וַיֹּ֨אמֶר יְהוָ֜ה אֶל־מֹשֶׁ֗ה אֶסְפָה־לִּ֞י שִׁבְעִ֣ים אִישׁ֮ מִזִּקְנֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵל֒ אֲשֶׁ֣ר יָדַ֔עְתָּ כִּי־הֵ֛ם זִקְנֵ֥י הָעָ֖ם וְשֹׁטְרָ֑יו וְלָקַחְתָּ֤ אֹתָם֙ אֶל־אֹ֣הֶל מוֹעֵ֔ד וְהִֽתְיַצְּב֥וּ שָׁ֖ם עִמָּֽךְ׃
Yang Mahakekal berfirman kepada Musa: “Kumpulkanlah bagi-Ku tujuh puluh orang dari antara para tua-tua Israel, yang kauketahui sebagai tua-tua bangsa itu dan para pengatur mereka. Bawalah mereka ke Kemah Pertemuan, dan biarlah mereka berdiri di sana bersamamu.
Jerusalem Talmud Sanhedrin
371Tanhuma Behaˋalotekha 11, Tanhuma Buber Behaˋalotekha 22, Sifry Num. 95, Num. rabba 15(14), Yalqut Šimˋony 736, Babli 17a. Similarly. the Eternal said to Moses, assemble for Me seventy men of the Elders of Israel334He is known for the correctness of his historical traditions. For the political functions of a Synhedrion, an even number of members is acceptable. The judicial functions were exercised by committees of 23 each.. Moses said, if I am taking six per tribe, there will be 72, ten of six each and two of five, which tribe will agree to be discriminated against? What did he do? He took 70 tickets and wrote on them “Elder”, two he left blank, and put them in an urn. He told them, come and take your ticket. To any one who drew a slip saying “Elder” he said, from Heaven they appointed you. To anybody who drew a blank slip he said, what can I do, it is from Heaven; Rebbi Jehudah363The Midrash sources make it clear that the preceding was R. Jehudah’s opinion; the following is R. Nehemiah’s. The Babli only mentions R. Jehudah’s opinion.. But Rebbi Nehemiah the Tanna objected to the colleagues: If you had given me the possibility of an Elder, it would have come up for me.364Since there were only 22’273 tickets, it was a mathematical necessity that 273 people would have to pay. The distribution of these was a pure matter of probabilities; there is no reason to invoke Heaven in the matter. But the following is what he did. He took 72 tickets and wrote on them “Elder” and two blank ones and put all of them in an urn. He told them, come and take your ticket. To any one who drew a slip saying “Elder” he said, from Heaven they appointed you. The anybody who drew a blank slip he said, what can I do, it is from Heaven. The Tanna objected to the colleagues: Think of it, if all came up as “Elder”? They told him, it was miraculous and they came up alternatingly373The probability of at least one of the blank tickets remaining in the urn, assuming uniform distribution (thorough mixing) of the tickets, was 0.14316.. Rebbi Samuel said, I objected before Rebbi Abbahu: in the opinion of the second Tanna, it was a miracle. In the opinion of the first Tanna, it was not a miracle. He told him, it was a miracle in any case since they came up alternatingly374I. e., about evenly spaced..