Introduction

The Alter Rebbe once remarked in Yiddish, “Leben mit der tzait” (live with the times), meaning that one should live with the current Torah portion. In Parshat Behaʿalotekha, we encounter a fascinating narrative about two prophets, Eldad and Meidad, whose prophecy has been interpreted by rabbinic tradition as relating to the eschatological war of Gog and Magog. This essay explores the textual sources and interpretations that connect this biblical episode to end-times prophecy, with particular attention to traditions linking this conflict to the current war in Iran.

The Biblical Account

The Torah states:

Now two men remained in the camp. The name of the first was Eldad and the name of the second was Meidad. The spirit [of prophecy] rested upon them. They were among those written [as elders, but] they did not go out to the Tent [of Meeting]. But they prophesied in the camp. The lad ran and told Moses, saying, “Eldad and Meidad are prophesying in the camp!” (Numbers 11:26-27)

The biblical text itself does not specify the content of their prophecy, leaving room for rabbinic interpretation and elaboration.

Talmudic Interpretations

The Babylonian Talmud (Sanhedrin 17a) presents three opinions regarding the content of Eldad and Meidad’s prophecy:

  1. Rabbi Eliezer: They prophesied about Moses’ death and Joshua’s succession, saying, “Moses will die and Joshua will bring Israel into the Land.”
  2. Rabbi Akiva: They prophesied about the quail that would come as described later in the chapter, saying, “Arise quail, arise quail.”
  3. Rabbi Naḥman (according to some texts, Rav Papa): They prophesied about the war of Gog and Magog. Rabbi Simeon also said, “They prophesied concerning Gog and Magog.”

The Targum Tradition

The Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Numbers 11:26 provides an expanded interpretation of this episode. According to this Aramaic translation-commentary, Eldad and Meidad were actually half-brothers of Moses through their mother Yocheved, being sons of Elizaphan ben Parnach. The Targum attributes to them prophecies about multiple future events, including the war of Gog and Magog:

Both of them prophesied together, and said: At the end, the end of the days, will Gog and Magog and his host come up against Jerusalem; but by the hand of the King Meshiha they will fall.

The Yalkut Shimoni Tradition

The Yalkut Shimoni, a midrashic compilation believed to have been composed in the 13th century, preserves important traditions about this prophecy. In Yalkut Shimoni on Bamidbar 740, the text elaborates on Rabbi Naḥman’s position that Eldad and Meidad prophesied about Gog and Magog.

Rabbi Naḥman said:They were prophesying about the affairs of Gog-and-Magog, as it is written (Ezek. 38:17) “Are you the one I spoke of in former days…”

The Persia Variant

Significantly, some manuscript traditions and printed editions of the Yalkut Shimoni contain an additional element that explicitly mentions Persia. According to scholarly research, this variant appears in:

  • Parma manuscript 266
  • Venice 1566 edition
  • Various Yemenite manuscripts

The expanded text reads:

…and that the wicked kingdom called Persia will rise up against Israel and will fall in the end, while Israel shall be delivered.

This variant, while not appearing in the standard Vilna printing, is cited by later commentators, including the Ḥida in his works Ma’aseh Rokeaḥ and Midbar Kedemot. Modern critical editors have noted that this may represent a marginal gloss that entered certain manuscript traditions of the Yalkut Shimoni.

The Isaiah Connection

A related tradition appears in Yalkut Shimoni on Isaiah (499):

Rabbi Yitzchak said: In the year that the Messiah will be revealed, all the nations of the world will provoke each other. The king of Persia will provoke the King of Arabia, and the King of Arabia will go to Edom to receive counsel from them. And the King of Persia will destroy the entire world, and all the nations of the world will shake and panic and fall on their faces and feel contractions like those of giving birth, and Israel will shake and panic and ask ‘Where will we go?’ And [G‑d] will say to them, “My children, do not fear, because everything I did, I did for you.”

This text explicitly identifies Persia (modern-day Iran) as a key player in the eschatological drama, creating a conceptual link between the prophecies attributed to Eldad and Meidad and the geopolitical tensions involving Persia/Iran.

Conclusion

The timing is nothing short of extraordinary. As we read Parshat Behaʿalotekha this week, with its account of Eldad and Meidad’s prophecy about a future war involving Persia, Israel has just launched a preemptive strike against Iran’s nuclear facilities. Moreover, this account appears in the sixth Aliyah—the sixth reading of the Torah that corresponds to the sixth day of the week, Friday. Last night, precisely on Friday, Israel struck Iran. The divine words of the Torah suddenly pulse with immediate relevance.

For centuries, Jews have read these prophecies as distant, abstract promises. But today, as Iranian nuclear ambitions threaten Israel’s existence and missiles arc across Middle Eastern skies, the prophecy of Eldad and Meidad reads less like ancient history and more like breaking news. The Yalkut Shimoni’s description of Persia provoking conflict, of nations trembling in fear, of Israel asking “Where shall we go?”—these words could have been lifted from today’s headlines. Indeed, all synagogues are ordered closed on Shabbat, and hospitals are evacuated into secure locations in the anticipation of Iran’s retaliation.

Yet the prophecy’s ultimate message is not one of fear but of reassurance. Just as G‑d tells the Jewish people through these ancient texts, “My children, do not fear, because everything I did, I did for you,” we see divine providence at work. Israel’s decisive action to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran may well be the beginning of the fulfillment of Eldad and Meidad’s vision: Persia’s aggression leading not to Israel’s destruction but to its ultimate deliverance.

As the Alter Rebbe taught us to “live with the times”—to find contemporary meaning in the weekly Torah portion—we cannot ignore the profound synchronicity of reading about Eldad and Meidad’s prophecy precisely when Israel confronts the modern incarnation of ancient Persia. Their prophecy, preserved through millennia of Jewish tradition, speaks directly to our moment, reminding us that current events are not random chaos but part of an unfolding divine plan that promises Israel’s ultimate redemption.

Bibliography

Primary Sources

  • Babylonian Talmud, Tractate Sanhedrin 17a
  • Targum Pseudo-Jonathan on Numbers 11:26
  • Yalkut Shimoni on Bamidbar, section 740
  • Yalkut Shimoni on Isaiah, section 499
  • Mishneh Torah, Hilkhot Melakhim, Chapter 12

Secondary Sources

  • Börner-Klein, Dagmar, ed. Yalkut Shimoni (German translation). Multiple volumes. Frankfurt: Various years.
  • Epstein, Abraham. “Yalkut Shimoni.” In Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1906.
  • Rapoport, J.L. Erech Millin. Prague, 1852.
  • Zunz, Leopold. Die gottesdienstlichen Vorträge der Juden. Frankfurt, 1892.

Notes on Manuscript Traditions

The standard Vilna edition of Yalkut Shimoni omits the variant that connects Persia with Gog and Magog. However, it is preserved in several authoritative manuscript traditions. See:

  • Yalkut Shimoni, Venice, Giovanni di Gara, 1566, HebrewBooks PDF #11552, https://hebrewbooks.org/11552
  • Parma, Biblioteca Palatina, MS De Rossi 1172, ff. 213v–214r (direct record id in catalogue: NLI Aleph 000471864)
  • Jerusalem, NLI, Yem. MS Heb. 28° 157 (17-18 c.) KTIV record NNL_ALEPH000127629.
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