פירוש על שמות 3:16

את זקני ישראל THE ELDERS OF ISRAEL, those singled out to attend meetings, (i. e. the leaders) (cf. Yoma 28b). If, however, you should say that the text means old men in the ordinary sense I ask: How was it possible for him to gather all the old men amongst a male population of 600,000?

פקד פקדתי אתכם, seeing that you are their descendants.

לך ואספת את זקני ישראל, "Go and gather the elders of lsrael,etc." The reason that G'd repeats here again what Moses is to say maybe that when Moses would arrive in Egypt he was to tell the entire people that he had come as messenger from G'd. After that he would assemble the elders and tell them the nature of his mission, namely that G'd had remembered His people and was about to redeem them.