seventy men of the ancients i.e. of the elders. The seventy were not any court such as the later Sanhedrim, but merely seventy men representing the elders of Israel (Exodus 24:1; Numbers 11:16; Numbers 11:24-25). The elders were the leaders of the people, and probably here represent them. Prominent among these elders was Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan. There is no reason to suppose the name fictitious. Shaphan the scribe was the person who read the Book of the Law found in the temple to king Josiah (2 Kings 22:10). A son of his son Ahikam acted along with him and was a protector of Jeremiah (Jeremiah 39:14), and another son is mentioned (Jeremiah 36:10) as having a chamber in the upper court where Baruch read Jeremiah's roll in the ears of the people. If Jaazaniah was a son of this Shaphan he pursued a different course from his father and brothers.

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