11. The Small Sanhedrim. — 1. Members, Consiitulion, efc. — This judicial court consisted of twenty- three members, who were appointed by the Great Sanhedrim (M'mhna, Sanhedrin, i, 6, 6), and a president (NJSI^, excellency ) as their head ( ibid, i, 6 ; Jlorajoth, 4 b). They had the power not only to judge civil cases, hut also such cajjital offences as did not come within the jurisdiction of the supreme court (Mishna, Sanhedrin, i, 4 ; iv, 1). Such ])rovincial courts were appointed in every town or village which hjid no less than 120 rep- resentative men ("pT^^S"^) — i. e. twenty-three judges, three ranks of disciples of twenty-three persons each (=sixty-nine), ten constant attendants in the sj-nagogue (nt33Dn n^n h^ "fSbljn n-UJr ), two judges' nota- ries, the one to write down the arguments for and the other the arguments against the accused's innocence ; two court servants to administer the forty stripes save one, and to wait upon the judges; two judges, two wit- nesses, two counter-witnesses, two witnesses to gainsay the counter-witnesses, two almoners, and one additional to distribute the alms, one physician, one scribe ("ibsb), and one schoolmaster for children — in all 120 (Sanhedrin, 17 b; Maimonides, lad IJa-Chezaka, Hilchoth Sanhe- drin, i, 10).
2. Place, Time, and Order in which the Sessions icere Held. — In the provinces these courts of justice were at first held in the market-place, but afterwards in a room adjoining the synagogue (Jervsuleni Sanhedrin, i, 1 ; Baba Mefsia, li, 8), for the same reason which made the Great Sanhedrim hold their sittings in the Hall of Squares, in the inner court of the Temple. They sat every Monday and Thursday, being market-days (Baba Rema, 82 a; Ka/hnboth, 3 a), from the termination of morning prayer till the sixtli hour (Maimonides, I/il- choth. Sanhedrin, n\, 1). The order in which they were ranged was the same as that of the Great Sanhedrim. There were two of these lesser courts of justice in Jeru- salem itself; one sat at the entrance to the Tem])le mount, and the other at the entrance to the Tem]ile hall (Mishna, Sanhedrin, ix, 2), which on s])c(ial occa- sions met together with the (Jreat Sanhedrim (Sanhe- drin, 88 b). There was no appeal to the Great Sanhe- drim against the decision of this lesser Sanhedrim. Only when the opinion of the judges was divided did they themselves consult with the supreme court. The stripes to which offenders were sentenced were given in the synagogue by the ofhcer already mentioned (Mark xiii, 9, with Matt, x, 17; xxiii, 34), and it is evidently to
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SANHEDRIM
such a local Sanhedrim that reference is made in Matt. V, 22; X, 17; Mark xiii, 9.
Besides these two courts, there was also one consist- ing of three judges. Within the jurisdiction of this court came suits for debts, robbery, bodily injuries, com- pensation for damages: thefts which involved a two- fold, fourfold, or fivefold value to the proprietor (Exod. xxii, 1-9) ; rapes, seduction, slander, and all minor of- fences (Mishna, Sanhedriii, i, 1-3; iii, 1). There were in Jerusalem alone 390 such Sanhedrims.
III. Orifjin, Development, and Extinction of the San- hedrim.— According to the most ancient Jewish tradi- tion, the Sanhedrim was instituted by Moses, when he appointed, according to the command of God, seventy elders, who, together with him as their president, were to act as magistrates and judges (Numb, xi, 16-2-1:), thus constituting the first Sanhedrim with its seventy- one members (Mishna, Sanhedrin, i, 6; Gemara, ibid. 2). Hence the so-called Jerusalem Targum paraphrases Exod. XV, 27, " And they came to Elim, and there were there twelve fountains of water, answering to the twelve tribes of Israel; and seventy palm-trees, answering to the seventy elders of the Sanhedrim of Israel," while the other Chaldee versions express the judicial courts and colleges of the remotest antiquity by the name Sanhe- drim (comp. Targum, Isa. xxviii, (5; Kuth iii, 11 ; iv, 1 ; j Psa. cxl, 10: Eccles. xii, 12). Hence, too, the offices of president and vice-president are traced to Moses {.Je- rmnlem Sota, ix, 10), In the time of the kings, we are assured, Saul was president of the Sanhedrim in his reign, and his son Jonathan was vice-president (Moed Kiiton, 26 a); and these two functions continued during the time of the later prophets {Pea, 2 b; Nasir, 56 b; Tosephta Y'adai/im, cap. xi). The Chaldee paraphrase on the Song of Songs tells us that the Sanhedrim existed even in the Babylonian captivity, and that it was re- organized bj' Ezra immediately after the return from the exile (comp. Song 'of Songs vi, 1). But though this view has also been entertained by some of the most learned Christian scholars (e. g. Selden, Leusden, Gro- tius, Keland), and though allusion is made in Jeremiah (xxvi, 8, 16) to the several distinct classes which we af- terwards find constituting the Sanhedrim, while Ezekiel (viii, 11, etc.) actually mentions the existence of seven- ty elders in his time, yet there seems to be little doubt that this supreme court, as it existed during the second Temple, developed itself in the Greek rule over Pales- tine. Livy expressly states (xiv, 32), "Pronuntiatum quod ad statum Macedonia; pertinebat, senatores, quos synednts vocant, legendos esse, quorum consilio respub- lica administraretur." If the yepov(Tia run' 'lovSaiiov in 2 Mace, i, 10; iv, 44; xi, 27, designates the Sanhe- drim— as it probably does — this is the earliest historical trace of its existence. The Macedonian origin of the Sanhedrim is corroborated by the following reasons: {(i) The historical books of the Bilile are perfectly silent about the existence of such a tribunal, (b) The proph- ets, who again and again manifest such zeal for justice and righteous judgment, never mention this court of justice, but always refer the administration of the law to the ruling monarch and the magnates of the land, thus showing that this central administration belongs to the period of the secoiul "I'cmple. (c) The name avvicpiov, aitVfCpivHV, l)v which it has come down to us, points to the fact that this synod originated during the Macedonian supremacy in Palestine. It is true that Josephus does not mention the Saidiedrim before the conquest of .ludiea by Poinpey (]$.C. 63); l)ut the very fact that it had such power in tlie time of Hyrcainis II as to summon Herod to answer for his luijiist conduct (Josephus, Ant. xiv, 9,4) shows that it nmst then have been a very old institution to have ac(iuired such de- velopment and authority. Hence Krankcl rightly re- marks, "Upon more ininute examination, we find that the chronieler gives a pretty plain sketch of the (ireat Sanhedrim, as he mentions the existence in .lerusalem of a supreme court consisting of jiriests, Levites, and