The Sanhedrin
“Sanhedrin” is a Greek term meaning Assembly or Council and describes the legal and political leadership in Israel. The Sanhedrin, as a term, would have existed from around 323BC, but the idea goes much further back to Moses in the Book of Numbers.
“16 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Gather for me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them, and bring them to the tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you.” (11:16 ESV)
The organization of the Sanhedrin is further described in Deuteronomy 16.
“18 Judges and officers shalt thou make thee in all thy gates, which the LORD thy God giveth thee, throughout thy tribes: and they shall judge the people with just judgment.
19 Thou shalt not wrest judgment; thou shalt not respect persons, neither take a gift: for a gift doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous.”
Discussion
The Sanhedrin existed in towns and villages consisting of judges on all matters of Mosaic and civil laws. The Great Sanhedrin, a 70 man 1 High Priest group, sat in judgment for all of Israel. The Sanhedrin did more than just judge laws, they also determined punishments.
Some have likened the Sanhedrin as being like the U.S. Supreme Court, but there are some major differences. The U.S. Supreme Court was designed to weigh law against the Constitution, not weigh law against an individual. The U.S. Supreme Court does not produce punishments, it weighs punishments against the Constitution. The Sanhedrin sent enforcers of the law to imprison or stone violators.
In 358AD the Sanhedrin, under persecution of Rome, was dissolved and has not formed again since.
Who Sat On the Sanhedrin?
There were two groups who were members of the Sanhedrin. The Sadducees and Pharisees, both groups adhered to Mosaic Law, had political power in the Sanhedrin, and that is where their similarities end.
The Sadducees are the modern day version of secular belief. The Sadducees did not believe in the resurrection of the dead, miracles, life after death, angels, or demons. They believed in nothing spiritual. They were financially and politically powerful. The Chief Priests and High Priest were Sadducees. The Sadducees believed in the Hellenistic Value system brought by the Greeks. They also worked with the Roman Empire to further their own desires. With the destruction of Jerusalem the Sadducees ceased to exist.
The Pharisees were completely different. They believed in the resurrection of the dead, miracles, life after death, angels, and demons.
Christians are much more likely to be a Pharisee. Paul when he was being tried by the Sanhedrin, he knew the problems that Sadducees and Pharisees faced. When it came to disagreements they disagreed often. Paul openly called himself a Pharisee.
When Jesus arrived he had more run ins with Pharisees than he did Sadducees. However, Jesus made the Sadducees nervous that he would upset the status quo. It was at that point the Sadducees and Pharisees held mock trials and when that didn’t work they turned him over to the Romans.
In Matthew 23 Jesus gives one of the best lessons to the Pharisees.
“1Then spake Jesus to the multitude, and to his disciples,
2Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses’ seat:
3All therefore whatsoever they bid you observe, that observe and do; but do not ye after their works: for they say, and do not.
4For they bind heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, and lay them on men’s shoulders; but they themselves will not move them with one of their fingers.
5But all their works they do for to be seen of men: they make broad their phylacteries, and enlarge the borders of their garments,
6And love the uppermost rooms at feasts, and the chief seats in the synagogues,
7And greetings in the markets, and to be called of men, Rabbi, Rabbi.
8But be not ye called Rabbi: for one is your Master, even Christ; and all ye are brethren.
9And call no man your father upon the earth: for one is your Father, which is in heaven.
10Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ.
11But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant.
12And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.
13But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.
14Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye devour widows’ houses, and for a pretence make long prayer: therefore ye shall receive the greater damnation.
15Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.
16Woe unto you, ye blind guides, which say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor!
17Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gold, or the temple that sanctifieth the gold?
18And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever sweareth by the gift that is upon it, he is guilty.
19Ye fools and blind: for whether is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift?
20Whoso therefore shall swear by the altar, sweareth by it, and by all things thereon.
21And whoso shall swear by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein.
22And he that shall swear by heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon.
23Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.
24Ye blind guides, which strain at a gnat, and swallow a camel.
25Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.
26Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first that which is within the cup and platter, that the outside of them may be clean also.
27Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.
28Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity.
29Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! because ye build the tombs of the prophets, and garnish the sepulchres of the righteous,
30And say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we would not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets.
31Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves, that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets.
32Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
33Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?
34Wherefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city:
35That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel unto the blood of Zacharias son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar.
36Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation.
37O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!
38Behold, your house is left unto you desolate.
39For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.
Conclusion
Before he was called Paul he was called Saul of Tarsus. He was a Pharisee through and through. Saul was tossing Believers of Christ into prison as fast as he could, to include holding the cloaks of the men who stoned the Disciple Stephen to death. Until that day on the road to Damascus. When Jesus appeared to him and left him blind.
Saul of Tarsus is gone, now we have Paul standing in front of the Sanhedrin and they are plotting to kill him. God has another plan. Read Acts 23 to learn about this miraculous delivery from bondage and taking the word of Jesus to the Gentiles.
Stay Tuned…
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