Friday, October 06, 2006
Who was the Sanhedrin
The highest Jewish tribunal during the Greek and Roman periods. During the reign of the Hellenistic kings Palestine was practically under home rule and was governed by an aristocratic council of elders, which was presided over by the hereditary high priest. The council was called gerousia, which always signifies an aristocratic body. This later developed into the Sanhedrin. During most of the Roman period the internal government of the country was practically in its hands, and its influence was recognized even in the Diaspora (Acts 9:2; 22:5; 26:12). After the death of Herod the Great, however, during the reign of Archelaus and the Roman procurators, the civil authority of the Sanhedrin was probably restricted to Judea, and this is very likely the reason why it had no judicial authority over Jesus so long as he remained in Galilee. The Sanhedrin was abolished after the destruction of Jerusalem (A.D. 70).
The members of the Sanhedrin were drawn from the three classes named in the gospels: "the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law." By the chief priests is meant the acting high priest, those who had been high priests, and members of the privileged families from which the high priests were taken. The priestly aristocracy comprised the leading persons in the community, and they were the chief members of the Sanhedrin. The teachers of the law (KJV scribes) formed the Pharisaic element in the Sanhedrin, though not all Pharisees were professional scribes. The elders were the tribal and family heads of the people and priesthood, mostly the secular nobility of Jerusalem. The president bore the honorable title of "prince." Besides the president, there were subordinate officials (Matt 5:25; 26:51; Mark 14:47; John 18:10). According to Josephus, in the time of Christ the Sanhedrin was formally led by the Sadducean high priests, but practically ruled by the Pharisees, who were immensely popular with the people (Antiq. 18.1.4).
In the time of Christ the Sanhedrin exercised not only civil jurisdiction, according to Jewish law, but also criminal. It could deal with all those judicial matters of an administrative character that could not be competently handled by lower courts, or that the Roman procurator had not specially reserved for himself. It was the final court of appeal for all questions connected with the Mosaic Law. It could order arrests by its own officers of justice (Matt 26:47; Mark 14:43; Acts 4:3; 5:17-18; 9:2). It was also the final court of appeal from all inferior courts. It had the right of capital punishment until about 40 years before the destruction of Jerusalem. After that it could still pass, but not execute, a sentence of death without the confirmation of the Roman procurator. That is why Jesus had to be tried not only before the Sanhedrin but also before Pilate (John 18:31-32). But for this, he would have been put to death in some other way than by crucifixion, for crucifixion was not a Jewish mode of punishment. The Roman authority was, however, always absolute, and the procurator or the tribune of the garrison could direct the Sanhedrin to investigate some matter and could remove a prisoner from its jurisdiction, as was done in the case of Paul (Acts 22:30; 23:23-24).
Source: The NIV Compact Dictionary of the Bible
The members of the Sanhedrin were drawn from the three classes named in the gospels: "the elders, the chief priests and the teachers of the law." By the chief priests is meant the acting high priest, those who had been high priests, and members of the privileged families from which the high priests were taken. The priestly aristocracy comprised the leading persons in the community, and they were the chief members of the Sanhedrin. The teachers of the law (KJV scribes) formed the Pharisaic element in the Sanhedrin, though not all Pharisees were professional scribes. The elders were the tribal and family heads of the people and priesthood, mostly the secular nobility of Jerusalem. The president bore the honorable title of "prince." Besides the president, there were subordinate officials (Matt 5:25; 26:51; Mark 14:47; John 18:10). According to Josephus, in the time of Christ the Sanhedrin was formally led by the Sadducean high priests, but practically ruled by the Pharisees, who were immensely popular with the people (Antiq. 18.1.4).
In the time of Christ the Sanhedrin exercised not only civil jurisdiction, according to Jewish law, but also criminal. It could deal with all those judicial matters of an administrative character that could not be competently handled by lower courts, or that the Roman procurator had not specially reserved for himself. It was the final court of appeal for all questions connected with the Mosaic Law. It could order arrests by its own officers of justice (Matt 26:47; Mark 14:43; Acts 4:3; 5:17-18; 9:2). It was also the final court of appeal from all inferior courts. It had the right of capital punishment until about 40 years before the destruction of Jerusalem. After that it could still pass, but not execute, a sentence of death without the confirmation of the Roman procurator. That is why Jesus had to be tried not only before the Sanhedrin but also before Pilate (John 18:31-32). But for this, he would have been put to death in some other way than by crucifixion, for crucifixion was not a Jewish mode of punishment. The Roman authority was, however, always absolute, and the procurator or the tribune of the garrison could direct the Sanhedrin to investigate some matter and could remove a prisoner from its jurisdiction, as was done in the case of Paul (Acts 22:30; 23:23-24).
Source: The NIV Compact Dictionary of the Bible
