Eldad and Medad

Eldad and Medad are mentioned in the Book of Numbers, and are described as having prophesied among the Israelites, despite the fact that they had remained in the "camp", while 70 elders had gone to the tabernacle outside the "camp" to receive the ability to prophecy from God [] , making them less representative of the general population, although some textual scholars believe that this is a gloss added to the original Elohist ["Peake's commentary on the Bible"] [Cheyne and Black, "Encyclopedia Biblica"] account, by a later editor who objected to the idea that anyone could become a prophet [Cheyne and Black, "Encyclopedia Biblica"] . The names themselves are hence unimportant to the point of the story, and may have been chosen simply for the sake of assonance [Cheyne and Black, "Encyclopedia Biblica"] ; they seem to refer to "dad", suggesting polytheism and/or a non-Israelite origin:
*if the names are Hebrew, then "dad" could mean "paternal uncle", with "Eldad" thus meaning "God is the brother of my father" or "El is the brother of my father" [Cheyne and Black, "Encyclopedia Biblica"] , and "Medad" meaning "(one who is) of my father's brother"
*if the names are Assyrian, then "dad" could be a corruption of "daddu", meaning "beloved", with "Eldad" thus meaning "God is beloved" or "El is beloved" [Cheyne and Black, "Encyclopedia Biblica"] , and "Medad" meaning "object of affection"
*if the names are Akkadian, then "dad" could be a corruption of "Adad", the name of a deity known to the Aramaeans as "Hadad", with "Eldad" thus meaning "El is Hadad" or "Hadad is God" [Cheyne and Black, "Encyclopedia Biblica"] , and "Medad" meaning "(one who is) of Hadad"

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