Like most meanings in the Bible this can change depending on context to a meaning perverted into the opposite. Instead of a mind full of knowledge and love of the neighbor, the love can be twisted around to pride in one's own self-intelligence and lead toward evil instead of good. The elders and chief priests who sat in judgment on Jesus in Caiaphas' house show the other side of the representation. Elders are mentioned in the Bible mainly in two ways: First the elders of Israel: and second the 24 elders seated about the throne of God in Revelation. In both cases, they mean wisdom, which comes from using the truths we've learned to do what's right in our everyday lives. The elders of Israel mean the chief things of wisdom in the church called Israel. The elders mentioned in Revelation 4 mean the wisdom of the highest heavens, and by extension the whole of the heavens.

5581. 'That their father said to them' means a perception received from the things that constituted the Church. This is clear from the meaning of 'saying' in the historical narratives of the Word as perception, often dealt with already, and from the representation of Israel, to whom 'father' refers here, as the Church. For 'Israel' is the internal spiritual Church, and 'Jacob' the external Church, see 4286, 4292, 4570. The word 'father' is used because in the Word 'father' as well as 'mother' means the Church; but 'mother' means the Church so far as truth is concerned, and 'father' the Church so far as good is concerned. The reason for this is that the Church is a spiritual marriage formed from good as the father and truth as the mother.