זֶה שֶׁאָמַר הַכָּתוּב (ישעיה מב, כא): ה' חָפֵץ לְמַעַן צִדְקוֹ יַגְדִּיל תּוֹרָה וְיַאְדִּיר, אָמַר לוֹ הַקָּדוֹשׁ בָּרוּךְ הוּא לְמשֶׁה, לֹא בִּשְׁבִיל שֶׁאֲנִי צָרִיךְ לְנֵרוֹת הִזְהַרְתִּיךָ עַל הַנֵּרוֹת, אֶלָּא לְזַכּוֹתָם, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (דניאל ב, כב): וּנְהוֹרָא עִמֵּהּ שְׁרֵא, וּכְתִיב (תהלים קלט, יב): גַּם חשֶׁךְ לֹא יַחְשִׁיךְ מִמֶּךָּ וְלַיְלָה כַּיּוֹם יָאִיר כַּחֲשֵׁיכָה כָּאוֹרָה, בָּא לְלַמֶּדְךָ שֶׁאֵינוֹ צָרִיךְ לְנֵרוֹת שֶׁל בָּשָׂר וָדָם. תֵּדַע כְּשֶׁאָדָם בּוֹנֶה בַּיִת עוֹשֶׂה לוֹ חַלּוֹנוֹת צָרוֹת מִבַּחוּץ וּרְחָבוֹת מִבִּפְנִים, כְּדֵי שֶׁיְהֵא הָאוֹר נִכְנַס מִבַּחוּץ וּמֵאִיר מִבִּפְנִים, וּשְׁלֹמֹה שֶׁבָּנָה בֵּית הַמִּקְדָּשׁ לֹא עָשָׂה כָּךְ אֶלָּא עָשָׂה חַלּוֹנוֹת צָרוֹת מִבִּפְנִים וּרְחָבוֹת מִבַּחוּץ, כְּדֵי שֶׁיְהֵא הָאוֹר יוֹצֵא מִבֵּית הַמִּקְדָּשׁ וּמֵאִיר לַחוּץ, שֶׁנֶּאֱמַר (מלכים א ו, ד): וַיַּעַשׂ לַבָּיִת חַלּוֹנֵי שְׁקֻפִים אֲטוּמִים, לְהוֹדִיעֲךָ שֶׁכֻּלּוֹ אוֹר וְאֵין צָרִיךְ לְאוֹרָם, וְלָמָּה צִוָּה אֶתְכֶם, לְזַכּוֹתְכֶם, לְכָךְ נֶאֱמַר: בְּהַעֲלֹתְךָ אֶת הַנֵּרֹת, הֱוֵי ה' חָפֵץ לְמַעַן צִדְקוֹ. וְלֹא עוֹד אֶלָּא אִם אַתֶּם זְהִירִים לְהַדְלִיק אֶת הַנֵּרוֹת לְפָנַי, אֲנִי מֵאִיר לָכֶם אוֹרָה גְדוֹלָה לֶעָתִיד לָבוֹא, לְכָךְ נֶאֱמַר (ישעיה ס, א ג): קוּמִי אוֹרִי כִּי בָא אוֹרֵךְ וְהָלְכוּ גּוֹיִם לְאוֹרֵךְ וּמְלָכִים לְנֹגַהּ זַרְחֵךְ.
2 (Is. 42:21) “The Lord was delighted because of His [servant's] righteousness to magnify and glorify Torah”: The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses, It was not because I need your light that I am telling you to light a lamp. Rather [I am doing so] in order to have you acquire merit (by fulfilling a commandment).” It is likewise written, (in Dan. 2:22), “and the light dwells within Him”; and [similarly] it says (in Ps. 139:12), “Even darkness is not dark to You; for night shines as the day, and darkness becomes like the light.” [Scripture says these things] to inform you that He does not need the lamps of flesh and blood. You yourself know [this truth]. When a person builds a house and makes windows within [his house], he makes windows narrow on the outside and broad on the inside, so that the light will enter from the outside and shine on the inside. But when Solomon built the Temple, he did not make the windows like that. Rather they were narrow on the inside and broad on the outside so that the light would go out from the Temple and shine outside. It is so stated (in I Kings 6:4), “And for the house he made windows broad and narrow.” [This text] is to inform you that He is all light and that He has no need for its light. So why did He command you [to set up the lamps]? In order to have you acquire merit (by fulfilling a commandment). It is therefore stated (in Numb. 8:2), “When you set up the lamps.” Ergo (in Is. 42:21), “The Lord was delighted because of His [servant's] righteousness.” The Holy One, blessed be He, said to Israel, “Be careful to light lamps for My sake, and I will shine a great light for you in the future to come.” It is so stated (in Is. 60:3), “And nations shall walk by your light, even kings by the brightness of your rising.”
(Bamidbar 9:6) "And there were men who were unclean by the body of a man, and they could not offer the Pesach on that day": Who were those men? They were the bearers of Joseph's casket. These are the words of R. Yishmael. R. Akiva says: They were Mishael and Eltzafan, who had become tamei by (the bodies of Nadav and Avihu). R. Yitzchak says: If they were the bearers of Joseph's casket, they could have cleansed themselves (in time to eat the Paschal offering), and if they were Mishael and Eltzafan, they could have cleansed themselves. Rather, they were men who had become unclean by contact with a meth-mitzvah (a body with none to bury it, but themselves), their seventh (and final) day of uncleanliness falling out on Pesach eve.
