ELDERS
/ OVERSEERS / BISHOPS / SHEPHERDS
OLD TESTAMENT
Exodus 3:15-18
[15] God said moreover to Moses, “You shall tell the children of
Israel this, ‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham,
the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This
is my name forever, and this is my memorial to all generations. [16]
Go, and gather the elders of Israel together, and tell them,
‘Yahweh, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and
of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, “I have surely visited you,
and seen that which is done to you in Egypt; [17] and I have said, I
will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the
Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and
the Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey.”’ [18] They
will listen to your voice, and you shall come, you and the elders
of Israel, to the king of Egypt, and you shall tell him, ‘Yahweh,
the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now please let us go three
days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to Yahweh,
our God.’
Exodus 4:29-31
[29] Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of
the children of Israel. [30] Aaron spoke all the words which
Yahweh had spoken to Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the
people. [31] The people believed, and when they heard that Yahweh had
visited the children of Israel, and that he had seen their
affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped.
Exodus 12:21,28
[21] Then Moses called for all the elders of Israel, and said
to them, “Draw out, and take lambs according to your families, and
kill the Passover. [28] The children of Israel went and did so;
as Yahweh had commanded Moses and Aaron, so they did.
Moses
spoke to the elders, and all the children of Israel went and did so.
Exodus 17:3-6
[3] The people were thirsty for water there; and the people murmured
against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt,
to kill us, our children, and our livestock with thirst?” [4] Moses
cried to Yahweh, saying, “What shall I do with these people? They
are almost ready to stone me.” [5] Yahweh said to Moses, “Walk on
before the people, and take the elders of Israel with you, and
take the rod in your hand with which you struck the Nile, and go. [6]
Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb. You shall
strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may
drink.” Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.
Exodus 18:13-26
[13] On the next day, Moses sat to judge the people, and the people
stood around Moses from the morning to the evening. [14] When Moses’
father-in-law saw all that he did to the people, he said, “What is
this thing that you do for the people? Why do you sit alone, and all
the people stand around you from morning to evening?” [15] Moses
said to his father-in-law, “Because the people come to me to
inquire of God. [16] When they have a matter, they come to me, and I
judge between a man and his neighbor, and I make them know the
statutes of God, and his laws.” [17] Moses’ father-in-law said to
him, “The thing that you do is not good. [18] You will surely wear
away, both you, and this people that is with you; for the thing is
too heavy for you. You are not able to perform it yourself alone.
[19] Listen now to my voice. I will give you counsel, and God be with
you. You represent the people before God, and bring the causes to
God. [20] You shall teach them the statutes and the laws, and shall
show them the way in which they must walk, and the work that they
must do. [21] Moreover you shall provide out of all the people
able men, such as fear God: men of truth, hating unjust gain; and
place such over them, to be rulers of thousands, rulers of
hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. [22] Let them
judge the people at all times. It shall be that every great
matter they shall bring to you, but every small matter they shall
judge themselves. So shall it be easier for you, and they shall share
the load with you. [23] If you will do this thing, and God commands
you so, then you will be able to endure, and all of these people also
will go to their place in peace.” [24] So Moses listened to the
voice of his father-in-law, and did all that he had said. [25] Moses
chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the
people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties,
and rulers of tens. [26] They judged the people at all times. They
brought the hard causes to Moses, but every small matter they judged
themselves.
Deuteronomy
1:9-18 [9] I spoke to you at that time, saying, “I am not able
to bear you myself alone. [10] Yahweh your God has multiplied you,
and behold, you are this day as the stars of the sky for multitude.
[11] Yahweh, the God of your fathers, make you a thousand times as
many as you are, and bless you, as he has promised you! [12] How can
I myself alone bear your problems, your burdens, and your strife?
[13] Take wise men of understanding and well known according to
your tribes, and I will make them heads over you.” [14] You
answered me, and said, “The thing which you have spoken is good to
do.” [15] So I took the heads of your tribes, wise men, and
known, and made them heads over you, captains of
thousands, and captains of hundreds, and captains of fifties, and
captains of tens, and officers, according to your tribes. [16] I
commanded your judges at that time, saying, “Hear cases between
your brothers, and judge righteously between a man and his brother,
and the foreigner who is living with him. [17] You shall not show
partiality in judgment; you shall hear the small and the great alike.
