Before we move on in Matt 23, let’s go over what we know so far. Herod comes to power, rather ruthlessly, and he will involve the Romans in a civil war between Hyrcannus and Aristobulus in 63 B.C. Pompey comes, and he is the Pompey that will be in a triumvirate with Crassus and Julius Caesar that rules over the Roman Empire in a couple of years. Crassus was involved in putting down a slave rebellion led by Spartacus a few years earlier (71 B.C.). Pompey comes to Jerusalem and enters the Holy of Holies, Herod is installed as king, now Rome is there to stay. Hezekiah Ben Gurion leads a rebellion against Herod and Rome. They are called Zealots, and they don’t like the Romans coming in and they don’t like Herod.
After a battle with the Romans, Hezekiah and the Zealots flee to the caves located at the Arbel, west of the Sea of Galilee. To get at the Zealots hiding in the caves, Roman soldiers were let down the side of the mountains and grappling hooks were thrown into the caves, and the Zealot fighters were pulled out and killed. Hezekiah Ben Gurion will be killed later by Herod. The son of Hezekiah is Yehudah Ben Hezekiah Ben Gurion. He is also known as Judas the Galilean (Acts 5.37) who formally started the Zealot Party in 6 A.D. However, the Zealots were in position well before that because of his father, Hezekiah.
In 30 B.C. we have Hillel the Elder becoming the Nasi of the Sanhedrin. He has his own group of talmidim, called Beit Hillel (House of Hillel). The Av Beit Din of the Sanhedrin (Vice President) is Menachem the Essene. In 20 B.C. Menachem resigns his position and goes into the wilderness. He takes with him 80 of his own talmidim and 80 talmidim from Beit Hillel. The wilderness he went to was in Syria. As a result, in 20 B.C. Shammai becomes the new Av Beit Din under Hillel.
The 18 Edicts of Beit Shammai were passed at that time during a meeting in the upper chamber of Hananiah Ben Hezekiah Ben Gurion, the son of Hezekiah and the brother of Yehudah (Judas the Galilean). These edicts restricted any intercourse between Jews and non-Jews. These edicts will have an impact on the Gospels and Epistles, especially in Acts 15 and the Book of Galatians. Members of Beit Hillel were killed before the vote on the 18 Edicts was taken. Beit Hillel opposed the 18 Edicts, but Beit Shammai, the Sadducees and the Zealots favored them. The members of Beit Hillel who were murdered are called “prophets” in the Talmud. This is what prompted the departure of Menachem, opening the way for Shammai to be Av Beit Din. In other words, he and his followers “seated themselves in the chair of Moses” (another name for the Sanhedrin-Deut 17.8-13).
Now, as a side note, there are some who say and teach today that these verses in Deut 17.8-13 obligate believers in Yeshua to follow the rulings of the Sanhedrin, but here is the problem. Who says that the Rabbis and Sages on the Sanhedrin at the time of Yeshua, or after, are the “priests and judges” referred to in Deut 17.9? When Deut 17 was written, there was a hierarchy, with the person at the top getting answers directly from God through a prophet who was serving at that time, or the Urim and Thummim of the High Priest. In the case of a priest or judge, they may come across a difficult case to decide. If they did not know what to do, they could consult Moses, and later a prophet, or the Urim and Thummim of the High Priest. That’s why a person who acted presumptuously and did not listen to the priest who stands there to serve the Lord God, nor to the judge, could be put to death.
This was not the system the Rabbis and Sages invented later. The word Sanhedrin is Greek meaning “sitting together.” They exercised authority from about 200 B.C. until it was dissolved by Roman pressure. There is no mention of this body in the Tanak. The first uncontested reference to it can be found in Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, Book 12, Chapter 3.3. There are stories in the Talmud that say if the Sanhedrin said one thing, but the Lord said another thing, they were to listen to the Sanhedrin (Babylonian Talmud, Bava Metzia 59b). The original court (not a Sanhedrin, but the Rabbis will say it was. If so, it wss temporary) was headed by Moses (Avot 1.1-2) and then this authority was passed down through the Men of the Great Assembly (Hertz Authorized Daily Prayer Book, p.610-614). The Great Assembly (Synagogue) was comprised of prophets, scribes and sages. The Torah was passed down from Moses to Joshua, Joshua to the Elders, the Elders to the Prophets and then the Prophets to the Men of the Great Assembly. This assembly included Ezra, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, Daniel, Hananiah, Azariah, Mishaael (also known as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego), Nehemiah, Mordechai, Zerubbabel, Shealtiel and many more. That’s a “full house” if there ever was one! They ruled between 410 and 310 B.C. They laid the foundation for the liturgy, edited several books of Scripture and all but fixed the canonical books of the Tanak. In total, there were 120 men, serving at different times.
