Elder (Hastings' Dictionary)

In ancient days the institution of Elders was not peculiar to the Jewish people, and the word elder did not suggest those purely ecclesiastical and religious functions with which it is now associated. The origin of the office is easily traced. Under the primitive conditions of society that prevail in the early history of all nations 'iq« ELDER ELEAZAR 677 la an indispensable condition of investment with authority [Vi. the yiMms so freijuently men- tioned by Homer (e.g. U. xviii.

503), the yepovala of the Dorian states, the Patres and Senutus of the Romans, the rptafius at Sparta, and the Sheikh, i.e. elder, in Arabia]. Hence from the be^'inning of Israel's history downwards we hear of elders (C"jjl, rpea^vTtpoi) as an official class. The title, which at first is inseparably associated with the idea of age, came afterivards to desijjnate merely the dij,'nity to which age was formerly the neces- sary pa.s.«port.* In the narratives of the Hex.

both J and E are acquainted with the institution of elders (Ex 3" 19' 24', Nu ll""-, etc.), and that not only in Israel but amongst the Egyptians (Gn 50') and the Moabites and Midianites (rsu 22'). Their position and functions in early times are thus described by Wellhausen {Ilist. of Jsr. and Jud.

15), 'What t here was of permanent official authority lay in the hands of the elders and heads of houses; in time of war they commanded each his own household, and in peace they dispensed justice each within his own circle.' They are frequently referred to in Deut. as discharging the functions of local authorities (Dt 10'" 2\' 22"' 25', cf. also Jos 20*, Jg 8", Ku 4"). Tlieir number varied with the locality, it must sometimes have been con- siderable ; e.g.

the elders of Succoth who came into collision with Gideon (Jg 8") numbered seventy- seven. At a later period they appear in connexion with the adoption of the kingly form of govern- ment (1 S 8), with the intrigues of David and Abner about the succession to the throne (I S 30-'°, 2 S 3"), while the part they played in the judicial murder of Naboth is well known (I K 21'""). It was from amongst the previously existing body of elders that Moses, according to Nu U'*- (JE), cho.

se an inner circle of seventy ' to bear with him the burden of the people.' (The important part played by this incident in late Jewish traditions will be referred to under Sanhedkin). The elders of the city (Tin "jpi) acted as judges (Dt 22"), just as the village ^ddi and his assistants do in an Arab community at the present day (Driver, Deut. 199). It is true that in Dt 16" 'judges' (exit') and 'officers' (o-T^f) appear to be dis- tinguished from elders ; but Scliiirer is prob.

right in his suggestion, that both these classes were selected from the general bodyof elders, the 'judges' being entrusted with the administration of justice, while the ' officers ' took charge of the executive department. Elders reappear in the Persian and Greek periods (Ezr 5»-» 6-^ 10«, Jth 6" 1'° 8'" 10' 13", 1 Mac 12", and in the story of Susanna), while the rpea^vrepot toD XooD during the Kom. period are often mentioned by Josephus and NT.

The authority which the elders of any com- munity possessed as the municipal council in civil affairs extended also to religious matters, particu- larly after the synagogue (see Synaqooi;e) had become a flourishing institution. ' In purely Jewish localities the elders of the place would be also the elders of the synagogue ' (Schiirer). As a general nile, at least, they had absolute jurisdic- tion, and had not to take the sense of the con- gregation or the community. In Nu 35'''"-, Jg 20.

21, Ezr 10, we have rare exceptions to this rule (see CON'OREOATION). The right of exercising religious di.Mcipline was in their hands, and in particular it lay with them to pass the sentence of cxcluHion from the .synagogue, to which allusion is frequently made in NT (e.g. Lk 6» Jn 9-"'' 12" 16»). In addition to what is contained on the NT Elder in art. Bl.siiop, various details regarding this ofhce, esp. in the later periods of Jewish his- • The AV tr.

of D)PI •omctimes by •elders and sometimes by 'ftncients* (f.g. Is 31^, Jer 101) jg unfortunate and misleading, Bco AN( 1K.NT. tory, will be found under artt. Sanhedrin and SVNAQOOUE. Lttbratcre.— Schurer, BJP n. I. 160, 164 f., 174f., U. 68t. i Cremer, mb.-Thcol. L«c., and Thajer, A7' Lrx., «. wfirfiirift ; Kriver, Deut. 233; Uarlmann, Die enge VerOiiul. d. AT mit d. V. ICSf.; art. ' Aelt«8te,' in Herzog, RE', Winer, RW, and Schenkel, RibfUtxicon ; Vitrinjta, d« Sj/n. Vet. 695, 613, etc.

; BenzinKer, Ueb. Arch. 29«, 3uti, 314f., 320, 328 1.; Kosters, Ilel hrrstel v. Itr. etc. 99 t., UOf.; tiovrick, Ued. ArcA. I SO0f.,32O(. ; Deissmann, BibeUtudien, 163 f. J, A, SELBIE. ELDER IN NT See Bishop.