=The Sanhedrin.=—­To a certain extent even after the Roman conquest the Jews were permitted to govern themselves.  There was in Jerusalem a council, or court, of leading priests and rabbis, called the Sanhedrin.  There were in it seventy-one members.  When any member died the others elected some one to fill the vacancy.  All Jews everywhere were supposed to be under the authority of the Sanhedrin.  But except in purely religious matters it had little power outside of Judaea.  In Judaea, however, this court, or council, decided all questions except those which the Roman procurator reserved for himself.  They were not allowed to condemn a criminal to death.  So when the Sanhedrin voted to put Jesus out of the way it was necessary to take him before Pilate the Roman procurator and persuade Pilate to ratify the sentence of death.  How galling it was to a proud nation like the Jews to be obliged to go to a hated enemy for permission to carry out their decrees we can well imagine; and we shall learn more of it in the next chapter.

STUDY TOPICS

1.  Look up in the Bible dictionary, Maccabees and Herod.

2.  Read Hebrews 11. 32-40.  Verses 33-38 are probably in large part a description of the heroic martyrs before the Maccabees.

3.  Was the Maccabean rule a failure because it did not last?

4.  How did these rulers contribute to the great ends which Jews had always dreamed of.

CHAPTER XXX

THE DISCONTENT OF THE JEWS UNDER ROMAN RULE

In spite of the fact that the Jews still had some power of self-government through the Sanhedrin, the great mass of the people hated the Romans with an almost inconceivable fury.  The world had never before seen such cruel rulers.  The Assyrians had been bad, but the Romans were worse.  Think of that form of punishment which they inflicted carelessly every day even for minor crimes—­crucifixion!  The poor victim was nailed by the hands and feet to a pole and left to hang in agony till death mercifully ended it all.  Think of the gladiatorial combats in the city of Rome and in other Roman cities, where every day for centuries slaves or condemned criminals fought each other with swords to the death, or fought with wild beasts while the gloating multitudes looked on in rapture.

Moreover, not only were the Romans very cruel, they had no manners.  They were haughty in their bearing and took pains to let conquered people know how thoroughly they were despised.

=Roman cruelty in Palestine.=—­All these qualities were manifested almost at their worst by the Roman rulers in Judaea and Galilee.  Jesus speaks of certain Galilaeans, “whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifices.”  We know nothing of this incident except what Jesus tells.  Evidently, these Galilaeans had come as pilgrims to Jerusalem at the time of one of the annual feasts.  Possibly they did not salute with sufficient respect the Roman eagles as they passed some squad of Roman soldiers in the street.  At any rate, they were taken before Pilate and ruthlessly condemned to the slaughter.