You shall not be afraid of the face of man, for the judgment is
God’s. The case that is too hard for you, you shall bring to
me, and I will hear it.” [18] I commanded you at that time all the
things which you should do.
Choosing
and appointing elders.
Exodus 19:7-8
[7] Moses came and called for the elders of the people, and
set before them all these words which Yahweh commanded him. [8] All
the people answered together, and said, “All that Yahweh has
spoken we will do.” Moses reported the words of the people to
Yahweh.
Exodus 24:1-2
[1] He said to Moses, “Come up to Yahweh, you, and Aaron, Nadab,
and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship
from a distance. [2] Moses alone shall come near to Yahweh, but they
shall not come near, neither shall the people go up with him.”
Exodus 24:9-12
[9] Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of
Israel went up. [10] They saw the God of Israel. Under his feet
was like a paved work of sapphire [] stone, like the skies for
clearness. [11] He didn’t lay his hand on the nobles of the
children of Israel. They saw God, and ate and drank. [12] Yahweh said
to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain, and stay here, and I will
give you the stone tablets with the law and the commands that I have
written, that you may teach them.”
Leviticus 4:13-15
[13] “‘If the whole congregation of Israel sins, and the thing is
hidden from the eyes of the assembly, and they have done any of the
things which Yahweh has commanded not to be done, and are guilty;
[14] when the sin in which they have sinned is known, then the
assembly shall offer a young bull for a sin offering, and bring it
before the Tent of Meeting. [15] The elders of the congregation
shall lay their hands on the head of the bull before Yahweh; and the
bull shall be killed before Yahweh.
Numbers 11:16-17
[16] Yahweh said to Moses, “Gather to me seventy men of the elders
of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people, and
officers over them; and bring them to the Tent of Meeting, that they
may stand there with you. [17] I will come down and talk with you
there. I will take of the Spirit which is on you, and will put it
on them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you,
that you not bear it yourself alone.
Numbers 16:23-26
[23] Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, [24] “Speak to the
congregation, saying, ‘Get away from around the tent of Korah,
Dathan, and Abiram!’” [25] Moses rose up and went to Dathan and
Abiram; and the elders of Israel followed him. [26] He spoke
to the congregation, saying, “Depart, please, from the tents of
these wicked men, and touch nothing of theirs, lest you be consumed
in all their sins!”
Numbers 24:24-25
[24] Moses went out, and told the people Yahweh’s words; and he
gathered seventy men of the elders of the people, and set them
around the Tent. [25] Yahweh came down in the cloud, and spoke to
him, and took of the Spirit that was on him, and put it on the
seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied,
but they did so no more.
Deuteronomy 16:18
You shall make judges and officers in all your gates, which
Yahweh your God gives you, according to your tribes; and they
shall judge the people with righteous judgment.
Deuteronomy
19:11-12 [11] But if any man hates his neighbor, lies in wait for
him, rises up against him, strikes him mortally so that he dies, and
he flees into one of these cities; [12] then the elders of his
city shall send and bring him there, and deliver him into the
hand of the avenger of blood, that he may die.
Several
places at the end of Deuteronomy, the people are told to go to the
elders to resolves certain issues, or to witness to certain issues.
Deuteronomy
21:18-21 [18] If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son, who
will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and
though they chasten him, will not listen to them; [19] then his
father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to
the elders of his city, and to the gate of his place. [20] They
shall tell the elders of his city, “This our son is stubborn
and rebellious. He will not obey our voice. He is a glutton and a
drunkard.” [21] All the men of his city shall stone him to death
with stones. So you shall remove the evil from your midst. All Israel
shall hear, and fear.
Deuteronomy 27:1
Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people, saying,
“Keep all the commandment which I command you this day.
Deuteronomy 31:28
Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes, and your
officers, that I may speak these words in their ears, and call heaven
and earth to witness against them.
Joshua 7:6
Joshua tore his clothes, and fell to the earth on his face before
Yahweh’s ark until the evening, he and the elders of Israel;
and they put dust on their heads.