As we have seen, the Sanhedrin was corrupted later, and certainly by 20 B.C. the Sanhedrin had an Av Beit Din who was not of the caliber of the men just listed. To use Deut 17.8-13 to justify following the rulings of the Rabbis of the Sanhedrin now is a stretch.
On the other hand, that is not to say there are not many good things we can learn from some of their rulings, especially the closer you get to the time before Malachi, but the Men of the Great Assembly were not a Sanhedrin. From a non-Jewish perspective, it sounds like Moses received the Torah from God and he taught Joshua, and so on down the line. But, that is not how it is understood by the Rabbis. They say Moses received the Torah on Sinai, and he was the head of a Sanhedrin as we know it. He transmitted this to Joshua, and he became the head of the Sanhedrin. The passage in Avot 1.1 is interpreted as who had the leadership of the Sanhedrin court, but we dont believe that view is correct.
Avot 1.1 says, “Moses received the Torah on Sinai, and handed it down to Joshua. Joshua to the elders (the Judges time period); the elders to the prophets (First Temple period); and the prophets handed it down to the Men of the Great Assembly (The early days of the return from the Babylonian Captivity period. This went about 200 years to Simon the Just, the last member of the Great Assembly, in Avot 1.2). Avot 1.2-18 then gives a rundown of who “received the tradition” after the Men of the Great Assembly. Joshua 1.1-8 says that the same Torah that was given to Moses was given to Joshua. He was not to deviate from it. This was also the charge to the court, “do not deviate from the Torah.” As we all know, the Sanhedrin did deviate from the Torah on many issues. In 20 B.C. we have something that happened that caused Menachem the Essene, the Av Beit Din of the Sanhedrin, and 80 of his talmidim and 80 talmidim from Beit Hillel to leave.
In Jerusalem before 40 A.D. there was a gate in the south wall called the “Essene Gate.” They also had a section of Jerusalem called the Essene quarter. This tells us the Essenes had a major influence, at least since they rose up after the Maccabean revolt. They disagreed with the Hasmonean attempt to rule as kings and priests. This is about the same time the Pharisees rise up, so originally they thought the Pharisees were part of the Essenes. There were few differences between the two, but the Pharisees were a separate party.
By the estimates, there were three main parties in the First Century. These parties were the Essenes, the Pharisees and the Sadducees. There were approximately five thousand Pharisees and four thousand Essenes at one time. The Essenes lived in Jerusalem, Qumran and other cities. By the time we get to the time of Yeshua, there is little visible evidence of the Essenes. They have departed, and that started in 20 B.C.
The Jewish Encyclopedia on the Zealots say they were “zealous” defenders of the Torah and the people. They resisted any attempt to bring Israel under any idolatrous nation, and at the time that was Rome. This dates back from the time of Herod to the fall of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. Members of this party were also called the Sicarii, from their custom of going about with daggers called “Sicae” under their coats. They would stab anyone committing a sacrilegious act or promoting an anti-Jewish feeling.
Some believe they were founded by Judas the Galilean. Remember, he was the son of Hezekiah Ben Gurion and he is mentioned in Acts 5.37. They were considered a fourth Jewish sect of the First Century “Judaisms” of the time. Gamaliel, the grandson of Hillel, mentions him when giving some examples of other failed messianic movements. It is believed, however, that the father of Judas, Hezekiah, had organized a band of so called “robbers” who made war against the Idumean Herod. The practice of assassinations existed before their formal start in 6 A.D. The anti-Roman spirit of the Zealots was also seen in Beit Shammai, whose members did not shy away from confrontation and the sword in matters of the Torah when measures were taken against the non-Jews (Talmud, Shabbat 17a). The Zealots enter into an alliance with Beit Shammai during the time of Herod.
In part 7, we will pick up here and begin to talk about the concept of the “Zugot” meaning “the pairs.” The period of the Zugot (“pairs”) began with Simon the Just in Avot 1.2. We will begin there and talk about the Zugot, which will lead us down to the time of Hillel and Shammai, the last of the Zugot. From there we will bring out more foundational concepts about the Sanhedrin, Beit Hillel and Beit Shammai, before moving on with Matt 23.
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