Heads of families, and therefore the senior, governing members of the community in a general sense (Judges 2:7). “This is the first time elders are mentioned in the book. In the absence of a king, towns were governed by a body of senior members of the community, usually heads of the clans, who conducted the community’s business in the city gate.”1
14 And he captured a young man of Succoth and questioned him. And he wrote down for him the officials and elders of Succoth, seventy-seven men.