or SANHEDRIN, from the Greek word Συνέδριον, which signifies a council or assembly of persons sitting 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 sanhedrin, sat upon a throne at the end of the hall, having 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 sanhedrin 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 (Num. xi. 16), in the year of the world 2514. Moses, being discouraged by the continual murmurings 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, "Gather unto me 70 men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers 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 sanhedrin 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 sanhedrin, there is nothing unattempted by the partisans of this opinion. They find a proof where others cannot so much as perceive any appearance 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 Dissertation concerning the polity of the ancient Hebrews, printed before his Comment upon the Book of Numbers.

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, infamers, 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 Laachar-haggazith, or the hall paved with stones, supposed by some to be the Astheggeos, 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 Bethanaim, 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 Sanhedrim, the sanhedrim.

But the learned do not agree with them in all this. Father Petavius fixes the beginning of the sanhedrim not till Gabinius 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 Mozes, as the rabbins do; but he makes it determine at the beginning of Herod's reign. Mr Balfour at first thought that the sanhedrim began under Gabinius; 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 Janneus, 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—“Whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgement.” This, they say, is the tribunal of the 23 judges. “And whosoever shall fall 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 synedrion 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 Mozes 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 Gabinius were very different from the sanhedrim, which was the supreme court of judicature, and fixed at Jerusalem; whereas Gabinius 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.).