The Sanhedrin by George I. Butler

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Feb 16, 1911

The Sanhedrin

By George I. Butler

GEO. I. BUTLER

It has been interesting to the writer to learn the facts about the Sanhedrin, the celebrated highest court in the Jewish nation for several centuries. Before it our Saviour’s case was considered, and by it he was condemned as a malefactor and a false prophet. The Jews claim that it was a continuation of the large council which Moses chose, and over which he himself presided. Seventy prominent men from the ranks of Israel’s hosts were endued with the Holy Spirit; they were the counselors upon whom Moses relied.

In later years, however, the claims of the Jews that their Sanhedrin was the continuation of the council of seventy-one have not been accepted. As no mention of any such council after Moses’ death is to be found in the Old Testament writings, it is therefore evident that the council of seventy-one terminated with Moses’ work.

The noun Sanhedrin is derived from the Greek word Sunedrion. There was no Hebrew noun to be found in the Bible for it. This fact indicates that the noun originated during the time when the Greek language was generally known and spoken, which was after the Babylonian captivity. None can tell the exact time when the Sanhedrin originated, but it was probably within a century or two after the return from Babylon. It was really the supreme court of the Jewish nation for several hundred years previously to the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus. During the time when Christ was upon earth, its authority was great. After the captivity its seat of authority was moved from place to place. It ceased to exist A. D. 425. in the city of Tiberias.

Its Power and Authority

The Sanhedrin was a powerful civil and ecclesiastical court. On one occasion it summoned before its tribunal even Herod the Great, who was acting as governor. “It had the power of life and death. It had the oversight of all things ecclesiastical.” “This body had authority, first, over all matters pertaining to religion and the different religious institutions, and, second, to give decisions in matters concerning a whole tribe (when it was accused of having departed from the living God), a high priest, a disobedient sanhedrist, false prophets, seducers of the people, blasphemers, etc. It determined whether a war with any nation contemplated by the king was to be waged, and gave the sovereign permission to do so. It also appointed the provincial sanhedrins, or courts of justice, and regulated the calendar. It inflicted not only bodily punishments (Acts 5:40), but also capital punishments, as stoning, burning, beheading, and strangling.”—“Schaff-Herzog Religious Encyclopedia,” article Sanhedrin.

From these statements it will be seen that the Sanhedrin was the highest authority existing among the Jewish people at the time of Christ’s first advent. It decided that he was a false prophet, a seducer of the people, and therefore must be put to death. After he was murdered, and the Spirit of God was poured out on the day of Pentecost, the apostles were summoned before the Sanhedrin several times. The counsel of Gamaliel, one of the most famous members of the Sanhedrin, seems for the time being to have given the disciples opportunity to carry on their preaching of the gospel message.

The Sanhedrin was composed of the leading men of the nation. The high priest was a member of it. Joseph of Arimathæa, and Nicodemus, both disciples of Christ, seem also to have been members. Pharisees, Sadducees, and scribes, as well as leading rulers, were members of this famous council.

It seems plain that in the origin and full development of this half-civil and half-ecclesiastical council, or body, a similar process of growth was seen as that which resulted in the Papacy. It was very similar, also, in its development, to the process now in progress among the so-called Protestants,—a mixing up of the civil and ecclesiastical elements to decide religious questions, and dominate and persecute all who will not yield to their authority. Great claims to piety are made, but doctrines of man’s devising are in the lead, and the animus is of worldly influence. Traditions are of more real authority than the Word of God. Pretense and hypocrisy are abundantly manifest.

In the case of the Jews, the return from the Babylonian captivity and the establishment once more of the true worship of God among that people in Judea and Jerusalem by the consent of Cyrus the Great and his successors, the agency of Zerubbabel, the governor, and of Jeshua, the high priest, and the powerful assistance of Ezra and Nehemiah,—this was a great and marvelous event in human history. It was all of God’s providence, working through human instrumentalities. But the influence of the true and the Scriptural gradually departed, supplanted by the wordly and the traditional. Great outward reverence for God’s authority seemed to be present; but in reality a greater love for that which was popular took its place. The outward services were kept up, but the true Spirit of God was largely lacking. Worldly, proud men took the lead. They claimed to revive Moses’ grand council of seventy-one, including himself. The council in Moses’ day was composed of holy men, baptized with the Spirit of God; but in Christ’s time, the Sanhedrin was composed largely of men who were ambitious, bigoted, and cruel.

During the history of the Sanhedrin, the law concerning the high priesthood was utterly violated. The high priesthood was often changed in brief periods of time, as the result of political exigencies. No attention was paid to the laws of the Bible concerning it. The New Testament shows how bitter and wicked were most of the men who made up the Sanhedrin. How similar in spirit and action was this council to the Papacy in its awful history! Christ was persecuted and murdered by the former, and a vast number of his followers by the latter.

Similar influences are increasingly powerful in our day, developing rapidly for the final great conflict. Ecclesiastical tyranny is the most terrible of all tyrannies. Satan himself works especially through it. To look out upon the broad sea of humanity at the present time, and carefully scan the religious influences busily at work to bring about a condition in many respects similar to that pervading the Jewish nation in Christ’s time, is truly an appalling sight. The traditions and opinions of men are in the ascendent. A worldly spirit pervades the religious masses. A binding together for one common purpose of incongruous elements, is urged by the large majority of so-called Protestant churches, with appeals even to Catholics to accomplish certain purposes. Sunday exaltation stands in the forefront of the measures of reform urged by this body of professed Christians.

What will the end be?—Evidently a repetition, just before Christ’s second advent, of Jewish history and of Catholic intolerance. The Scriptures have warned us of it, and the signs of the times indicate it. Let us be vigilant, carefully watching and praying much, that we be not left to the disintegrating processes evidently at work in the world at the present time.

Bowling Green, Fla.