What was the Sanhedrin?

The Greek word is συνέδριον, 'a sitting together': it is always translated 'council' in the A.V. There appears to be no Hebrew equivalent to the name. The Jews trace its origin to the seventy elders chosen to assist Moses, Num. 11:16-17; but nothing is said of such a council in the time of the kingdom; and it is probable that it was instituted in the time of the Maccabees. The early writers do not say how it was composed; from the N.T. we find it consisted of the chief priests, or heads of the twenty-four courses, the elders, lawyers, and the scribes. It was the highest court of the Jews, acting 'in all causes, and over all persons, ecclesiastical and civil.' Its decisions were binding on Jews everywhere. Its powers were curtailed by Herod and afterwards by the Romans, who prevented the Jews from putting any one to death legally. John 18:31. The Lord, Luke 22:66; Peter and John, Acts 4:1-23; Acts 5:17-41; Stephen, Acts 6:12-15; and Paul, Acts 22:30; Acts 23:1-10; were arraigned before the Sanhedrin.

The "sanhedrim" was the chief council of the Jews held in Jerusalem, which, consisting of seventy-two members, was formed of priests, scribes, and elders, and presided over by the high priest.,

Since the Fall of Jerusalem in A.D.70 the Jewish Sanhedrim, the supreme ecclesiastical and judicial tribunal of the nation, has ceased to function. Rabbi J. L. Maimon, Minister for Religious Affairs, speaking at Tiberius recently, said, "I insist on a renewal of the Sanhedrim."

It would appear from the arrangements made by Moses that some of the judges were accounted as judges of appeal, but that Moses himself, as having the mind of God, was the ultimate judge. Ex. 18:13-26. It is not probable, when the kingdom was established, that all causes were tried at Jerusalem; but only cases of appeal from the tribal judges; and it was such that Absalom alludes to in 2 Sam. 15:2-3: see also Deut. 16:18. It is evident from Deut. 17:8-12 that the mind of God was to be sought where He put His name, if the matter was too hard for the judges. The Jewish writers say that before and after the time of Christ on earth, appeals could be carried through the various courts to the Grand Sanhedrim at Jerusalem.

(a) We have, first, the institution of civil authority, that righteousness may be maintained throughout the land: judges everywhere, with a court for the settlement of difficult cases at the sanctuary, taking the place of the appeal hitherto to Moses himself; a king viewed as in the future in God's thought for them, and the choice of one provided for.

Here we have divine provision made for the perfect settlement of all questions which might arise throughout the congregation of Israel. They were to be settled in the divine presence, at the divinely appointed centre, by the divinely appointed authority, Thus self-will and presumption were effectually guarded against. All matters of controversy were to be definitively settled by the judgement of God as expressed by the priest or the judge appointed by God for the purpose.

In a word, it was absolutely and entirely a matter of divine authority. It was not for one man to set himself up in self-will and presumption against another. This would never do in the assembly of God. Each one had to submit his cause to a divine tribunal, and bow implicitly to its decision. There was to be no appeal, inasmuch as there was no higher court. The divinely appointed priest or judge spoke as the oracle of God, and both plaintiff and defendant had to bow, without a demur, to the decision.

There may also be cases that were too involved to enable a prompt decision, cases too hard to discern. At the end of the dispensation of grace we are warned that the times would be difficult (2 Tim.3:1). "Perilous times" (KJV) is rightly rendered "difficult times," implying hard to bear with and hard to deal with. If such a case arose in Israel, the matter was to be taken to God's center, Jerusalem (v.8) and submitted to the priests, Levites and to the judges in authority at the time, and their judgment of the case was to be final and binding (vs.10-11). In the Church of God today there is no such earthly center of human authority, but Christ is the Center, and His own presence alone will settle such things. We need concerted, united dependence upon Himself, for He is the one Judge we may depend on. The priests would answer today to those believers who act in genuine priestly capacity in intercession for the saints of God. In communion with the Lord (the Judge) they may then communicate His answer to the people. This will always be properly guarded by consulting and obeying the Word of God.

The 'assembly of the elders, priests,' etc. Ps. 105:22; Acts 5:21. See SANHEDRIN.

βουλευτής, a member of the Sanhedrim. Mark 15:43; Luke 23:50.

Ans.—It would seem they were officials of the Jewish assembly to which the Epistle of James refers.