ELDER, the name given at different times to a ruler or officer in certain political and ecclesiastical systems of government.
I. The office of elder is in its origin political and is a relic of the old patriarchal system. The unit of primitive society is always the family; the only tie that binds men together is that of kin ship. With the development of civilization there came a time when age ceased to be an indispensable condition of leadership. The old title was, however, generally retained, e.g., the yipovres so often mentioned in Homer, the yepov zia of the Dorian states, the senates and the patres conscripti of Rome, the sheikh or elder of Arabia, the alderman of an English borough, the seigneur (Lat. senior) of feudal France.
2. It was through the influence of Judaism that the originally political office of elder passed over into the Christian Church and became ecclesiastical. The Israelites inherited the office from their Semitic ancestors (just as did the Moabites and the Midian ites, of whose elders we read in Numbers xxii. 7), and traces of it are found throughout their history. During the sojourn in the wilderness the elders were the intermediaries between Moses and the people, and it was out of the ranks of these elders that Moses chose a council of seventy "to bear with him the burden of the people" (Numbers xi. 16). The elders were the governors of the people and the administrators of justice. The powers of the elders were gradually curtailed by the development of the monarchy, by the appointment of special judges and the use of the priestly orders.
3. The name "elder" was probably the first title bestowed upon the officers of the Christian Church—since the word deacon does not occur in connexion with the appointment of the Seven in Acts vi. Its universal adoption is due not only to its currency amongst the Jews, but also to the fact that it was frequently used as the title of magistrates in the cities and villages of Asia Minor. For the history of the office of elder in the early Church and the rela tion between elders and bishops see PRESBYTER.
4. In modern times the use of the term is almost entirely con fined to the Presbyterian church, the officers of which are always called elders. According to the Presbyterian theory of church government, there are two classes of elders--"teaching elders," or those specially set apart to the pastoral office, and "ruling elders," who are laymen, chosen generally by the congregation and set apart by ordination to be associated with the pastor in the oversight and government of the church.
See W. R. Smith, History of the Semites; H. Maine, Ancient Law; E. Scherer, The Jewish People in the Time of Christ; J. Wellhausen, History of Israel and Judah; G. A. Deissmann, Bible Studies, p. 154 ani see PRESBYTERIANISM.