11.wCul solemnity ndjured him to sny whether pigeons were sold for the sncrificcs of' all ho wns the Christ, the Son of God. So ad- Israel. Derenbourg conjectures that these jurecl,_Jesus answered definitely in the affinn- booths on the Mount of Olives were part of ntivo. Then Cainpbas rent bis robe, and the famous Booths of the Sons of Hanan nppcaled to the assembly, who answered the (Annas), to which the Sanhedrin retired oppeal by a unanimous cry," He is guilty of when it left the chamber Gazith. de11tl1." After this hearing before C11iaphas Ver. 67.-Art thou the Christt tell ng, and II committee of the Sanhedrin, the con- And he said unto them, Il I tell yon, ye will demned One was conducted before the full not believe. In his answer Jesus evidently assembly of the Sanhedrin. While being refers to something-which had preceded this led across the court, be hoard Peter's third interrogation on the part of tlie Sanhedrin. denial. It was during the interval which He referred, no doubt, to that night exami- elapsed before the great council assembled, nation before Caiaphas and certain chosen that the mocking related in these verses (63- members of the council-the meeting passed 65) took pince. over by St. Luke, but recounted by S::-. Ver. 64.-And when thoy had blindfolded Matthew and Mark. In this earlier trial, hi:n, they struck him on the face, and asked which we (see above) term the second, a him, Hying, Prophesy, who is it that smote similar question had been put to Jesus, but, thea1 The Jews, in this terrible scene (see, as Lange and Stier point out, now the politi- too, for further details of the outrages, Matt. cal significance of the charge, the claim to :u:vi 67; Mark xiv. 65), were unconsciously l\Iessianic royalty, is brought into promi- working out a literal :l'alfilment of Isaiah's nence. They were desiroas to formulate an pictu1·e of the righteous Sufferer (Isa. L 6 ; accusation which they could bring before liii. 3-7). the Roman tribunal of Pilate. The words, Vere. 66-71.-The third trial before the "Son of God," which the fury of jealous SanhedTin. anger had wrung from Caiapbas (Matt. xxvi Ver. 66.-And as soon as it was day; The 63), is here left out of sight, aml is only Sanhedrin as a council could only meet by brought forward 11gain by the fierce Jewish day; all the preliminaries had been settled wrath excited by the Lord's quiet words and the course of procedure fully arranged telling of his "session at the right hand" when the legal time for the meeting of the (vers. 69, 70). If I tell you, ye will riot be- state council arrived. The eldel'II of the lieve. If you, who have seen my life, have people and the chief priests and the scribes heard my words, and seen my works, believe came together, and led him into their coun- not, to what end is it to say it again now? cil. These were the three constitutional Ver. 68.-And if I also ask you, ye will pa.rte of the Sanhedrin, The name of the not answer me. The Lord here especially famous Sanbedi-in, curiously enough, is a refers to those pnblic questions of his put to Greek, not a Hebrew or .Aramaic word, being members of the Sanhedrin and others in derived from 1Tvveop1ov, an nssembly. We the Inst days of his public ministry, such as first come on the word, says Dr. Farrar, we find in Matt. xxii. 45, to which the rulers when this state council summoned before had attempted to give no answer. them Hyroanus II., son of Alexander Jan- Ver. 69.-B:ereafter shall the Son of man nams. In the time of our Lord, the Roman sit on the right hand of the power of God. government had taken from them the power Jesus decided to put an end to this weary of carrying out capital sentences; hence their and useless trio.I, and supplied his judg~ bringing Jesus before Pilate. There is a with the evidence they were seeking to ex- rema!'kable tradition tbat the council left tort from him. "rhe Mnster's words would their proper place of assembly, Gazith, and recall to the tenchers of Israel, sitting as bis Eat in nnother chamber ( forty years before judges, the words of their loved prophet the destruction of the temple). Now, it w11s D11niel (vii. 13, 14). These solemn words fol'bidden to condemn to death except in of his were, and they perfectly understood Gazith (see' Avoda. Zara,' pp. 61, etc.). Dr. them as such, a claim 011 the part of the Westcott quotes from Derenbourg (' Essai Prisoner who stood before them-a direct sur l'Histoire et la Geograpbie de Palestine'), claim to Divine glory. who suggests t.he probability of the night Ver. 70.-Then said ijiey all, Art thou sitting of Annas and Caiaphas and the mem- then the Son of God l Now bringing forward bers of the Sanhedrin favourable to their the loftier title formerly suppressed (in ver. policy (the second trial) being held at " the 67). " And aTt thou, then, dost thou, poor Booths of the Sons of Hanan" (Annos). Man, vain in thy imagining, dost thou assert These booths, or shops, wero undel' two thyself to be the Sou of God?" So Stier. cedars on the Mount of Olives (JeruS11lem And he said unto them, Yo say that I am. Talmud, 'Taanith,' iv. 8). There wore This form of reply is not used in Greek, but four of these booths, wbich were for the ea.le is frequent in rabbinic. By such an M• of objects legal!,y pure. In one of these swer the one i11tenogated acc..,pts as hi11 own THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO ST. LUKE. [on. xxn. 1-il.
a_(lirmafion t.he question put to him in its miu his meaning, i.e. the nssm·tion of hie entir<'ty. w·e h1n-e, then, here, in the clearest Divinity. (3) We hnve the Lord's quiot possible le.nguage: (I) A plain assertion by e.nswer," Yes, that was his mennino-." The our Lord of his Divinity. (2) The reply of next v~rse (71) sh?ws that they w~ro s11tis- the Sanhedrists, showins; that th13y for thoir ficd with the evidence which thev pro- pnrt distint>tly understood it as such, hut to ceeded without delay to lay before iha make it quite olee.r they asked him if tbnt Roman governor, Pilate, •