Of the seventy-two sages that Moses chose by lot, two irregular Tzadikkim (righteous) didn’t show up at the Mishkan (tabernacle). They hid in the camp and said: We don’t deserve the great honor of becoming the leaders of the people. And the Creator said: You humbled yourselves, so I will raise you above all the elders. When the elders stood beside the Holy of Holies, Eldad and Medad then received the spirit of the Creator and began to prophesize. Eldad prophesied: Moses will leave this world and Joshua his servant will succeed him. Joshua will bring the Jews to the land and will conquer it. As a reward for the humility of Eldad and Medad, their prophecies climbed above the prophecies of the elders. The holy spirit which rested upon the elders, made it possible for them to predict the near future only, whereas Eldad and Medad prophesied for the far future, right up to the period of the war of Gog and Magog (From “Midrash Rabba,” Parshat BeHa’alotcha).

This is not talking about two old prophets, but about special characteristics. Moses received his clear characteristics, his destiny, his role, because this was the characteristic of Bina. And above it are found Hochma and Keter, which are very serious and elevated systems. Besides this, a very unique Light descended from above that produced the two characteristics, “Eldad” and “Medad.” Which is to say, very many systems of leadership descended from above.

The role of Moses is to remove all the desires of the general human soul from Pharaoh, from Egypt, through the Exodus from Egypt, splitting the Red Sea, standing before Mount Sinai, and crossing the wilderness until entry into the land of Israel, and nothing beyond this. Moses speaks in the Torah only about this way. But from this way all the rest can also become clear to us; for after all, the Torah begins from Adam, the first man who attained the thought of creation. There are also other sources that don’t refer to people as characters, but rather the forces of management that work further, beyond Moses.

Yet there was no prophet greater than Moses. But Eldad and Medad were found a little on the side and prophesied about the future after Moses. So it seems to us that one of them had to be greater, someone had to be smaller, even though the Torah doesn’t talk on a level like this. It simply talks about the existence of parallel chains of leadership that include Moses, seventy sages, Eldad and Medad who would later enter into the land of Israel and lead the people for a time until the building of the Temple. It means that Eldad and Medad were under the direct management of the Creator and walked in parallel to Moses.

We learn the same thing in the “Study of the Ten Sefirot,” in which two higher systems: Abba and Ima, are described. These are not people, but characteristics of the Creator that are divided into bestowal and reception. There is a division between them that runs in parallel to the regular lines. We need to enter into this spirit gradually and understand that the Torah doesn’t even speak about the characteristics of one person, but about connection between people. The Torah is designed only so that we will attain this connection; in this we will find everything that it talks about, all the way to the completion of correction, and simultaneously we begin to attain the higher levels: a state outside of time and space.
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From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 2/25/15

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