The elders of Israel were a group of senior tribal leaders, seventy in Numbers 11:16–17, entrusted with important decision making (see Exodus 18:13–27; Deuteronomy 1:9–13). They were representatives of the people, tribal heads who had influence in Israel.1
3 And when the people came to the camp, the elders of Israel said, “Why has the LORD defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD here from Shiloh, that it may come among us and save us from the power of our enemies.”