These men were appointed from within their communities, since they were leaders of their ancestral houses and heads of the tribes of Israel.

When one trumpet is blown, the elders and the heads of the thousands of the Israelis are to gather to you.

and ten officials with him (one for each of the tribal families of Israel, each one of them a family leader among the tribes of Israel).

The descendants of Reuben, the descendants of Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh answered the officials of the tribes of Israel,

"As for you, Bethlehem of Ephrathah, even though you remain least among the clans of Judah, nevertheless, the one who rules in Israel for me will emerge from you. His existence has been from antiquity, even from eternity.