Study Rosh Hashanah folio 25B with parallel Hebrew-English text, traditional commentary, and modern study tools. Free access to Babylonian Talmud online.
And it says in another verse: “Moses and Aaron among His priests, and Samuel among those who call His name; they called upon YHWH, and He answered them” (Psalms 99:6). This verse equates Samuel to Moses and Aaron. In this manner, the verse weighed 3 light ones of the world, i.e., it considered the 3 less distinguished figures of Gideon, Samson, and Jephthah as equal to 3 significant ones of the world, Moses, Aaron, and Samuel, 3 of the greatest leaders of the Jewish people.
לומר לך: ירובעל בדורו — כמשה בדורו, בדן בדורו — כאהרן בדורו, יפתח בדורו — כשמואל בדורו. ללמדך: שאפילו קל שבקלין ונתמנה פרנס על הצבור — הרי הוא כאביר שבאבירים.
This comes to tell you that Jerubaal in his generation is worthy of being treated like Moses in his generation; Bedan in his generation is like Aaron in his generation; and Jephthah in his generation is like Samuel in his generation. This serves to teach you that even the lightest of the light, i.e., the least distinguished individual, once he has been appointed as a leader over the community, he must be treated like the greatest of the great, and all are required to heed him and obey his rulings.
ואומר: ״ובאת אל הכהנים הלוים ואל השפט אשר יהיה בימים ההם״, וכי תעלה על דעתך שאדם הולך אצל הדיין שלא היה בימיו? הא אין לך לילך אלא אצל שופט שבימיו. ואומר: ״אל תאמר מה היה שהימים הראשונים היו טובים מאלה״.
And it further says: “And you should come to the priests, the Levites, and to the judge who should be in those days” (Deuteronomy 17:9). But can it enter your mind that a person can go to a judge that is not alive in his days? What, then, is the meaning of the phrase “in those days”? It teaches that you need to go only to the judge in one’s days, i.e., he is authorized to judge and decide matters. And it also says: “Do not say: How was it that the former days were better than these? For it is not out of wisdom that you inquire concerning this” (Ecclesiastes 7:10). Instead, one must accept the rulings of the leaders of his generation.