Sanhedrin – Another name for the Hasmonean court in Judea.
This word never appears in Scripture.
The references to the Sanhedrin are from the corrupt Jewish Apocrypha, which is not Scripture.
Here are the facts …
The Sanhedrin began governing Judea during the Maccabean age; between Israel’s Masoretic Text Old Testament book of Malachi and Israel’s Koine Greek Old Testament book of Matthew; during God’s 400 years of silence.
The exact nature of the original Sanhedrin is not clear. It may have been a body of sages or priests, or a political, legislative and judicial institution. But after the destruction of the Second Temple, the Sanhedrin was made up only of sages.
By the end of the Second Temple period, the Sanhedrin reached its pinnacle of importance, legislating all aspects of Jewish religious and political life within parameters laid down by Biblical and Rabbinic tradition.
The Sanhedrin as a body claimed powers that lesser Jewish courts did not have. As such, they were the only ones who could try the king, extend the boundaries of the Temple and Jerusalem, and were the ones to whom all questions of law were finally put.
The Talmud tractate identifies two classes of rabbinical courts called Sanhedrin, a Great Sanhedrin and a Lesser Sanhedrin. Each city could have its own lesser Sanhedrin of 23 judges, but there could be only one Great Sanhedrin of 71, which among other roles acted as the Supreme Court.
Being that the Sanhedrin came into existence during the Maccabean age, we know that they have never been the elders from Exodus 18, nor the 70-elders from Numbers 11.
In Exodus 18, “Moses chose able men out of all Israel, and made them heads over the people, rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens. And they judged the people at all seasons: the hard causes they brought unto Moses, but every small matter they judged themselves.”
Prior to Exodus 24 Moses dealt with all of the elders, which numbered in the hundreds. But beginning in Exodus 24:1, God stipulated that only 70-elders were to be involved; none of them were Levites, and none of them were mentioned by name. After God’s stipulation, the 70-elders were referred to as the judges. And they were never referred to as the Sanhedrin.
In Numbers 11, God told Moses to “Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them unto the tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand there with thee.” Notice that in addition to the 70-elders, there were also officers over them … And they were never referred to as the Sanhedrin.
In Israel’s Koine Greek Old Testament (Matthew thru John), it is supposed that ‘the council” is a reference to the Jew’s Sanhedrin. But Scripture is clear that ‘the council’ was held at the high priest’s palace, and is comprised of “the elders of the people and the chief priests and the scribes” (notice that chief priest and scribes are plural), and “the chief priests and the Pharisees”; there is no indication that Jesus was ever taken before the Jew’s official court system.
See also Apocrypha, Council, Jew, Septuagint