Why Moses and Aaron Gathered the Elders Before Israel

(Exodus 4:28:) "And Moses told Aaron all the words of the LORD with which He had sent him." Moses began telling him all that the Holy One, blessed be He, had told him: how he was to go, and how he was to perform all the signs. As soon as they went, they set themselves in agreement with the elders, as it is said (Exodus 4:29), "And Moses and Aaron went and gathered <all the elders of the children of Israel>." The elders always sustain Israel, and thus it says (Joshua 8:33), "And all Israel, and its elders, and its officers, and its judges, were standing on this side and on that side of the ark." When does Israel stand? When they have elders. Why? When the Temple was standing, they used to inquire of the elders, as it is said (Deuteronomy 32:7), "Ask your father and he will tell you, your elders and they will say to you." For anyone who takes counsel from the elders is praiseworthy. You may know this: when Ben-hadad sent to the king of Israel and said to him, "Thus says Ben-hadad: your silver and your gold are mine" (1 Kings 20:3), the king of Israel sent to him, "According to your word, my lord the king, I am yours, and all that I have" (1 Kings 20:4). He sent to him a second time, "But about this time tomorrow I will send my servants to you, and they shall search <your house and the houses of your servants>, and it shall be that whatever is delightful to your eyes they shall put in their hand and take away" (1 Kings 20:6). And was not everything he had demanded at first a delight? He asked for silver and gold, and they are a delight, as it is said (Haggai 2:7-8), "And the delight of all the nations shall come <...> the silver is mine and the gold is mine." He asked for women, and they are a delight, as it is said (Ezekiel 24:16), "Son of man, behold, I am taking from you the delight of your eyes by a plague." He asked for sons, and they are a delight, as it is said (Hosea 9:16), "And I will slay the delights of their womb." Thus everything he had demanded at first was a delight. Then what is "whatever is delightful to your eyes"? Something that is delightful out of all delight—this is the Torah, as it is said (Psalms 19:11), "more delightful than gold, than much fine gold." When the king of Israel heard this, he said, "This matter is not mine; it belongs to the elders." Immediately, "And the king of Israel called for all the elders of the land and said, 'Know now and see that this man seeks evil <...>,' and all the elders and all the people said to him, 'Do not heed and do not consent'" (1 Kings 20:7-8). When he heeded the counsel of the elders, the king of Israel arose and went out and struck the horses <...> (1 Kings 20:21). Thus they always took counsel with the elders. And so too Moses, "and he called the elders of the people" (Exodus 19:7), and afterward the heads and the judges. When do Israel have heads? When they have elders. And so here too, "And Moses and Aaron went and gathered all the elders of the children of Israel." What is "and they gathered"? That they appointed them as elders, for thus the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, "Go and gather the elders of Israel" (Exodus 3:16). The Holy One, blessed be He, said: In this world I have apportioned honor to the elders, and in the time to come as well I apportion honor to them, as it is said (Isaiah 24:23), "and before His elders shall be honor."