“I will descend and speak” (Numbers 11:17) – to inform you that the day of the appointment of the elders was dear before the Holy One blessed be He, like the day of the giving of the Torah, in whose regard it is written: “As on the third day the Lord will descend before the eyes of all the people” (Exodus 19:11). Regarding the appointment of the elders, too, descent is written there. To what is the matter comparable?
It is to a king who had an orchard, and he hired a guard in it and gave him wages for guarding. Sometime later, the guard said to him: ‘I am unable to guard it all by myself. Rather, bring others to guard with me.’ The king said to him: ‘I entrusted the entire orchard to you to guard it, and the guarding of all its fruits I entrusted to you, and now you say to me: Bring me others, in addition, to guard with me?
I will bring others to guard with you, but know that I will not give them wages from my own, but rather from the wages that I have given you, they will take their wages.’ So, the Holy One blessed be He said to Moses, when he said: “I am unable to bear…alone” (Numbers 11:14). The Holy One blessed be He said to him: ‘I imbued you with spirit and knowledge to sustain My children, and I did not seek another, so that you alone will be accorded that prominence.
But you request another. Know, that from My own they will take nothing, but, “I will draw from the spirit that is upon you” (Numbers 11:17). Nevertheless, Moses lacked nothing, as at the conclusion of forty years, He said to him: “Take to you Joshua, the son of Nun…. You shall confer from your grandeur upon him” (Numbers 27:18, 20).
What is written: “And Joshua son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, as Moses had placed his hands upon him” (Deuteronomy 34:9). The Holy One blessed be He said: ‘In this world, individuals prophesied. But in the World to Come, all of Israel will become prophets,’ as it is stated: “Thereafter, it will be that I will pour My spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy; your elders…” (Joel 3:1). This what Rabbi Tanḥuma ben Rabbi Abba expounded.