Reference: Elder
Hastings
The rudimentary form of government which prevailed amongst the Hebrews in primitive times grew out of family life. As the father is head of the household, so the chiefs of the principal families ruled the clan and the tribe, their authority being ill-defined, and, like that of an Arab sheik, depending on the consent of the governed. In our earliest documents the 'elders of Israel' are the men of position and influence, who represent the community in both religious and civil affairs (Ex 3:16,18; 12:11; 17:5 f., Ex 18:12; 19:7; Nu 11:16; De 5:23; 27:1; 31:28): the 'elders' of Ex 24:1 are the 'nobles' of Ex 24:11. Josephus sums up correctly when he makes Moses declare: 'Aristocracy
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Come, and gather together the old men of Israel, and say to them, Jehovah, the God of your fathers, was seen to me, the God of Abraham, Isaak and Jacob, saying, Reviewing, I reviewed you and what was done to you in Egypt
And they heard thy voice; and thou camest, thou and the old men of Israel, to the king of Egypt, and ye said to him, Jehovah the God of the Hebrews, met with us; and now will we go a way of three days into the desert, and we will sacrifice to Jehovah our God.
And so shall ye eat it, your loins girded, your shoes on your feet and your staff in your hand: and ye ate it in hasty flight; a passing over to Jehovah.
And Jehovah will say to Moses, Pass over before the people and take with thee from the old men of Israel; and thy rod which thou didst strike with it the river, take in thy hand and go.
And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, will take a burnt-offering and sacrifices to God: and Aaron will come, and all the old men of Israel, to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God.
And Moses will go and will call to the old men of the people, and he will set before them all these words that Jehovah commanded him.
And he said to Moses, Come up to Jehovah, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy from the old men of Israel; and worship from far off.
And to the sides of the sons of Israel he stretched not forth his hand: and they will see God, and eat and drink.
And Jehovah will say to Moses, Gather to me seventy men of the old men of Israel, whom thou knewest that they were old men of the people, and their scribes; and take them to the tent of appointment, and they shall stand there with thee.
And Moab will say to the old men of Midian, Now this gathering will lick up all round about us, as the ox licking up the green of the field. And Balak, son of Zippor, the king of Moab in that time.
And it will be as ye are hearing the voice from the midst of the darkness (and the mount burnt with fire), and. ye will come near to me all the heads of your tribes, and your old men;
Judges and scribes shall thou give to thee in all thy gates which Jehovah thy God gave to thee according to thy tribes: and they judged the people just judgment
And the old men of his city sent and took him from there and gave him into the hand of the nearest relative of blood, and he died.
And thy old men and thy judges shall come forth and measure to the cities which are round about him wounded:
And the father of the young girl took, and her mother, and brought the signs of virginity of the young girl to the elders of the city to the gate:
And if the man shall not desire to take his brother's wife, and his brother's wife went up to the gate to the old men, and said, My husband's brother refused to raise up to his brother a name in Israel, and he would not act my husband's brother.
And Moses and the old men of Israel will command the people, saying, Watch every command which I command you this day.
Gather to me all the old men of your tribes and your scribes, and I will speak in their ears these words, and I will take the heavens and the earth to witness against them.
And our old men and all the inhabitants of our land will say to us, saying, Take in your hand food for the way, and go to meet them, and say to them, We your servants: and now cut out to us a covenant:
And he will take a youth from the men of Succoth, and he will ask him: and he will write for him the chiefs of Succoth and its old men, seventy and seven men.
And he will take ten men from the old men of the citv, and he will say, Sit ye down here. And they will sit down.
And Boaz will say to the old men and all the people, Ye are witnesses this day that I bought all which was to Elimelech, and all which was to Chilion and Mahlon, from the hand of Naomi.
And the people will come to the camp, and the old men of Israel will, say, Wherefore did Jehovah smite us this day before Philisteim? We will take to us from Shiloh the ark of the covenant of Jehovah, and it shall come into the midst of us and save us from the hand of our enemies.
And all the old men of Israel will gather together and will come to Samuel to Ramah; .
And we were as all the nations; and our king judged us and went out before us, and fought our battles.
And he will say, I sinned this time; honor me now before the old men of my people, and before Israel, and turn back with me, and I worshipped to Jehovah thy God.
Then Solomon will convoke together the old men of Israel and all the heads of the tribes, chiefs of the fathers to the sons of Israel, to king Solomon at Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of Jehovah from the city of David: this is Zion.
And the king of Israel will call for all the old men of the land, and he will say, Know now, and see that this seeks evil, for he sent to me for my wives and for my sons, and for my silver, and for my gold, and I withheld not from him.
And to Ahab seventy sons in Shomeron. And Jehu will write letters and send to Shomeron to the chiefs of Jezreel, the old men, and to Ahab's nourishers, saying,
And the king will send and gather to him all the old men of Judah and Jerusalem.
Then we asked these old men, thus we said to them, Who set to you a decree to build this house and to complete this wall?
Leave to the works of this house of God: the prefect of the Jews and the old men of the Jews, they shall build this house of God upon its place.
And every one who shall not come in three days according to the counsel of the chiefs and the old men, all his substance shall be devoted, and he shall be separated from the convocation of the exile.
And our chiefs to all the convocation shall stand now, and all who in our cities dwelt with strange wives, shall come at the appointed times, and with them the old men of city and city, and its judges, until the turning back the burning of the anger of our God from us even for this word.
To bind his chiefs in his soul, and to make his old men wise.
And they shall exalt him in the convocation of the people, and they shall praise him in the seat of the old men.
Her husband was known in the gates, in his sitting with the old men of the land.
And justice was the girding of his loins, and truth the girding of his loins.
And these the words of the writing which Jeremiah the prophet sent from Jerusalem to the remnant of the old men of the captivity, and to the priests and to the prophets, and to all the people which Nebuchadnezzar carried away captive from Jerusalem to Babel;
And it was in the sixth year, in the sixth, in the fifth to the month, I sitting in my house, and the old men of Judah sitting before me, and the hand of the Lord Jehovah fell there upon me.
And there will come to me men from the old men of Israel, and sit before me.
And it will be in the seventh year, in the fifth, in the tenth to the month, men from the old men of Israel came to seek Jehovah, and they sat before my face.
The old men of Gebal and her wise were in thee making strong thy breach: all the ships of the sea and thy seamen were in thee to traffic from thy traffic.
Consecrate a fast., call an assembly, gather together the old men, all the inhabitants of the land to the house of Jehovah your God, and cry to Jehovah.
Gather the people, consecrate the convocation, assemble the old men, gather the children and those sucking the breasts: the bridegroom shall come forth from his chamber and the bride from her nuptial couch.