Numbers 11:24 - Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

Moses went out of the tabernacle, into which he entered to receive God's answers from the mercy-seat, Numbers 7:89. The seventy men, either they are called seventy from the stated number, though two of them were lacking, Numbers 11:26, as the apostles are called the twelve, Matthew 26:20, when one of that number was absent; or he is said to have gathered them, when he gave command to gather them. Round about the tabernacle; partly, that the awe of God might be imprinted upon their hearts, that they might more seriously undertake and more faithfully manage their high employment; partly, to gain them the more authority and respect from the people; and principally, because that was the place where God manifested himself, and gave his blessings, and therefore there he would bestow his Spirit upon them.