Matthew 26:3

the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders i. e. the Sanhedrim or Synedrion(Greek), or Sanhedrin(the later Hebrew form of the word), the supreme council, legislative and administrative, of the Jewish people.

A. The history of the Sanhedrin. Many learned Rabbis endeavoured to trace the origin of the Sanhedrin to the council of 70 elders whom Moses, by the advice of Jethro, appointed to assist him. But it is improbable that this council existed before the Macedonian conquest. (1) The name is Greek, not Hebrew. (2) It finds its equivalent among the political institutions of Macedonia. Finally, (3) no allusion to the Sanhedrin is to be found in the Historical Books or in the Prophets.

B. Constitution. The President or Nasi(prince) was generally, but not always, the high priest; next in authority was the vice-president or Ab Beth Dîn(father of the house of judgment); the third in rank was the Chacham(sage or interpreter). The members were 71 in number, and consisted (1) of the chief priests or heads of the priestly "courses" (see Luke 1:5); (2) the scribes or lawyers; (3) the elders of the people or heads of families, who were the representatives of the laity.

C. Authority and functions. The Sanhedrin formed the highest court of the Jewish commonwealth. It originally possessed the power of life and death, but this power no longer belonged to it; John 18:31, "It is not lawful for us to put any man to death," a statement which agrees with a tradition in the Talmud, "forty years before the temple was destroyed judgment in capital causes was taken away from Israel."

All questions of the Jewish law, and such as concerned the ecclesiastical polity, religious life of the nation and discipline of the priests fell under the jurisdiction of the Sanhedrin.

D. Place of meeting. In the present instance the Sanhedrin met at the high priest's house; from ch. Matthew 27:6 we may conjecture that the Temple was sometimes the place of meeting, but their usual house of assembly at this particular epoch was called the "Halls of Purchase," on the east of the Temple Mount (Dr Ginsburg in Kitto's Encyc. Bib. Lit.and Lightfoot's Hor. Hebr.).

Caiaphas Joseph Caiaphas, the son-in-law of Annas, was appointed high priest by the Procurator Valerius Gratus a. d. 26, and was deposed a. d. 38. The high priesthood had long ceased to be held for life and to descend from father to son; appointments were made at the caprice of the Roman government. Annas who had been high priest was still regarded as such by popular opinion, which did not recognise his deposition. St Luke says, "Annas and Caiaphas being the high priests."