Deuteronomy 1:13

13 Choose for yourselves {wise and discerning and knowledgeable men}^[a] for [each of] your tribes, and I will appoint them as your leaders.'

Deuteronomy 1:13 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 1:13

Take ye wise men, and understanding, and known among your
tribes
Not only whose persons were well known, but their characters and qualifications, for their probity and integrity, for their wisdom and prudence in the management of affairs, for their skill and knowledge in things divine and human, civil and religious, and for their capacity in judging and determining matters in difference; see ( Exodus 18:21 )

and I will make them rulers over you;
the people were allowed to choose their own officers, whom they were to bring to Moses, and present before him, to be invested with their office. A like method was taken in the choice and constitution of deacons in the Christian church, when the secular affairs of it lay too heavy upon the apostles, ( Acts 6:3 ) .

Deuteronomy 1:13 In-Context

11 Yahweh, the God of your ancestors, may he add to you as you are [now] a thousand times, and may he bless you just as he {promised you}.

12 How can I bear you {by myself}, your burden and your load and your strife?

13 Choose for yourselves {wise and discerning and knowledgeable men} for [each of] your tribes, and I will appoint them as your leaders.'

14 "And you answered me, and you said, 'The thing you have said to do is good.'

15 And so I took the leaders of your tribes, wise and knowledgeable men, and [then] I appointed them as leaders over you [as] commanders of [groups of] thousands and commanders of [groups of] hundreds and commanders of [groups of] fifties and commanders of [groups of] tens [as] officials for your tribes.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "men wise and discerning and knowledgeable"