Seventy Elders

Biblical Text

The seventy elders were a group of seventy men chosen from among the elders of the people of Israel. They appear three times in the Old Testament.

• Exodus 24:1, 9–11: In Exodus, when the covenant is made at Mount Sinai, Moses and Aaron, together with Nadab and Abihu, go up the mountain with seventy of the elders of Israel. They "saw the God of Israel" and ate and drank in God's presence. Just before this, Exodus 24:8 describes the sprinkling of blood to ratify the covenant.
• Numbers 11:16–30: In Numbers, when the people complain and demand meat (manna and quail), Moses protests that he cannot bear the burden of the people alone. God instructs him to gather seventy of the elders at the tabernacle of the congregation, and He takes of the spirit that was upon Moses and puts it upon them as well. When the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. When Eldad and Medad, who had remained in the camp, also prophesied, Joshua asked Moses to forbid them. Moses replied, "Would God that all the LORD's people were prophets" (Numbers 11:29).
• Ezekiel 8:11: In a vision, Ezekiel sees seventy men of the elders of the house of Israel standing with Jaazaniah the son of Shaphan inside the temple, each holding a censer before idols. The passage condemns the idolatry of Israel's leaders.

Background

The Hebrew word zaqen, translated "elder," originally means "old man." In ancient Israel, elders represented the tribes and towns and judged matters affecting the community. The Septuagint and the New Testament render the term with the Greek presbyteros. In Scripture, seventy frequently serves as a number signifying a complete group; one example is Exodus 1:5, where the souls of the house of Jacob number seventy.

Significance Within Scripture as a Whole

The elders in Exodus 24 represent the people as witnesses of the Sinai covenant. Because covenant blood and a meal appear together in this scene, some interpreters read it in connection with Jesus' "blood of the covenant" and the Last Supper (Exodus 24:8; Mark 14:24).

Numbers 11 is read as a story about the burden of a single leader being shared among many. Moses' wish is also read alongside Peter's sermon at the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost, which proclaims the fulfillment of Joel's prophecy that the Holy Spirit would be poured out on all people (Acts 2:16–21). Some interpreters also connect these seventy elders with Jesus' sending out of the seventy (seventy-two in some manuscripts) in Luke 10:1, although the text does not explicitly make this connection.

Interpretation and Debate

• Relationship to the Sanhedrin: Jewish tradition holds that the Great Sanhedrin consisted of seventy-one members, counting the seventy elders of Numbers 11 plus Moses. This explanation comes from later Jewish literature; the Old Testament text does not say that a permanent institution was established.
• The twelve tribes and the number of elders: Rabbinic tradition tells of six men being chosen from each of the twelve tribes of Israel, for a total of seventy-two, and it connects Eldad and Medad with this number. These accounts are later additions not found in the biblical text.
• "They did not do so again" (Numbers 11:25): The Korean Revised Version, New Revised Edition, renders the verse to mean that the elders prophesied only once. Some older translations reportedly render it in the sense of "did not cease." The verse is cited in differing ways in discussions of whether prophecy and the gifts of the Spirit continue.
• Relationship to church office: In Presbyterian churches, the Old Testament institution of elders is often presented as part of the biblical background for the office of elder. Other denominations tend to read this passage as an example of shared leadership rather than as a basis for a particular system of church offices.

In the Korean Church

Numbers 11 is frequently used in sermons on pastors and lay leaders sharing in ministry, and it also serves as a sermon text at ordination services. Moses' words, "Would God that all the LORD's people were prophets," are quoted in sermons emphasizing the ministry of the Holy Spirit and the calling of the laity.