Numbers 11:29
And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the LORD’s people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his spirit upon them! And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the LORD’s people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his spirit upon them!
The verse belongs to the wilderness journey when Israel received manna from heaven, angels' food, yet were not satisfied but longed for flesh meat, murmured and mourned for it, and rejected the food God provided. That craving was connected in the account with deaths that followed. God granted the request and gave that vast multitude quails in abundance, but their indulgence was transgression, and God did not work a miracle to preserve life, so while the flesh was still between their teeth plague came and destroyed thousands.
The Spirit rested on others besides Moses and they prophesied, including two elders who had not gathered with the others. When Joshua asked that they be stopped, Moses refused. By these words Moses welcomed rather than resented the Spirit's work through others, refusing to guard his own position, and expressed the wish that all the Lord's people would receive the Lord's Spirit and become prophets. The Spirit's work in the elders prepared them for their service and publicly confirmed their calling.
God's people may receive His Spirit and be inspired to speak as prophets, and that wish is reflected in the Spirit's work that brings transformation of character and inspires them for service. The episode is connected with Satan's temptation of Moses to take for himself glory that belonged to God. The verse does not mean that when all hold the right relation to God all can have the gift of prophecy to the same extent as those who have visions, or that God will speak to each person through prophecy only for that person's own benefit and not for the benefit of others.
The fact that Moses remained a leader while many others prophesied whose prophecies were not published does not mean that no one will hold a leading prophetic position, and the verse gives no authority for treating private visions as a universal prophetic gift. To use Moses' wish that all the Lord's people were prophets to teach universal prophesying misuses the verse and prepares the way for spurious exercises, fanaticism by unbalanced minds, and selfish advantage by designing persons. The story teaches that temperance in eating and drinking and becoming health reformers gives clearer minds to discern what does and does not affect the salvation of the soul, a lesson ministers especially need to understand.