The Israelites, unhappy with God’s provision of manna, pushed Moses to seek divine help through prayer. In answer to his fervent request, God appointed 70 elders to aid in the task.
God told Moses that He would equip the 70 elders with the same Spirit that enabled Moses’ effective service.
I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take some of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them, and they shall bear the burden of the people along with you so that you will not bear it all by yourself” (Numbers 11:17).
If we wonder how Moses managed to achieve so many feats during his service to the Israelites and God, we begin to understand that it was the Holy Spirit working through him.
Moses gathered the seventy, and God met with them and placed His Spirit upon them.
Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him and took some of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders, and when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But they did not do so again (Numbers 11:25).
From this encounter, we can learn three things about the Holy Spirit.
(1) The Holy Spirit given to others did not diminish Moses’s portion. It’s like one candle lighting many others; the original candle loses none of its brightness.
There is an abundance of God’s Spirit for everyone, and He does not have to limit it to just one person, nor does anyone lose what they have when it is shared.
(2) How can we tell if the Spirit has entered someone? In this instance, it was clear because the seventy prophesied.
While we don’t know the exact nature of their prophecy—it might have resembled speaking in tongues or something similar—there was visible evidence of the Spirit’s presence in their lives.
(3) The third lesson we learn about the Holy Spirit is that His presence isn’t confined to a single location. Two additional individuals, who were not among the original seventy, also received the Holy Spirit, bringing the total to 72.
Two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad and the other named Medad, and the Spirit rested on them; they were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, so they prophesied in the camp (Numbers 11:26).
When Joshua asked Moses about preventing these two men from their activity, Moses gave this answer:
But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!” (Numbers 11:29).
God’s Spirit on Everyone
What Moses wished, Joel prophesied. He spoke of a day when God’s Spirit would be available to everyone, a prophecy fulfilled on the day of Pentecost.
I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh;
Your sons and your daughters shall prophesy,
Your old men shall dream dreams,
And your young men shall see visions.
Even on the male and female slaves,
in those days I will pour out my Spirit. (Joel 2:28-29)
When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly from heaven there came a sound like the rush of a violent wind, and it filled the entire house where they were sitting.
Divided tongues, as of fire, appeared among them, and a tongue rested on each of them.
All of them were filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other languages, as the Spirit gave them ability (Acts 2:1-4).
Years ago, I read a very scholarly book on the Holy Spirit by Eduard Schweitzer. Although I remember little else from it, one statement resonated deeply.
He wrote that everything Jesus was to his disciples, the Holy Spirit is to us today.
With this in mind, and considering all the promises concerning the Holy Spirit, shouldn’t we fully embrace the Spirit’s activity in our lives?
YouTube Discussion
Rudy Ross, Bruce Kirby, and I discussed this passage on YouTube today.
Real Voices 