SANHEDRIM, or SANHEDRIN, from the Greek
word Συνέδριον, which signifies a council or assembly of
persons fitting together, was the name whereby the
Jews called the great council of the nation, assembled
in an apartment of the temple of Jerusalem to determine
the most important affairs both of their church and
state. This council consisted of seventy senators. The
room they met in was a rotunda, half of which was
built without the temple, and half within; that is, one
semicircle was within the compass of the temple; the
other semicircle, they tell us, was built without, for
the senators to sit in; it being unlawful for any one to
sit down in the temple. The Nasi, or prince of the san-
hedrim, sat upon a throne at the end of the hall, hav-
ing his deputy at his right hand, and his sub-deputy
on his left. The other senators were ranged in order on
each side.
The rabbins pretend, that the sanhedrim has always
subsisted in their nation from the time of Moses down
to the destruction of the temple by the Romans. They
date the establishment of it from what happened in the
wilderness, some time after the people departed from
Sinai (Numb. xi. 16.), in the year of the world 2514.
Moses, being discouraged by the continual murmurs
of the Israelites, addressed himself to God, and desired
to be relieved, at least, from some part of the burden
of the government. Then the Lord said to him, "Ga-
ther unto me 70 men of the elders of Israel, whom
thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and offi-
cers over them; and bring them unto the tabernacle
of the congregation, that they may stand there with
thee: And I will come down and talk with thee there;
and I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, and
will put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden
of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself
alone." The Lord, therefore, poured out his spirit
upon these men, who began at that time to prophesy,
and have not ceased from that time. The sanhedrim
was composed of 70 counsellors, or rather 72, six out
of each tribe; and Moses, as president, made up the
number 73. To prove the uninterrupted succession of
the judges of the sanhedrim, there is nothing unat-
tempted by the partisans of this opinion. They find a
proof where others cannot so much as perceive any ap-
pearance or shadow of it. Grotius may be consulted
in many places of his commentaries, and in his first
book De jure belli et pacis, c. 3. art. 20. and Selden de
Synedriis veterum Hebræorum. Also, Calmet's Differ-
entation concerning the polity of the ancient Hebrews,
printed before his Comment upon the Book of Num-
bers.
As to the personal qualifications of the judges of
this bench, their birth was to be untainted. They were
often taken from the race of the priests or Levites, or
out of the number of the inferior judges, or from the
lesser
Sanhedrim. lesser sanhedrim, which consisted only of 23 judges.— They were to be skilful in the law, as well traditional as written. They were obliged to study magic, divination, fortune-telling, physic, astrology, arithmetic, and languages. The Jews say, they were to know to the number of 70 tongues; that is, they were to know all the tongues, for the Hebrews acknowledged but 70 in all, and perhaps this is too great a number. Eunuchs were excluded from the sanhedrim, because of their cruelty, usurers, decrepid persons, players at games of chance, such as had any bodily deformities, those that had brought up pigeons to decoy others to their pigeon-houses, and those that made a gain of their fruits in the sabbatical year. Some also exclude the high-priest and the king, because of their too great power; but others will have it, that the kings always presided in the sanhedrim, while there were any kings in Israel.— Lastly, it was required, that the members of the sanhedrim should be of a mature age, a handsome person, and of considerable fortune. We speak now, according to the notions of the rabbins, without pretending to warrant their opinions.
