prophesying right in the middle of camp, a couple start to get nervous. My guess is not so much about the fact that they started talking differently out of the blue, but rather their concern was probably about whether what they were saying could be trusted, or if it was some sort of evil spirit or other god at work.
If I were to guess, the act of prophesying and being possessed might have looked very similar on the outside during the Israelitesโ time in the wilderness. When someone started saying unusual things, there was discerning that needed to be done. The Israelites had every reason to trust those near the tent, because Moses prepared them for what would happen, and they would have assumed proximity to the tent mattered. They could not have the same trust towards what happened away from the tent of meeting in the midst of the rest of the camp.
Like most biblical passages, there is a lot to this story, but what jumped out at me during this reading in particular was this idea of ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐๐๐ซ๐ง๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ. Of discerning what to trust, what to listen to, what was valid. Ritual and established wise leaders like Moses allow for trust. When those are missing, it is harder to discern.
To put this into the context of today, within the established and accountable systems of organized religions, there is much that is said by clergy and other leaders that deserves to be trusted. There is a certain system of vetting who gets to speak with authority, and established ways to challenge those who fall into heresy.
๐๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐๐จ๐๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ฆ๐๐๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ซ๐ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ฌ๐ข๐๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ฌ๐ ๐๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ฌ๐ก๐๐ ๐ฌ๐ฒ๐ฌ๐ญ๐๐ฆ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ก๐จ ๐ก๐๐ฌ ๐ฏ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฌ๐๐ฒ. Often times it is an outsider who says the most important thing.
Jesus by a whole lot of metrics would be considered an outsider, and the Gospels, John in particular, point out that Jesus spoke with a different kind of authority, one that stood apart from the authority the scribes and chief priests spoke with.
๐๐๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐๐ฌ ๐๐ง ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ฌ๐ข๐๐๐ซ.
Just like Eldad and Medad, God can work away from the tent of meeting. God can work beyond the systems and institutions we as humans establish for accountability.
But we still need the ability to discern who to listen to and who not to listen to. In this story from Numbers, Moses assuages their concerns. If nothing else, Eldad and Medad were identified as part of the seventy elders, and that alone gives them a reason to trust them. Their concern about โevil spiritsโ was as real then as it is today.
There are all sorts of people out there that claim to speak for Christ or God, but not all of them are to be trusted. There are plenty of โevil spiritsโ around us, things like:
- ๐๐ซ๐๐๐
- ๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฐ๐๐ซ
- ๐๐๐จ๐ฅ๐๐ญ๐ซ๐ฒ
- ๐๐๐ญ๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ
And often those that sound the most pleasing or look the part the best are the ones who should be trusted the least.
Moses himself embodies this reality. When we actually read the story of Moses we find out he is nothing like the Charlton Heston figure many of us think of. Moses was short in stature, he stuttered, he was shy, he was probably the last person anyone thought of as right for the role of communicating with God.
As Christians, we follow an outsider, someone who was prophesying away from the temple, so it is in our DNA to look to outsiders and know that at least some of them have something to say, but we cannot forget how important it is to discern which voices are worth listening to.
The good news for us as Christians is that Jesus offers a model we can rely on to a certain degree.
- ๐๐จ๐ฐ ๐๐ฅ๐จ๐ฌ๐๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ฌ๐จ๐ง ๐ฆ๐จ๐๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ก๐ซ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ?
- ๐๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ฌ๐จ๐ง ๐ฅ๐ข๐ฏ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐๐ ๐๐ฉ๐ ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฏ๐, ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฌ๐๐ฅ๐๐ฅ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ, ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ง๐ข๐ญ๐ฒ-๐๐๐ง๐ญ๐๐ซ๐๐ ๐ฅ๐จ๐ฏ๐ ๐๐๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ข๐ง๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ซ๐ฅ๐?
- ๐๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ฌ๐จ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐๐ง๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐๐ก๐ข๐ฌ๐๐ ๐๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ง๐ญ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ข๐ซ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ง๐?
- ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ฒ ๐ญ๐๐๐๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ง ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐๐๐ฅ๐ ๐จ๐ซ ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฒ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐๐๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฌ๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐๐ญ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐๐ฅ ๐๐จ๐๐๐ฌ?
Because Jesus taught primarily through parable, and parables are intended to get us to think deeply and ask questions of ourselves, not to get us to adhere to a particular worldview or act by some strict set of rules.
- ๐๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ซ๐ฌ๐จ๐ง ๐ก๐ฎ๐ฆ๐๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐๐ฌ๐ฌ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐๐ญ๐?
These are great starting points to the process of discerning who to trust when a voice cries out away from the tent of meeting. Ideally, like the Israelites in the desert, our denominations can remain healthy enough that there are voices within them, like Moses, who we can trust and who can aid us in the discernment process.
That was a lot of words to say something fairly simple.
๐๐๐ฌ, ๐๐จ๐ ๐๐๐ง ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐๐๐ค ๐จ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ฌ๐ข๐๐ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ข๐ง๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ ๐๐ซ๐๐๐ญ๐, ๐๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ข๐ญ ๐๐จ๐๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐ฆ๐๐๐ง ๐ฐ๐ ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ญ๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ญ ๐๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐ฒ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ฐ๐ก๐จ ๐ฌ๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐ฌ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ค๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ฒ ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ฌ๐ฉ๐๐๐ค๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ ๐๐จ๐.
๐๐ข๐ฌ๐๐๐ซ๐ง๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฉ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐๐ง๐ญ. ๐๐๐ซ๐ฒ ๐ข๐ฆ๐ฉ๐จ๐ซ๐ญ๐๐ง๐ญ.
As Christians we are lucky to have the model of Christ to guide us in our process of discerning who to trust, and it is part of why it is so important to spend time with the Gospels and get to know Christ better, not just verses quoted here and there.
It also highlights how important ๐ฉ๐ซ๐๐ฒ๐๐ซ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ญ๐๐ฆ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐๐ญ๐ข๐จ๐ง are, and how when done in community and discussed in meaningful ways, they help us better understand the ways God works in our own lives, which also helps us discern which voices we can trust.
Yes, the world is a pretty wild place, and there are plenty of wild and even dangerous voices out there, but the deeper our relationship is with God and with Christ, the better able we are to navigate it in ๐๐จ๐ฏ๐.
