violence which seems to have determined the final action of the Sanhedrin, 29 against
which not only such men as Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea, but even a Gamaliel,
would feel themselves powerless. But although the expression 'High-Priest' appears
sometimes to have been used in a general sense, as designating the sons of the High-
Priests, and even the principal members of their families,30 31 there could, of course, be
only one actual High-Priest. The conjunction of the two names of Annas and Caiaphas32
probably indicates that, although Annas was deprived of the Pontificate, he still continued
to preside over the Sanhedrin - a conclusion not only borne out by Acts iv. 6, where
Annas appears as the actual President, and by the terms in which Caiaphas is spoken of,
as merely 'one of them,'33 but by the part which Annas took in the final condemnation of
Jesus.34
20. The Procurators were Imperial financial officers, with absolute power of government
in smaller territories. The office was generally in the hands of the Roman knights, which
chiefly consisted of financial men, bankers, chief publicans, &c. The order of knighthood
had sunk to a low state, and the exa ctions of such a rule, especially in Judea, can better be
imagined than described. Comp. on the whole subject, Friedländer, Sittengesch. Rom,
vol. i. p. 268 &c.
21. Pes. 57 a.
22. Annas, either Chanan (Ννξ), or else Chana or Channa, a common name. Professor
Delitzsch has rightly shown that the Hebrew equivalent for Caiaphas is not Keypha
()πιψκ≅∋) = Peter, but Kayapha ()παφψ≅αφκα), or perhaps rather - according to the
reading Καιφας - )παφψ:θα , Kaipha, , or Kaiphah. The name occurs in the Mishnah as
Kayaph [so, and not Kuph, correctly] (Parah iii. 5). Professor Delitzsch does not venture
to explain its meaning. Would it be too bold to suggest a derivation from )πθ , and the
meaning to be: He who is 'at the top?'
23. Jos. Ant. xx. 8. 8.
24. Yoma 35 b.
25. Pes. u.s.
26. If we may take a statement in the Talmud, where the same word occurs, as a
commentary.
27. Tos. Set. xiv.
28. St. John vii. 50-52.
29. St. John xi. 47-50.
30. Jos.
Jewish War vi. 2. 2.
31. I do not, however, feel sure that the word 'high-priests' in this passage should be
closely pressed. It is just one of those instances in which it would suit Josephus to give
such a grandiose title to those who joined the Rom ns.
a
32. This only in St. Luke.
33. St. John xi. 49.
34. St. John xviii. 13.
Such a combination of political and religious distress, surely, constituted the time of
Israel's utmost need. As yet, no attempt had been made by the people to right themselves
by armed force. In these circumstances, the cry that the Kingdom of Heaven was near at
hand, and the call to preparation for it, must have awakened echoes throughout the land,
and startled the most careless and unbelieving. It was, according to St. Luke's exact
statement, in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Cæsar - reckoning, as provincials
would do,35 from his co-regency with Augustus (which commenced two years before his