The Sanhedrin

Joshua Perez

11/9/24

In the Bible, we read about the council of judges in ancient theocratic Israel, referred to as the Sanhedrin; or in Greek, synedrion (Συνέδριον). The establishment of the Sanhedrin is described in the Torah, where it was designed to alleviate the burden placed on Moses, who was initially responsible for alone judging the people of Israel in all matters of dispute. 

"Now it came about the next day that Moses sat to judge the people, and the people stood about Moses from the morning until the evening. When Moses' father-in-law saw all that he was doing for the people, he said, 'What is this thing that you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, and all the people stand about you from morning until evening?' Moses said to his father-in-law, 'Because the people come to me to inquire of God. When they have a dispute, it comes to me, and I judge between a man and his neighbor and make known the statutes of God and His laws.' Moses' father-in-law said to him, 'The thing that you are doing is not good. You will surely wear out, both yourself and these people who are with you, for the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone. Now listen to me: I will give you counsel, and God be with you; you be the people's representative before God, and you bring the disputes to God, then teach them the statutes and the laws, and make known to them the way in which they are to walk and the work they are to do. Furthermore, you shall select out of all the people able men who fear God, men of truth, those who hate dishonest gain; and you shall place these over them as leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens. Let them judge the people at all times; and let it be that every major dispute they will bring to you, but every minor dispute they themselves will judge. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you. If you do this and God so commands you, then you will be able to endure, and all these people also will go to their place in peace.' So Moses listened to his father-in-law and did all that he had said. Moses chose able men out of all Israel and made them heads over the people, leaders of thousands, of hundreds, of fifties and of tens. They judged the people at all times, the difficult dispute they would bring to Moses, but every minor dispute they themselves would judge." (Exodus 18:13-26)

This passage describes the first commandment calling for the establishment of the council of judges, which later fully evolved into the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin would serve to judge Israel in various matters, just as Moses did, as they now possess Moses' authority. Later in the Torah, we read more about the degree of their authority in the land of Israel.

"Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Gather for Me seventy men from the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and their officers, and bring them to the tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you. Then I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take of the Spirit which is upon you and will put it upon them, and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you will not bear it alone.'" (Numbers 11:16-17)

"You shall appoint for yourselves judges and officers in all your towns which the Lord your God is giving you, and they shall judge the people with righteous judgment. You shall not distort justice; you shall not be partial, and you shall not take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and perverts the words of the righteous. Justice and only justice you shall pursue, that you may live and possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you." (Deuteronomy 16:18-20)

"If any case is too difficult for you to decide, between one kind of homicide or another, between one kind of lawsuit or another, or between one kind of assault or another, being disputes in your towns, then you shall arise and go up to the place which the Lord your God chooses. So you shall come to the Levitical priests or the judge who is in office in those days, and you shall inquire of them, and they will declare to you the verdict in the case. You shall do according to the terms of the verdict which they declare to you from that place which the Lord chooses, and you shall be careful to observe according to all that they instruct you. According to the terms of the law which they teach you, and according to the verdict which they tell you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside from the word which they declare to you, to the right or the left. The man who acts presumptuously by not listening to the priest who stands there to serve the Lord your God, nor to the judge, that man shall die; thus you shall purge the evil from Israel. Then all the people will hear and be afraid, and will not act presumptuously again." (Deuteronomy 17:8-13)

The Torah outlines precisely how the Sanhedrin was meant to function: the spirit of God given to Moses to judge the people would also be passed on to the 70 members of the Great Sanhedrin, and whatever they ruled on any matter had to be followed without deviation. Furthermore, in 2 Chronicles we read about Jehoshaphat establishing a judicial system of some sort, which likely served as a pre-cursor for the Sanhedrin as-well.

"Jehoshaphat also appointed in Jerusalem some of the Levites and priests, and some of the heads of the fathers’ households of Israel, for the judgment of the Lord and to judge disputes among the inhabitants of Jerusalem. Then he commanded them, saying, 'This is what you shall do in the fear of the Lord, faithfully and wholeheartedly. Whenever any dispute comes to you from your brothers who live in their cities, whether it is a dispute about bloodshed, law, commandment, statutes, or judgments, you are to warn them so that they do not become guilty before the Lord, and wrath does not come on you and your brothers. This you shall do, and you will not become guilty'" (2 Chronicles 19:8-10 NASB)

This text explains that this group of "judges" would serve to resolve any matters of dispute, even concerning the laws, statues, and commandments. As in, they had authority on ruling how to correctly fulfill the mitzvot. 

