SANHEDRIN].) (3) After the settlement in Canaan the elders seem to have been the administrators of the laws in all the cities (Deut. xix :12; XX1 :3. 4.6. 19; xxii : i5, 25). The continuance of the office may be traced during the time of the judges ( Judg. 7) ; (luring that of Samuel ( i Sam. xvi:4) : un der Saul (i Sam. xxx :26) : and David(' Chron. xxi;t6). The elders of Israel are mentioned dur ing the captivity (Ezra x :14), consisting either of those who had sustained that office in their own land, or were permitted by the Babylonians to ex ercise it still among their countrymen. We meet with them again at the restoration (Ezra v : 5). and by them the Temple was rebuilt (vi:14). After the restoration and during the time of the Maccabees, the Sanhedrim, according to Michaelis, was instituted, being first mentioned under Hyr canus II (Joseph. Antiq. 9, 3) ; but elders are still referred to in i Macc. vii :33. Among the members of the Sanhedrim were the presbutcroi, elders. Thus we find the chief priest, or more frequently, also 'chief priests and elders,' elders and scribes,' and various other collocations. Like the scribes, they obtained their seat in the Sanhe drim by election, or nomination from the execu tive authority. The word elder, with many other
Jewish terms, was introduced into the Christian church. In the latter it is the title of inferior ministers, who were appointed overseers among not over the flock; Gr. 19 Vulg. 'in quo' (Acts xx .17, 28; Tit. i:5, 7; I Pet. v:I-5). The term is ap plied even to the apostles (2 John I; 3 John i). So also body of elders, certainly includes even St. Paul himself (comp. I Tim. iv:14 and 2 Tim. i:6). Still the apostles are distinguished from the elders elsewhere ( Acts xv:6 ). The elder was constituted by an apostle or some one invested with apostolic authority (Acts xiv :23; see also the epistles to Timothy and John ). The elders preached, con futed gainsayers (Tit. i :9), and visited the sick (James v The word elders is sometimes used in the sense of ancients, ancestors. predeces sors, like the word dpXatoi, those of old (Matt. v:21; Heb. xi:2). It is used symbolically (Rev. iv:4, etc.). The tern] presbuteros, elder, is plainly the origin of our word 'priest' (see PRESBYTER). (Jahn Bthlisches Archaol., sec. 244; ede's II Works, fol.
p. 27; Gesenius, IVorterbuch, s. v.) J. F. D.