The authority of the great sanhedrim was vastly extensive. This council decided such causes as were brought before it by way of appeal from the inferior courts. The king, the high-priest, the prophets, were under its jurisdiction. If the king offended against the law, for example, if he married above 18 wives, if he kept too many horses, if he hoarded up too much gold and silver, the sanhedrim had him stripped and whipped in their presence. But whipping, they say, among the Hebrews was not at all ignominious; and the king bore this correction by way of penance, and himself made choice of the person that was to exercise this discipline over him. Also the general affairs of the nation were brought before the sanhedrim. The right of judging in capital cases belonged to this court, and this sentence could not be pronounced in any other place, but in the hall called Laschat-haggazith, or the hall paved with stones, supposed by some to be the Andersules, or pavement, mentioned in John xix. 13. From whence it came to pass, that the Jews were forced to quit this hall when the power of life and death was taken out of their hands, 40 years before the destruction of their temple, and three years before the death of Jesus Christ. In the time of Moses this council was held at the door of the tabernacle of the testimony. As soon as the people were in possession of the land of promise, the sanhedrim followed the tabernacle. It was kept successively at Gilgal, at Shiloh, at Kirjath-jearim, at Nob, at Gibeon in the house of Obed-edom; and, lastly, it was settled at Jerusalem, till the Babylonish captivity. During the captivity it was kept up at Babylon. After the return from Babylon, it continued at Jerusalem to the time of the Sicarii, or Assassins. Then finding that these profligate wretches, whose number increased every day, sometimes escaped punishment by the favour of the president or judges, it was removed to Hanoth, which were certain abodes situated, as the rabbins tell us, upon the mountain of the temple. From thence they came down into the city of Jerusalem, withdrawing themselves by degrees from the temple. Afterwards they removed to Jamia, thence to Jericho, to Uzzah, to Sepharvaim, to Bethsanim, to Sephoris, last of all to Tiberias, where they continued to the time of their utter extinction.
And this is the account the Jews themselves give us of the sanhedrim. Sanhedrim Sanjacks.
But the learned do not agree with them in all this. Father Petau fixes the beginning of the sanhedrim not till Gabinus was governor of Judea, who, according to Josephus, erected tribunals in the five principal cities of Judea; at Jerusalem, at Gadara, at Amathus, at Jericho, and at Sephora or Sephoris, a city of Galilee. Grotius places the origin of the sanhedrim under Moses, as the rabbins do; but he makes it determine at the beginning of Herod's reign. Mr Bagnage at first thought that the sanhedrim began under Gabinus; but afterwards he places it under Judas Maccabeus, or under his brother Jonathan. We see, indeed, under Jonathan Maccabeus, (1 Macc. xii. 6.), in the year 3860, that the senate with the high-priest sent an embassy to the Romans. The rabbins say, that Alexander Jannæus, king of the Jews, of the race of the Asmoneans, appeared before the sanhedrim, and claimed a right of sitting there, whether the senators would or not. Josephus informs us, that when Herod was but yet governor of Galilee, he was summoned before the senate, where he appeared. It must be therefore acknowledged, that the sanhedrim was in being before the reign of Herod. It was in being afterwards, as we find from the Gospel and from the Acts. Jesus Christ in St Matthew (v. 22.) distinguishes two tribunals.— "Whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment." This, they say, is the tribunal of the 23 judges. "And whosoever shall say to his brother Raca, shall be in danger of the council;" that is, of the great sanhedrim, which had the right of life and death, at least generally, and before this right was taken away by the Romans. Some think that the jurisdiction of the council of 23 extended to life and death also; but it is certain that the sanhedrim was superior to this council. See also Mark xiii. 9. xiv. 55. xv. 1.; Luke xxii. 52, 66.; John xi. 47.; Acts iv. 15. v. 21. where mention is made of the synedriion or sanhedrim.
From all this it may be concluded, that the origin of the sanhedrim is involved in uncertainty; for the council of the 70 elders established by Moses was not what the Hebrews understand by the name of sanhedrim. Besides, we cannot perceive that this establishment subsisted either under Joshua, the judges, or the kings. We find nothing of it after the captivity, till the time of Jonathan Maccabeus. The tribunals erected by Gabinus were very different from the sanhedrim, which was the supreme court of judicature, and fixed at Jerusalem; whereas Gabinus established five at five different cities. Lastly, it is certain that this senate was in being in the time of Jesus Christ; but the Jews themselves inform us that they had no longer then the power of life and death. (John xviii. 31.)