| The Sanhedrin (from the Greek synedrion, meaning "sitting in
council") was the supreme Jewish court for determining and applying law. It came
into being in the 4th century BC, if not earlier. (The Talmud traces it
back to the 70 elders chosen by Moses in Numbers 11:4.) By the time of
the Second Testament, it consisted of 70 or 71 members, including Sadducees and
Pharisees, and met within the
Temple precincts. Its
authority extended throughout the Jewish Diaspora. Each city had its "small
Sanhedrin," which would refer disputes to the major one for a final opinion. The
Sanhedrin also served as the legislative body, ruling on the decrees and laws
that its president (nasi) would issue. It determined the sacred calendar
for Jews everywhere, thus preventing schisms. It could imprison sectarians, such
as the Christians. If it had the power of capital punishment (the issue is
disputed), then it lost it with the destruction of the
Temple in 70 AD.
After that destruction, the Sanhedrin re-constituted
itself at Yavneh, south of Jaffa.
Here it began elaborating Jewish law until this covered the minute details of
everyday life, with the result that Jews could maintain their identity
as Jews even in dispersion and without the Temple.
Following the disastrous Bar Kokhba revolt,
the Roman emperor Hadrian restricted Judaism in Judaea.
The Sanhedrin moved to Galilee, seeking a suitable place.
At Sepphoris in 200 AD the orally elaborated law was committed to writing in
the form of a book called the Mishnah.
From here the Sanhedrin moved to Tiberias, where, by 425 AD, the Mishnah
was further elaborated into a much larger work, the Talmud. An even bigger version
of the Talmud, likewise based on the Mishnah appeared
about a century later in Babylonia.
In the 5th century,
the Byzantines abolished the
office of the Jewish president, and the Sanhedrin ceased to exist.
©
2003
Near East Tourist Agency
(NET)
Text
© 2003 Stephen
Langfur
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