And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.
Moses chose them not solely, but together with the people, as appears from Deu 1:13.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
And Moses chose able men out of all Israel,…. He looked among them, and selected the best of them, such as most answered to the qualifications it was requisite they should have; and though only one of them is here mentioned, which is the first Jethro gave, yet no doubt they were all attended to, though not expressed:
and made them heads over the people; rulers, governors, judges, and officers; this is a general word, comprehending their several particular offices they sustained; which seem to be chiefly distinguished by the different numbers of people, or families, under them, otherwise their work and office were much the same:
rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens; just as Jethro advised, Ex 18:21. According to the Targum of Jonathan, the rulers of thousands were six hundred, rulers of hundreds 6000, rulers of fifties 12,000, and the rulers of tens 60,000; and so Jarchi; and the like account is given in both the Talmuds x, where the whole is summed up, amounting to 78,600; which account Aben Ezra disapproves of, and thinks not credible: it is built upon the number of Israel at this time, when they came out of Egypt, being 600,000 men; and so if there was a ruler to every thousand men, there must be six hundred of them, and so on; but these thousands may intend not individual persons, but families, that these were appointed over, as the families of Israel and Judah are called their thousands, Mic 5:2 and this will serve greatly to reduce the number of these judges and officers.
x T. Hieros. Sanhedrin, fol. 19. 3. T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 18. 1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
The judges chosen were arranged as chiefs ( ) over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens, after the analogy of the military organization of the people on their march (Num 31:14), in such a manner, however, that this arrangement was linked on to the natural division of the people into tribes, families, etc. (see my Archologie, 140). For it is evident that the decimal division was not made in an arbitrary manner according to the number of heads, from the fact that, on the one hand, the judges were chosen from the heads of their tribes and according to their tribes (Deu 1:13); and on the other hand, the larger divisions of the tribes, viz., the families ( mishpachoth), were also called thousands (Num 1:15; Num 10:4; Jos 22:14, etc.), just because the number of their heads of families would generally average about a thousand; so that in all probability the hundreds, fifties, and tens denote smaller divisions of the nation, in which there were about this number of fathers. Thus in Arabic, for example, “ the ten ” is a term used to signify a family (cf. Hengstenberg, Dissertations v. ii. 343, and my Arch. 149). The difference between the harder or greater matters and the smaller matters consisted in this: questions which there was not definite law to decide were great or hard; whereas, on the other hand, those which could easily be decided from existing laws or general principles of equity were simple or small. ( Vide Joh. Selden de Synedriis i. c. 16, in my Arch. 149, Not. 3, where the different views are discussed respecting the relative positions and competency of the various judges, about which there is no precise information given in the law.) So far as the total number of judges is concerned, all that can be affirmed with certainty is, that the estimated number of 600 judges over thousands, 6000 over hundreds, 12,000 over fifties, and 60,000 over tens, in all 78,600 judges, which is given by Grotius and in the Talmud, and according to which there must have been a judge for every seven adults, is altogether erroneous (cf. J. Selden l.c. pp. 339ff.). For if the thousands answered to the families (Mishpachoth), there cannot have been a thousand males in every one; and in the same way the hundreds, etc., are not to be understood as consisting of precisely that number of persons, but as larger or smaller family groups, the numerical strength of which we do not know. And even if we did know it, or were able to estimate it, this would furnish no criterion by which to calculate the number of the judges, for the text does not affirm that every one of these larger or smaller family groups had a judge of its own; in fact, the contrary may rather be inferred, from the fact that, according to Deu 1:15, the judges were chosen out of the heads of the tribes, so that the number of judges must have been smaller than that of the heads, and can hardly therefore have amounted to many hundreds, to say nothing of many thousands.
Fuente: Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament
Exo 18:25. And Moses chose able men It is thought by some, that this constitution continued only during their peregrination in the wilderness; and so is different from the institution of those seventy elders (Num 11:16.) who were of God’s own nomination, and continued to have their name, title, and authority through all the changes of the Jewish state: but, this tribunal of the seventy being a peculiar jurisdiction, I do not see why the subordinate rule here established might not have continued, in a great measure, the same when the people were settled in Canaan. It is certain that the Hebrew was a kind of military government. (See Lowman on the Civil Government of the Hebrews, p. 78, &c.) What we render rulers of thousands, is, properly, princes or commanders. Possibly our old Saxon constitution of sheriffs in counties, hundredors or centgraves in hundreds, and deciners in decenaries, was formed upon the model here proposed; and as these were subordinate each to the other, so was it, most probably, with the Hebrews. Those causes, which could not be decided by the judge of ten, were brought before the judge of fifty, and so on; and those which were too hard for the first subordinate ruler, the ruler of thousands, were brought to Moses: the hard causes they brought unto Moses, Exo 18:26. We shall have occasion to speak more fully on the civil government of the Hebrews hereafter.
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
Exo 18:25 And Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens.
Ver. 25. And Moses chose. ] Not without the people’s consent. Deu 1:13-14
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Exo 18:21, Deu 1:15, Act 6:5
Reciprocal: Exo 24:14 – if any man Num 1:4 – General Num 1:16 – heads Num 13:2 – a ruler Num 25:4 – all the heads Num 25:5 – judges Num 30:1 – General Deu 16:18 – Judges Deu 31:28 – Gather unto me Jos 22:14 – an head Jos 24:1 – called 1Ch 27:1 – captains 2Ch 19:7 – let the 2Ch 25:5 – captains over thousands Mic 5:2 – thousands