No. XLIV.
SANHEDRIN CONTINUED.
The Sanhedrin is, as we said in our last number, the foundation-stone
on which the authority of the rabbies, and the whole
fabric of tradition rests. Take away this, and not the shadow
of an argument remains to justify the Jews in their rejection
of the Mosaic religion, and their demolition of the Mosaic
constitution. But this we have done. Enough has already
been said to make it probable that the Sanhedrin, with its
Greek name, was invented and established by the idolatrous
Greeks; and to make it certain that it is subversive of the
Supreme Council established by Moses, and that, for that
reason, it was not one of his institutions. We have already
disposed of one of the passages which the rabbies quote from
the Pentateuch, to prove the Divine authority of the Sanhedrin;
but, as they have, with much difficulty, found two, we
now proceed to consider the second. It is quoted in the
following manner:—
(
Hebrew characters)
"How many councils (or tribunals) ought to be established in Israel, and of how many members ought they to consist? Ans. The Great Council in the temple called the Great Sanhedrin, ought to be established first, and the number of its members ought to be seventy-one; for it is said, 'Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel;' and to them Moses is to be added, and as it is said, 'And they shall stand there with thee.' (Numb. xi. 16.) This makes seventy-one." (Hilchoth Sanhedrin, c. i. 2.) Here the rabbies have certainly found the number seventy-one; but to prove that this was the Sanhedrin, they ought first, to show, that these seventy-one persons were not to be scattered through the tribes, but always to remain together as one council; and, secondly, that this council was to be permanent; and, thirdly, that this council did really exist from the time of Moses to the destruction of Jerusalem; and, fourthly, and most important of all, that this was the Supreme Council; for even if the other three points could be made out, they would be insufficient without this. The Sanhedrin claims to be the Supreme Council, and, therefore, if it cannot be shown, that the assembly of the seventy elders is