Later, the Mishnah provides specific details on the tasks various courts were designed to handle.

"Cases concerning monetary law are adjudicated by three judges. Cases concerning robbery and personal injury are adjudicated by three judges. Cases concerning damage that one is responsible for because he or his property caused the damage are adjudicated by three judges as well." (Mishnah Sanhedrin 1)

Matters that were less pressing or dealt with smaller issues, such as robbery, were handled by a smaller regional court of three judges.

"And the Rabbis say: Cases concerning a defamer are adjudicated by a court of twenty-three judges, which is the type of court authorized to judge cases of capital law, because this case includes the possibility of becoming a case of capital law...Cases of capital law are judged by twenty-three judges. An animal that copulated with a person and an animal that was the object of bestiality are judged by twenty-three judges, as it is stated: “And if a woman approaches any animal to lie with it, you shall kill the woman and the animal” (Leviticus 20:16), and it states: “And if a man lies with an animal, he shall be put to death and you shall kill the animal” (Leviticus 20:15)" (Mishnah Sanhedrin 1)

More important matters, such as capital punishment, were dealt with by a "minor Sanhedrin", comprised of 23 members. 

"The court judges cases involving an entire tribe that sinned, or a false prophet (see Deuteronomy 18:20–22), or a High Priest who transgressed a prohibition that carries a possible death sentence, only on the basis of a court of seventy-one judges, i.e., the Great Sanhedrin. And the king may bring the nation out to an optional war, i.e., a war that was not mandated by the Torah and is not a war of defense, only on the basis of a court of seventy-one judges. They may extend the city of Jerusalem or the courtyards of the Temple only on the basis of a court of seventy-one judges. And they may appoint a lesser Sanhedrin of twenty-three judges for the tribes only on the basis of a court of seventy-one judges. A city may be designated as an idolatrous city, i.e., a city whose residents all practice idolatry, and therefore according to Torah law all the residents must be killed and the city must be destroyed (see Deuteronomy 13:13–19), only in accordance with the ruling of a court of seventy-one judges." (Mishnah Sanhedrin 1)

The most important matters that occurred in ancient Israel were dealt with by the Great Sanhedrin, composed of 71 members (the 70 judges, and the Nasi).

"From where is it derived that the Great Sanhedrin was composed of seventy-one judges? As it is stated: “Gather Me seventy men of the Elders of Israel, whom you know to be the Elders of the people and officers over them, and bring them into the Tent of Meeting, and they shall stand there with you” (Numbers 11:16), and together with Moses at the head of this body, there are a total of seventy-one." (Mishnah Sanhedrin 1)

The Great Sanhedrin had the highest authority in ancient Israel, and receives their authority directly from the process of smichah (a direct line of laying of hands going back to Moses, passing on the spirit of judgement throughout all their generations). 

"Moses received the Torah at Sinai and transmitted it to Joshua, Joshua to the elders, and the elders to the prophets, and the prophets to the Men of the Great Assembly. " (Perkei Avot 1:1)

"Abaye said to Rav Yosef: From where do we derive that the ordination of elders is performed by three judges? If we say it is from the fact that it is written with regard to Moses when he appointed Joshua: “And he laid his hands on him and he commanded him” (Numbers 27:23), if so, it should be enough for one man to ordain the new Sage, as Moses ordained Joshua. And if you would say: Moses stood in place of seventy-one, meaning that no Sage in a later generation could fill the place of Moses, and only the Great Sanhedrin can fill that role, if so, then every ordination should require seventy-one judges. The Gemara responds: The matter is difficult; there is no clear source for this halakha." (Sanhedrin 13b)

"Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Gather for Me seventy men from the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and their officers, and bring them to the tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you. Then I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take of the Spirit which is upon you and will put it upon them, and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you will not bear it alone.'" (Numbers 11:16-17)

"The Lord said to Moses, “Take Joshua the son of Nun, a man in whom is the spirit, and lay your hand on him, and set him before Eleazar the priest and before all the congregation; and commission him in their sight. You are to put of your honor on him, so that all the congregation of the children of Israel will obey him." (Numbers 27:18-20)

