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Hosea 6:6 For I desired mercy and not sacrifice;
and the knowledge of God more than your burnt offerings.
Topical Studies
1A0THE SOPHERIM
These are stated by Talmudic writings, and have the unanimous voice of Tradition, to have formed “The Great Synagogue.” The sopherim at first consisted of 102 members, but was afterward reduced to seventy. It represented the five divisions of the Nation: (1) The Chiefs of the Priests; (2) The Chief Levites; (3) The Chiefs of the people; (4) The Representatives of the cities; and (5) The Doctors of the Law. The Sopherim’s word was—by solemn oath: (A) Not to intermarry with the gentiles—heathen; (B) To keep the sabbath; (C) To keep the sabbatical year; (D) To pay annually 1/3 of a shekel to the Temple; (E) To supply wood for the Altar; (F) To pay the priestly dues; and (G) To collect the Canonical Scriptures. “The Great Synagogue” lasted 110 years: from the time of Nehemiah to Simeon the Just; when, having completed its work, it became known as the Sanhedrin of the New Testament, the “Supreme Counsel,” of the Jewish Nation; which rejected the Kingdom, and crucified the King (The Messiah: Christ). By the people and their duties assigned here, you can see—or at least should be able to see—that this Great Synagogue which reduced itself to the Sanhedrin was made up by many of the scribes. I’m not saying that every one of them were corrupted, as Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathaea were part of this counsel; however, I do believe most were corrupted. So, who were and what did the sanhedrin do? By answer, I’ll copy some information in from the “jewishvirtuallibrary.org”: “The ancient Jewish court system was called the Sanhedrin. The Great sanhedrinSanhedrin was the supreme religious body in the Land of Israel during the time of the Holy Temple. There were also smaller religious Sanhedrins in every town in the Land of Israel, as well as a civil political-democratic Sanhedrin. These Sanhedrins existed until the abolishment of the rabbinic patriarchate in about 425 A.D. The earliest record of a Sanhedrin is by Josephus who wrote of a political Sanhedrin convened by the Romans in 57 B.C. Hellenistic sources generally depict the Sanhedrin as a political and judicial council headed by the country’s ruler. Tannaitic sources describe the Great Sanhedrin as a religious assembly of 71 sages who met in the Chamber of Hewn Stones in the Temple in Jerusalem. The Great Sanhedrin met daily during the daytime, and did not meet on the Sabbath, festivals or festival eves. It was the final authority on Jewish law and any scholar who went against its decisions was put to death as a zaken mamre (rebellious elder). The Sanhedrin was led by a president called the nasi (lit. “prince”) and a vice president called the av bet din (lit. “father of the court”). The other 69 sages sat in a semicircle facing the leaders. It is unclear whether the leaders included the high priest. The Sanhedrin judged accused lawbreakers, but could not initiate arrests. It required a minimum of two witnesses to convict a suspect. There were no attorneys. Instead, the accusing witness stated the offense in the presence of the accused and the accused could call witnesses on his own behalf. The court questioned the accused, the accusers and the defense witnesses. The Great Sanhedrin dealt with religious and ritualistic Temple matters, criminal matters appertaining to the secular court, proceedings in connection with the discovery of a corpse, trials of adulterous wives, tithes, preparation of Torah Scrolls for the king and the Temple, drawing up the calendar and the solving of difficulties relating to ritual law. In about 30 A.D. , the Great Sanhedrin lost its authority to inflict capital punishment. After the Temple was destroyed, so was the Great Sanhedrin. A Sanhedrin in Yavneh took over many of its functions, under the authority of Rabban Gamliel—my note here, Gamliel was the man whom Paul studied under. The rabbis in the Sanhedrin served as judges and attracted students who came to learn their oral traditions and scriptural interpretations. From Yavneh, the Sanhedrin moved to different cities in the Galilee, eventually ending up in Tiberias. Local Sanhedrins consisted of different numbers of sages, depending on the nature of the offenses it dealt with. For example, only a Sanhedrin of 71 could judge a whole tribe, a false prophet or the high priest. There were Sanhedrins of 23 for capital cases and of three scholars to deal with civil or lesser criminal cases..” Again, because of Father’s Word, and the contending with them by Jesus, and then their crucifying Him, it should be easy for the reader to see just who made up this great counsel of the Sanhedrin. It was these sopherim, who became the sanhedrin, who became the The chief Priests, elders, The Scribes, Pharisees, and sadducees: namely the “jews” who were in charge of the priesthood when Father walked in the flesh as His only Begotten Son Jesus Christ. He knew who they were, and it is why He contended with them whenever He encountered them. He tried to teach His disciples who they were, and He is still trying to teach the remainder of His children today. Can I document this, you ask: Yes I can, that’s easy, we’ll start with when they first came to Israel and that can be read in Joshua 9; next, we read of them in Ezra 2:58-63; Ezra 8:15-21; in the New Testament we can read of them in Matthew 13:34-42, Matthew 15:1-20; Matthew 23; John 8:44; Revelation 2:9 and Revelation 3:9.
Aug 2014, Updated: Jan 2023.
This Bible Study was written by Scott Reis and is provided in order to be used as a private Bible Study Tool. Therefore, it may be copied in whole or in part and shared for private Bible Study; however, it may not be reproduced and published as an original work.
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