Moses, shut them in.’" Consequently God honored Joshua by saying of Joshua in "He shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire for him by the judgment of the Urim." And because Joshua served his master Moses, Joshua attained the privilege of receiving the Holy Spirit, as reports, "Now it came to pass after the death of Moses . . . that the Lord spoke to Joshua, the minister of Moses." The Midrash taught that there was no need for to state, "the minister of Moses," so the purpose of the statement "the minister of Moses" was to explain that Joshua was awarded the privilege of prophecy because he was the minister of Moses. The Gemara asked how one could reconcile , which reported God's promise that the Israelites would eat meat "a whole month," with , which reported that "while the flesh was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, . . . the Lord smote the people." The Gemara concluded that God's punishment came at different speeds for different classes of people: Average people died immediately; while the wicked suffered over a month before they died. Reading God's criticism of Moses in , "Because you did not believe in me," a Midrash asked whether Moses had not previously said worse when in , he showed a greater lack of faith and questioned God's powers asking: "If flocks and herds be slain for them, will they suffice them? Or if all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, will they suffice them?" The Midrash explained by relating the case of a king who had a friend who displayed arrogance towards the king privately, using harsh words. The king did not, however, lose his temper with his friend. Later, the friend displayed his arrogance in the presence of the king's legions, and the king sentenced his friend to death. So also God told Moses that the first offense that Moses committed (in ) was a private matter between Moses and God. But now that Moses had committed a second offense against God in public, it was impossible for God to overlook it, and God had to react, as reports, "To sanctify Me in the eyes of the children of Israel." The Gemara explained how Moses selected the members of the Sanhedrin in . The Rabbis taught in a Baraita that when (in ) God told