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, Ex 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, Ex 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, Ac 20:17,28Tit 1:5,71Pe 5:12Jo 1:1.