The Great Sanhedrin had the authority to create hallacha (binding rulings of Jewish law), and as the Torah says: 

"You shall do according to the terms of the verdict which they declare to you from that place which the Lord chooses, and you shall be careful to observe according to all that they instruct you. According to the terms of the law which they teach you, and according to the verdict which they tell you, you shall do; you shall not turn aside from the word which they declare to you, to the right or the left" (Deuteronomy 17:10-11)

Halacha bases its precedents on both the Written and Oral Torah. The Written Torah is found in the five books of Moses (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy), which contain the written instructions given at Sinai. The Oral Torah, transmitted orally to the people of Israel at Mount Sinai, serves to explain the "how-to" for the written law. For example, in Deuteronomy 6, it says:

"Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the road and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hands and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." Deuteronomy 6:4-9

Yet, this text provides no explicit instructions on how to fulfill these commandments. What does it mean to "bind these words" on the frontlets of our eyes or on the doorposts of our houses? The Oral Law clarifies the fulfillment of these commandments through the practices of Tefillin and a Mezuzah (Menachot 34a-35a). Without the Oral tradition, the proper way to observe these mitzvot would be lost. As Rabbi Hillel, the founder of the Pharisaic school Beit Hillel, which Yeshua himself was a student of, stated:

"The Sages taught: There was an incident involving one gentile who came before Shammai. The gentile said to Shammai: How many Torahs do you have? He said to him: Two, the Written Torah and the Oral Torah. The gentile said to him: With regard to the Written Torah, I believe you, but with regard to the Oral Torah, I do not believe you. Convert me on condition that you will teach me only the Written Torah. Shammai scolded him and cast him out with reprimand. The same gentile came before Hillel, who converted him and began teaching him Torah. On the first day, he showed him the letters of the alphabet and said to him: Alef, bet, gimmel, dalet. The next day he reversed the order of the letters and told him that an alef is a tav and so on. The convert said to him: But yesterday you did not tell me that. Hillel said to him: You see that it is impossible to learn what is written without relying on an oral tradition. Didn’t you rely on me? Therefore, you should also rely on me with regard to the matter of the Oral Torah, and accept the interpretations that it contains." (Shabbat 31a)

Halachah refers to the interpretive rulings made by the Great Sanhedrin on both the Oral and Written Law as new circumstances or scenarios arise. It serves as a guide for living in accordance with God's will, encompassing both individual and communal practices. Halachah acts as a protective "fence" around the commandments to prevent transgressions. While breaking halachah is not the same as transgression of a commandment, observing it is still part of obedience to Hashem. As the written Torah commands us to follow the rulings of the Sanhedrin. 

After the destruction of the Temple in 70 AD, the Sanhedrin was evicted from the Temple Mount and struggled to maintain its authority as Jews were scattered around the world. Around 200 AD, Rabbi Yehudah HaNasi compiled the teachings of the oral law in the form of the Mishnah, with the Gemara (Talmud) expounding upon these rulings. He was the last person to receive smichah in the traditional sense due to Roman oppression of the Jews. In 359 AD, just before the official disbanding of the Sanhedrin, Hillel II, the final Nasi, devised what is now commonly known as "The Modern Jewish Calendar." And by the end of the 4th century, the Sanhedrin officially disbanded, and since then, no Sanhedrin has been established.

However, during the time of Yeshua (the early 1st century AD), there was a fully functioning Sanhedrin, which He affirmed the authority of.

"Then Jesus spoke to the crowds and to His disciples: 'The scribes and the Pharisees are seated in the chair of Moses. Therefore, do whatever they tell you and observe it, but don’t do what they do, because they don’t practice what they teach.'" Matthew 23:1-3 HCSB

Yeshua's statement in this passage is undoubtedly in reference to the Great Sanhedrin. The "seat of Moses" refers to being in the position of judgment and halachic authority that Moses held, which he passed on to the council of 70 judges. These judges acted as Hashem's earthly representatives in matters of law and justice, providing guidance and rulings on how to live according to God's will, his Torah. Yeshua's issue with the Pharisees was never their doctrine or theology, rather it was their hypocrisy. They taught the correct things, but they themselves wouldn't follow them. In fact, Yeshua agreed so much with the teachings of the Pharisees, and the authority of the Sanhedrin, that he believed even the Pharisees themselves should follow them.