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 4:29 12:21. 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 24:1,9. 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 20:17,28 Titus 1:5,7 1 Peter 5:1 2 John 1:1.