“Gather to Me seventy men [ish]” – this is what the verse said: “One who loves, is pure of heart, has grace on his lips; his friend is a king” (Proverbs 22:11). Why did it not say: “Gather to Me seventy men [anashim]”? Rather, it is seventy ish, special people, so that they will be similar to Me and you: “The Lord is a Man [ish] of war” (Exodus 15:3), and Moses, “The man [ish], Moses, was very humble” (Numbers 12:3).
“Gather to Me” – did they not have elders before then? But is it not written at Mount Sinai: “Moses and Aaron, Nadav and Avihu [and seventy of the elders of Israel] ascended” (Exodus 24:9). This portion was after that, and there were elders then. It is, rather, that when Israel encountered these matters: “The people were seeking complaints...[a fire of the Lord burned in their midst, and it consumed at the edge of the camp]” (Numbers 11:1), they were all burned at that time. Their burning was like the burning of Nadav and Avihu, as they, too, conducted themselves with inappropriate levity when they ascended Mount Sinai, when they saw the Divine Presence: “They beheld God and they ate and they drank” (Exodus 24:11). Was there eating and drinking there? To what is the matter comparable? It is to a servant who was serving his master with his food in his hand and he would take bites from it. So, they conducted themselves with inappropriate levity, as though they were eating and drinking. The elders and Nadav and Avihu were deserving of being burned at that moment, but because the day of the giving of the Torah was very dear before the Holy One blessed be He, therefore He did not want to strike them on that day and cause a breach through them. That is what is written: “He did not extend his hand against the noblemen of the children of Israel” (Exodus 24:11); by inference, they were deserving of His hand being extended against them. However, after the passage of time, he collected from them. Nadav and Avihu, too, were burned when they entered the Tent of Meeting, and they23The complainers mentioned in Numbers 11:1–3, who the midrash goes on to describe. were burned when they expressed that craving, as it is stated: “The rabble [vehasafsuf] that was among them expressed a craving” (Numbers 11:4). What is “vehasafsuf”? Rabbi Shimon bar Abba and Rabbi Shimon ben Menasya, one of them says: These are the proselytes who ascended with them from Egypt and were appended to them, as it is stated: “A mixed multitude ascended with them” (Exodus 12:38). And one of them says: Vehasafsuf, these are the Sanhedrin, as it is stated: “Gather [esfa] to Me seventy men.” What is written there? “The fire of the Lord burned in their midst and consumed the edge [biktze] of the camp” (Numbers 11:1); the thorns [bakotzim] of the camp.24This is in accordance with the interpretation that vehasafsuf is referring to the proselytes who came with them. From where is it derived that those elders who climbed Mount Sinai were burned? It is as it is stated: “A fire blazed in their assembly [baadatam]” (Psalms 106:18), and eda is nothing other than the Sanhedrin, as it is stated: “It will be, if from the eyes of the assembly [adat] it was performed” (Numbers 15:24), and it is written: “If the entire assembly [adat] of Israel will err unwittingly” (Leviticus 4:13). Likewise it says: “The anger of God rose against them. He slew the best among them” (Psalms 78:31), these are the Sanhedrin. “He struck down the young men of [baḥurei] Israel” (Psalms 78:31), those baḥurim who were called elders, in whose regard it is written: “David again gathered all the chosen of [baḥurei] Israel” (II Samuel 6:1).25See Bemidbar Rabba 4:20, where this verse is interpreted as referring to elders. When they again wept and requested flesh [basar], if we say it was the flesh of an undomesticated animal, everything that they requested, the manna was transformed for them in their mouth, as it is stated: “He granted them their request” (Psalms 106:15), “and their craving would be provided them” (Psalms 78:29). If we say that they did not have flocks and cattle, is it not already stated: “A mixed multitude ascended with them, and flocks and cattle” (Exodus 12:38). If we say that they consumed them in the wilderness, is it not written: “The children of Reuben…had abundant livestock” (Numbers 32:1). From here Rabbi Shimon said: They did not desire flesh, but they desired a close relative [she’er basar], as it is stated: “He rained she’er upon them like dust” (Psalms 78:27), and she’er is nothing other than prohibited relations, as it is stated: “Any man shall not approach his close relative [she'er besaro] [to uncover nakedness]” (Leviticus 18:6). That is that which they requested: To permit for them prohibited relations. Likewise it says: “Moses heard the people weeping, according to their families” (Numbers 11:10). When they requested that, “the wrath of the Lord was greatly enflamed, and it was bad in the eyes of Moses” (Numbers 11:10). At that moment, Moses said to the Holy One blessed be He: “Why have you mistreated your servant?” (Numbers 11:11). In the past, there was someone with me to bear their burden, but now I am alone, as it is stated: “I am unable to bear [this entire people] alone…And if this is what You do to me, please kill me,” (Numbers 11:14–15). At that moment, the Holy One blessed be He said to him: ‘In place of those elders, appoint other elders to replace them,’ as it is stated: “Gather to Me seventy men.”