Another interpretation: "And Yitro Heard": He was called by seven names. Yeter was his name while he was yet an idolater. As it says: "He returned to Yeter his father-in-law"(Exodus 4:18). Once he converted, an extra letter (vav) was added to his name, just as was done to Avraham, and he was then called Yitro. Another interpretation: Yitro, because he increased (yiter) a section of the Torah, i.e. "And you shall see from amongst the people" (Exodus 18:21). Hobab, because he cherised (hibeb) the Torah, as written in the section "Moshe said to Hobab" (Numbers 10:29)
(Ibid. 27) "And Moses sent his father-in-law": R. Yehoshua says: He sent him with gifts. R. Elazar Hamodai says: He sent him with all the honor in the world, as is seen in his (Moses') response to him, as it is written (Numbers 10:30) "I pray you, do not leave us," telling him: You gave us good and beautiful counsel, and the L rd consented to your words. "I pray you, do not leave us." Yithro replied: Is a candle of benefit other than in a place of darkness? Can sun and moon benefit from a candle? You are the sun and Aaron your brother is the moon. What can a candle do between you? Let me go to my land and I will convert all of my countrymen and bring them to the study of Torah and under the wings of the Shechinah. One might think that he went but did not do so. It is, therefore, written (Judges 1:16) "And the children of Keni, the father-in-law of Moses, went up from the city of date-palms," and (Ibid.) "and they went and settled with the people," "the people" signifying "wisdom," (in this instance, Torah study), viz. (Iyyov 12:2) "Truly you are a people, but will wisdom die with you?" Read if not "tamuth" ("die"), but "tumath" ("put to death"). So long as a sage lives, his wisdom endures. When he dies, his wisdom is lost with him. (And thus we find, when R. Yochanan b. Zakkai died, that his wisdom was lost with him.) They went and settled with Yaavetz, it being written of them (I Chronicles 2:55) "the dwellers of Yaavetz." Now were they dwellers of Yaavetz? Rather, they were disciples of (a man called) Yaavetz, viz. "And the families of scribes, 'dwellers' of Yaavetz — Tirathim, Shimathim, Suchathim — These were the Kenites who descended from Chamath, the father of the house of Rechav." "Tirathim" — They sounded the alarm ("mathri'im") and were answered. "Shimathim" — They heard ("shamu") the sound of shofar of Torah at Sinai. "Suchathim" — They dwelt in succoth, viz. (Jeremiah 35:10) "And we (the descendants of Rechav) live in tents, etc."
19 Another interpretation (of Numb. 11:16), “Gather Me seventy men [from the elders of Israel]”: When the Holy One, blessed be He, said to Moses, “Gather Me seventy men,” Moses said, “How shall I manage to get [them] from all the tribes? If I get five each from every tribe, they will not add up to the number seventy. There will [only] be sixty. And if we get six each from every tribe, they will add up to the number seventy-two. But if I get five from one tribe and six from another, I shall be imposing jealousy among the tribes.” What did Moses do? He took seventy-two pieces of paper and wrote “elder” on them plus two other blank pieces of paper. Then he mixed them up and put them in the urn. He said to them, “Come and take your papers.” If a paper with ‘elder’ written on it came up in [a person's] hand he knew that he had been appointed an elder, but if a blank one came up in his hand he knew that he had not been appointed. Then the officer-in-charge would say to him, “Look there is another paper there with ‘elder’ written upon it. If you had been worthy of being appointed, [a paper with ‘elder’] would have come up in your hand.” When [Moses had followed this procedure] the elders were appointed. Eldad and Medad were there, but they excluded themselves. [They said,] “We are not worthy to be in the number of the elders.” Now because they excluded themselves, they were found [to have become] superior to the elders in five respects. The elders only prophesied for the morrow as stated (in Numb. 11:18), “And you shall say to the people, ‘Purify yourselves for the morrow,’” but these men prophesied what was going to happen at the end of forty years as stated (in Numb. 11:26), “But two men had remained in the camp; [the name of the one was Eldad and the name of the other was Medad…; and they were…] prophesying in the camp.” But what were they prophesying? Some say [they were prophesying] about the downfall of Gog, while others say [they were prophesying that] Moses would die and Joshua would bring Israel into the Land. You yourself know that they so prophesied, since it is what Joshua told Moses (in vs. 28), “Then Joshua ben Nun, Moses' attendant from his youth, answered.” And it is written (in vs. 27), “But a lad ran and told Moses.” And who was it? It was Moses' son, Gershom. The elders did not enter the land, but these did enter the land. Eldad is [so listed] (in Numb. 34:21) [as] Elidad ben Chislon. Medad is [so listed] (in Numb. 34:24) [as] Kemuel ben Shiphtan. The elders were not designated by their names, [but these were designated by their names]. The elders had their prophecy cease, since their prophecy was from what belonged to Moses, even as the Scripture has said (in Numb. 11:17), “and I will set aside some of the spirit which is upon you and put it on them”; but these [two] had their prophecy from that which belonged to the Holy One, blessed be He, as stated (in Numb. 11:26), “and the spirit rested upon them.” Now if you say, “Since the elders had their prophecy from what belonged to Moses, might it not have lessened his prophecy somewhat?” [The answer is] no. To what may Moses be compared? To a lamp which was lit and everyone lights up from it; yet its light is in no way diminished. So also in the case of Moses. Although the prophets took of his prophecy, the prophecy of Moses was in no way diminished. [It is so stated] (in Deut. 34:10), “And never again did there arise in Israel a prophet like Moses.”