4. The title Ab Beth Din and the duumvirate. — It is nevertheless unwarranteii to dismiss as fictitious, as Schiirer, Wellliausen, and Kuenen do, the whole tradition concerning the leadership of the so-called N'slim and the duumvirate. As a matter of fact, the important innovations (tekkd- noth) ascribed to such masters as Jose b. Joezer, Simon b. Shetab, Hillel, and Gamaliel I. (cf. (iraetz, Gcschichte dcr Juden,i\i. and iv. [see Index], and Jelski, Die innere Einrichtuvg des gro.isen Syn- edrions zu Jerusalem, pp. 43-81) could have been brought about only under a Pliarisean leadership of greater authority on the Law than was the high priest, who as a rule lacked both learning and piety. Apart from this, however, the tradition of a duumvirate is corroborated by Josejdius in a remarkable passage which failed to receive the attention its importance deserves. In giving an exposition of the Mosaic constitution, in all prob- ability taken from an older Pharisaic source, lie writes (Ant. IV. viii. 14): 'Each city shall have for its magistrates seven men known for their practice of virtue and zeal for righteousness, and to each magistracy two men of tbe tribe of Levi shall be assigned as assistants [secretaries]. These elected as judges shall be held in the utmost esteem. . . . For the power to judge conieth from God. . . . But if these judges do not know how to decide on matters submitted to them . . . they shall send the undecided case to the holy city, and there shall the high priest and the jirophet and the Senate come together and give the linal decision.'
It is plain that these rules must have been taken from the practice of the time and regarded as ancient traditional law. Now there is a tiace of seven judges instead of the Talmudic three in each city court (Sanh. i. 1), found in the seven city aldermen (tCbe hd'ir [Meg. 26a ; cf. Jcr. Meg. iii. 1, 74« ; T6s. Meg. iii. 1], probably heher ha 'ir [Bik. iii. 12 ; TCs. Peak, iv. 16 ; Sheb. vii. 9]). And the seven judges recur in Jos. Ant. IV. viii. 38 with reference to Ex 22'*, Eloliim being taken as judges (cf. Targ. and Mck. t-o the ]>a.ssage). As governor of Galilee, Josephus appointed seven judges for each town and a Sanhedrin of seventy
456
SANHEDRIN
SANHEDRIN
for the whole province (Jos. B.T II. xx. 5). For the high court at Jetusalem, however, a duum- virate, consisting of tlie higli priest and the prophet, is ordained, and ncitUcr Kuenen (Gcsaiiim. Abfiandiunrjen, p. 66) nor Wellhau.sen (Phar. iind Sarld., p. 26) nor Hotl'mann [Der oherste Gerichts- hof, p. 25) nor Biichler (Das Synedrion in Jerus., p. 62) explains the mention of the prophet here satisfactorily. The fact is that the Law (Dt 17»- '=) mentions alongside of the priest also 'the judge,' implying thereby a man of judicial competence and authority, and thus suggests a sort of duum- virate such as the Chronicler (2 Ch 19") has. It is easy to see how, in view of the decline of the Sadducean priesthood, the necessity arose of having as the spiritual head of the Sanhedrin a Pharisean scribe who was to be consulted in all difficult questions. Such a scribe could well be called prophet, as the one tilled with the Divine spirit of wisdom (Dt 34» ; cf. Jos. Ant. IV. viii. 46, BJ II. viii. 12 ; Wis T" ; Didache, x. 7 ; see also Eor. i. 4, mufla), while as the patriarch he received the title 'Ab Beth Dtn ' (cf. Jg 17" 18", 2 K 2'2, and the title ' Aboth ' for the ancient sages). It is especi- ally noteworthy that Jose b. Joezer, the first of the duumviri, was called 'the father of the Jews' (2 Mac 14"). The duumvirate was, no doubt, the result of a compromise between Sadducean priest- hood and the Pharisean scribes, the Ab Beth Din being for the Pharisees the actual president, whereas the Sadducean high priest was consigned to oblivion, wherefore a later tradition referred the duumvirate to the leaders of the two Pharisean schools of each generation, giving to the foremost one the title of Nasi (cf. JE, art. ' Nasi '). It is not as president, but as the patriarch, that Gamaliel I. speaks with authority (Ac 5^').
5. Composition and meeting-place of the San- hedrin.— The Great Sanhedrin consisted of seventy- one members, the seventy elders and the Nasi or president (Sanh. i. 5 ; cf. BJ II. xx. 5 and IV. V. 4). When Gamaliel II. and Eleazar b. Azariah alternated as presidents, they counted seventy-two ( Yad, ii. 5 ; Zeb. i. 3).
The Little Sanhedrin in the provinces (Sanh. i. 166) and in Jerusalem, one at the entrance to the Temple hill, the otlier at the entrance to the Temple Court or the Rampart (Sanh. xi. 1 ; T6s. Sanh. ix. 1 ; Sifre Dt. 152) consisted, according to the Talmudic tradition, of twenty-three. Of the former, one is mentioned as the /Soi/XiJ of Tiberias (Josephus, Vita, 12), whereas the Great Sanhedrin is referred to as tlie Sanhedrin of Jerusalem. Possibly the Great Sanhedrin of seventy-one was composed of the two Little Sanhedrins, the one on the Temple hill, which may be identified with the Senate of Jerusalem (Jos. Ant. xx. i. 2, BJ II. xv. 6, xvi. 2), and the other before the Temple court, probably the one concerned with the Temple practice and the priestly legitimacy (Ant. XX. ix. 6), and the main body ot the high court, also con- sisting of twenty-three (T6s. Sanh. ix. 1), that is, 3x23 = 69, besides the patriarch of the court and the president or Nasi. This would also account for the forty-five slain by king Herod, if it may be assumed that the Senate of Jerusalem sided with him (Ant. XV. i. 2).