The Sanhedrin

The Sanhedrin in the Bible refers to the Jewish high court. The name means “sitting together.” During Jesus’ time, the Sanhedrin was located in Jerusalem and served as the highest judicial body for the Jewish people. It had jurisdiction over all religious and civil matters, but it did not have the authority to issue death sentences, which was reserved for the Roman governor.

The Jewish Sanhedrin had 71 members, including the high priest, chief priests, elders, scribes, and leaders of the Pharisees and Sadducees. A quorum of 23 members was sufficient for most issues. However, matters of national importance (like declaring war) or cases where the smaller court could not reach a decision required the attendance of all 71 members (refer to Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 2a). If a member of the Sanhedrin died or for some other reason could no longer perform their duties, a new member would be appointed.

The Jewish Sanhedrin is mentioned several times in the four Gospels. Jesus, as well as His disciples Peter, John, Stephen, and Paul, were all tried before this court. Jesus was betrayed to the Sanhedrin by His disciple Judas Iscariot, who was paid 30 pieces of silver. Since the court could not prove that Jesus had committed a crime punishable by death, they accused Him of blasphemy, which was a capital offense under Jewish law. However, because the Sanhedrin did not have the authority to carry out a death sentence, Jesus was brought before Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea. Pontius Pilate disagreed with the Sanhedrin’s verdict, but the crowd demanded that Jesus be crucified. Fearing another large-scale riot (there had already been several anti-Roman uprisings, and he had been warned by the emperor), Pontius Pilate agreed to the crowd’s demand and sentenced Jesus to be crucified.

After the Roman Empire captured Jerusalem in AD 70 and the Second Temple was destroyed, the Jewish Sanhedrin was dissolved (refer to Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 13b-14a).