ELDER
116
ELDER
serves that these seventy elders were not chosen to be judges of the people, who had already more than 60,000 judges. He also argues that the election of seventy additional judges would liave done Init little towards suppressing the rebellion which led Moses to adopt this proceeding ; hut that it seems more likely to have been his intention to form a supreme senate to take a share in the government, consisting of the most respectable persons, either for family or merit, which would materially support his power and influ- ence among tlie people in general ; would iniite large and powerful families, and give an air of aristocracy to his government, whicii had hitherto been deemed too monarchical. He further infers that this council was not permanent, not being once al!uded to from the death of ISIoses till the Babylonish captivitv; that ]Moses did not till up the vacancies occasioned by deaths, and tliat it ceased altogether in the wilderness. Wherever a patriarchal sj-steni is in force, the office of the eWer will be found as the keystone of the social and political fabric ; it is so at the present day among the Arabs, where the sheik ( = the old mmi) is the highest authoritj- in tlie tribe. That the title origin- ally had reference to age is obvious ; and age was naturally a concomitant of the office at all periods (Josh, xxiv, 31 ; 1 Kings xii, 6), even when the term had acquired its secondary' sense. At what period the transition occurred, in other words, when the word elder acquired an official signification, it is impossible to say. The earliest notice of the elders acting in concert as a political body is at the time of the Exodus. We need not assume that the order was then called into exist- ence, but rather that Moses availed himself of an insti- tution already existing and recognised by his coun- trymen, and that, in short, "?/<e elders of Israel" (Ex- od. iii, 16 ; iv, 29) had been the senate (Sept. -/((lovaia) of the people ever since they had become a people. The position which the elders held in the Mosaic con- stitution, and more particuhirlv in relation to the peo- ple, is descriljod under Coxoreoatiox ; they were the representatives of the people, so much so that el- ders and 2}eo]jle are occasionallv used as equivalent terms (comp. Josh, xxiv, 1 with 2, 19, 21 ; 1 Sam. viii, 4 with 7, 10, 19). Their authority was undefined, and extended to all matters concerning the public weal ; nor did the people question the validity of their acts, even when they disapproved of them (Josh, ix, 18). When the tribes became settled the elders Avere dis- tinguished bj' different titles, according as they were acting as national representatives ("elders of Israel," 1 Sam. iv, 3; 1 Kings viii, 1, 3; "of the land," 1 Kings XX, 7; "of Judah," 2 Kings xxiii, 1; Ezek. viii, 1), as district governors over the several tribes (Deut. xxxi, 28; 2 Sam. xix, 11), or as local magis- trates in the provincial towns, appointed in conformi- ty' with Deut. xvi, 18, whose duty it was to sit in the gate and administer justice (Deut. xix, 12; xxi, 3 sq. ; xxii, 15 ; Ruth iv, 9, 11 ; 1 Kings xxi, 8 ; Judg. x, 6) ; their number and influence may be inferred from 1 Sam. XXX, 2G sq. The}' retained their position imder all the political changes wliich the Jews underwent: nnder the judges (Judg. ii, 7; viii, 14; xi, 5; 1 Sam. iv, 3 ; viii, 4) ; in the time of Sannicl (1 Sam. xvi, 4) ; nnder Saul (1 Sam. xxx, 2G), David (1 Chron. xxi, IG), and the later kings (2 Sam. xvii, 4 ; 1 Kings xii, G; XX, 8; xxi, 11); during the captivity (Jer. xxix, 1 ; Ezek. viii, 1 ; xiv, 1 ; xx, 1) ; SHbse(|uently to the return (Ezra v, 5; vi, 7, 14; x, 8, 14); nnder the [Maccabees, when they were descrij)ed sometimes as the senate (yipovr7i(r ; 1 Mace, xii, G; 2 jMacc. i, 10; iv, 44 ; xi, 27 ; Josejjhus, A71!. xii, 3, 3), sometimes bj- their ordinary title (1 Mace, vii, 33; xi, 23; xii, 85); and, lastly, at the commencement of the Christian a;ra, when they are noticed as a distinct body from the San- hedrim, but connected with Jt as one o^ tlie classes whence its members were selected, and always acting in conjunction with it and the other dominant classes.
See Council. Thus they are associated sometimes with the chief priests (Matt, xxi, 23), sometimes with the chief priests and the scribes (Matt, xvi, 21), or the council (Matt, xxvi, 59), always taking an active part in the management of public affairs. Luke describes the whole order by the collective term Troeffiivrlipinv, i. e. eldership (Luke xxii, GG ; Acts xxii, 5). Like the scribes, they obtained their seat in the Sanhedrim bj- election, or nomination from the executive author- ity.— Smitl), s. V. ; Kitto, s. v. See Age.
II. In the Xeir Teslament and in the Apostolical Church. — In the article Bishop (i, 818 sq.), the origin and functions of the eldership in the N. T. and in the eai'ly Churcii are treated at some length, especialh' with regard to the question of the original identity of bishops and presht/ters (or elders). Referring our read- ers to that discussion, we add here the following points.