“The people, among whom I am,” exclaimed Moses, “are six hundred thousand footmen; and Thou has said, I will give them flesh, that they may eat a whole month. Shall the flocks and the herds be slain for them, to suffice them? or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them?” Numbers 11:21, 22. (PP 381.1) MC VC

He was reproved for his distrust: “Is the Lord’s hand waxed short? thou shalt see now whether My word shall come to pass unto thee or not.” Numbers 11:23. (PP 381.2) MC VC

Moses repeated to the congregation the words of the Lord, and announced the appointment of the seventy elders. The great leader’s charge to these chosen men might well serve as a model of judicial integrity for the judges and legislators of modern times: “Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him. Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God’s.” Deuteronomy 1:16, 17. (PP 381.3) MC VC

Moses now summoned the seventy to the tabernacle. “And the Lord came down in a cloud, and spake unto him, and took of the spirit that was upon him, and gave it unto the seventy elders: and it came to pass, that, when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, and did not cease.” Numbers 11:25. Like the disciples on the Day of Pentecost, they were endued with “power from on high.” Luke 24:49. It pleased the Lord thus to prepare them for their work, and to honor them in the presence of the congregation, that confidence might be established in them as men divinely chosen to unite with Moses in the government of Israel. (PP 381.4) MC VC

Again evidence was given of the lofty, unselfish spirit of the great leader. Two of the seventy, humbly counting themselves unworthy of so responsible a position, had not joined their brethren at the tabernacle; but the Spirit of God came upon them where they were, and they, too, exercised the prophetic gift. On being informed of this, Joshua desired to check such irregularity, fearing that it might tend to division. Jealous for the honor of his master, “My lord Moses,” he said, “forbid them.” Numbers 11:28. The answer was, “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.” Numbers 11:29. (PP 381.5) MC VC