I truly thank you, my dear friend, for this fine question. The Sanhedrin were a ruling body of seventy-one members with the High Priest as the chief officer. The number was probably patterned after the seventy elders of Israel that the Lord established under Moses as we read in Numbers 11:16, “And the LORD said unto Moses, 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.”  Although the word “Sanhedrin” is not found in the Bible, it is generally accepted that the council or elders of the people refers to the Sanhedrin.  For example, we read in Luke 22:66, “And as soon as it was day, the ELDERS OF THE PEOPLE and the chief priests and the scribes came together, and led him into their council, saying…”  (Read also Matthew 26:57-59).

From what I can gather from the Morrish Bible Dictionary and from reading in the Gospels and the book of Acts where we see the term used, I believe this to be a purely New Testament body, though according to the Bible dictionary cited above, it may have started at the time of the Maccabees. The term “Sanhedrin” itself is a Greek word meaning “a sitting together” or “council”, and I don’t believe there is a Hebrew term for this body. It appears to have consisted of the chief priest, the scribes, and the lawyers or prominent teachers of the day. It appears to me to be a general ruling council of the Jews, based in Jerusalem, and it handled matters of Jewish law, including dealing with those who introduced new teachings that might be in violation of established Jewish beliefs.

Among the lawyers of the day, New Testament Scriptures show that Pharisees were generally a part of this; and I do believe I see evidence that Sadducees could also participate (Acts 23:6). I am not certain who decided the membership. According to the Morrish Bible Dictionary, the Sanhedrin was: “…the highest court of the Jews, acting ‘in all causes, and over all persons, ecclesiastical and civil.’ Its decisions were binding on Jews everywhere. Its powers were curtailed by Herod and afterwards by the Romans, who prevented the Jews from putting any one to death legally.”

Well, my dear friend, this is about all I can tell you about the ruling council of the Jews. One other thought that I have is that we do not read of any type of a ruling council like this in the end times, neither in Revelation nor in the Old Testament prophesies relating to the end times.  I hope this has been helpful for you and do please ask if you need further clarification on this or other matters of the Scriptures.  (SF)  (572.6)