ELDERS OF ISRAEL
The heads of tribes, who, before the settlement of the Hebrew commonwealth, had a government and authority over their own families and the people. Moses and Aaron treated the elders as representatives of the nation, Exodus 3:16; Exodus 1:4; Exodus 1:12. When the law was given, God directed Moses to take the seventy elders, as well as Aaron, and Nadab and Abihu his sons, that they might be witnesses, Exodus 24:1, Exodus 1:24. Ever afterwards we find this number of seventy, or rather, seventy-two, elders; six from each tribe.
In allusion to the Jewish elders, the ordinary governors and teachers of the Christian church are called elders, or presbyters, Acts 20:17, Acts 1:20; Titus 1:5, Titus 1:1; 1 Peter 5:1; 2 John 1:1.