The Illegality of the Trial of Jesus (Classic Reprint)

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Excerpt from The Illegality of the Trial of JesusIn order, however, to a proper understanding of the con stitution, membership and action of the Jewish Sanhedrin in the great trial before it which is presently to come under te view, it is essential that we should have in our minds a very clear and definite picture of the Sadducees, their position, their principles, and the personnel of the leading members of their party in Jerusalem when the trial came on. The Sadducees, you will remember, claimed to be the descendants or succes sors of Zadoc, the head of a priestly house of the time of David. During the centuries after Ezra their party rose into power and in¿uence in Jewish affairs, chie¿y through their adoption of the principle and policy that the political prestige of the Jewish state was to be maintained and increased, and possibly its independence attained among nations, through diplomacy and statecraft rather than through re'bellion, or the separation of Church and State. Thus it was that during the latter centuries of Judean history, when it was successively subject to the overlordship of the Syrians, the Macedonians, the Egyptians and the Romans, the Sadducees were usually held in esteem by the foreign rulers, and were given the places of dignity and power of Judean affairs. This was especially true with respect to the highest'an'd most sacred office which a Jew, could hold in Palestine, the office of High Priest. For a thousand years before the Romans under Pompey extended their dominion over Judea, the office of High Priest had been hereditary and held for life. But when Rome had become overlord, and Augustus had appointed Herod, the Edomite, to be King of Judea, the latter assumed the right to make and unmake High Priests at will, and his successors claimed and exercised a similar right and power, and since the Sad ducees had diplomatically maintained an attitude of friend ship to their successive rulers, while that of the Pharisees had been strained, if not hostile, it was natural that Herod and his successors should have chosen their appointees to this sacred office from the Sadducean party.About the PublisherForgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.comThis book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully, any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.