ELDAD (‘Eldādh “God loved”). - One of the seventy elders whom Moses associated with himself for the government of Israel.
E., together with Medad, was absent when those around the tent, far from the camp (Ex. 33, 7), received from Jahweh the investiture of their office, with manifestations of mystical exaltation (prophetic charisma: I Sam. 10, 10-13; Act. 10, 44-46; 19, 6); yet he “prophesied” in the same way within the camp. The sensational incident was reported to Moses, who, invited to forbid that independent manifestation, as though it were a withdrawal from his authority, replied: “Oh, would to God that all might be so favored by the richest manifestations of the divine spirit!” (Num. 11, 26-30). A book of prophecies by E. and Medad is cited by the Shepherd of Hermas (Visio II, 3, 4).