Biblical Hebrew Forum

[Harold Holmyard <hholmyard AT ont.com>]

Dear Yonah,

> I'm always curious when I hear Christians disagree with the rulings ofthe 
> Sanhedrin and the Pharisees in general. It doesn't seem to be inagreement 
> with what their scriptures say. One verse that is key to howChristians should 
> understand the rabbis (in my opinion) is this:
> "The teachers of the law and the Pharisees sit in Moses' seat. So youmust obey 
> them and do everything they tell you. But do not do whatthey do, for they do not 
> practice what they preach." (Matthew 23:2-3,NIV)
> What is the seat of Moses? The 70 elders were appointed by Moses tohandle 
> questions of ritual and justice. The authority given to these70 passed down 
> to the Sanhedrin, and also to the rabbis (this accountsfor the variation in 
> appointments seen in Exodus 18:
> "But select capable men from all the people—men who fear God,trustworthy men who 
> hate dishonest gain—and appoint them as officialsover thousands, hundreds, fifties and 
> tens." (Exodus 18:21, NIV)
> Why down to tens? Because a congregation exists when you have tenpeople, a 
> minyan. Thus, there were to be those who make decisions andhave authority 
> only over their congregation (a rabbi), and also thosewho had authority to be 
> binding over the whole nation (the Sanhedrin).
> This is completely biblical. Why would you think that the Sanhedrindid not 
> exist (I'm not saying by name) since the time of Moses to thetime of the 
> Second Temple?
>  
HH: I guess you missed the post by Michael Abernathy. He wrote:

First, I note that the on line version of the Jewish encyclopedia ( 
http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=229&letter=S )
states, ". . . but the fact that no passage whatever in the pre-exilic 
books of the Bible refers to this institution seems to indicate that
it was not introduced before the time of the Second Temple." Is there 
any written or archaeological evidence for the existence
of the Sanhedrin in pre-exilic times?

HH: This is part of the problem. Moses appointed seventy elders to assist 
him, but this institution may have existed for the sake of Moses.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard