So I took the heads of your tribes, wise and respected men, and made them heads over you, captains of thousands, captains of hundreds, captains of fifties, captains of tens, and officers, according to your tribes.
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 15. Who, and so forth Hebrew “and shoterim (officers like our serjeants, designed to publish and execute the sentence of the judges) over or among your tribes.” The Persians still call such officers chaters. The Rabbins say, that the shoterim were generally selected from among the Cinites, the descendants of Jethro, 1 Chronicles 2:55. But we find that the Levites were also chosen, 2 Chronicles 19:11. They seem to have had sometimes the authority of judges, princes, or doctors for the instruction of the people, as the Vulgate here expresses it. Calmet.