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,

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(66-71) And as soon as it was day.—See Notes on Matthew 27:11-14; Mark 15:2-5. The special mention of the hour, though agreeing with what is implied in the other Gospels, is peculiar to St. Luke.

The elders of the people.—Literally, the presbytery of the people. St. Luke uses here, and in Acts 22:5, the collective singular noun, instead of the masculine plural. St. Paul uses it of the assembly of the elders of the Church, in 1Timothy 4:14.

Benson Commentary

Luke 22:66-71. And as soon as it was day, the elders of the people, and the chief-priests, &c., came together — When the band of soldiers arrived at the high-priest’s with Jesus, they found many of the chief-priests, and the scribes, and the elders assembled there. (Mark 14:53.) Some persons of distinction, however, may have been absent, whose coming the rest would wait for. Wherefore, although the soldiers brought Jesus to the high- priest’s a while after midnight, his trial did not begin till about three in the morning: the intermediate time being spent in procuring witnesses, in sending for the absent members, in gathering the clerks and officers of the court, and in fitting up an apartment for the trial. For, that Jesus was tried by the council, not in the temple, as many suppose, but in the high-priest’s palace, is evident from John 18:28, where we are expressly told, that they led Jesus from Caiaphas’s house to the pretorium. Saying, Art thou the Christ? tell us — Dost thou give up the pretensions thou hast formerly made, or dost thou maintain them? If thou art indeed the Messiah, tell us plainly, and it will bring matters to a short issue. It seems, these wretches hoped to gain a great advantage against Jesus either way; if he confessed it, they would condemn him on that confession; and if he denied it, they would expose him on that denial, as afraid to maintain the pretensions he had made. And he said, If I tell you — That I am the Christ, and give you the most convincing proofs of it, you are resolved that you will not believe. And if I ask you — What you have to object against the proofs I produce; you will not answer me — Here he seems to refer to their silence, when he put a question to them which would have led them to his own authority, Luke 20:5-7. Nor let me go — If I be not the Christ, you ought to answer the arguments by which I prove that I am; if I be, you ought to let me go; but you will do neither: you will only overbear me with renewed violence. Hereafter shall the Son of man sit, &c. — The day will come, when ye shall see the Son of man, who now stands in this despised and lowly form at your tribunal, exalted to all the dignity and glory which that high title imports; sitting on the right hand of the power of God — And coming with irresistible strength to take vengeance on the proudest of his enemies. See on Matthew 26:59-64; and Mark 14:53-65. Then said they all, Art thou then the Son of God? — A number of them cried out together, feigning great astonishment at the blasphemy, as they were pleased to call it, of his answer, and desiring him to repeat it, lest they might have mistaken him, asked, Art thou then the Son of God? — Both these, the Son of God, and the Son of man, were known titles of the Messiah, the one taken from his divine, and the other from his human, nature. And he said unto them, Ye say that I am — This, according to the Jewish manner of speaking, was a plain and strong affirmation of the thing expressed. When the high-priest heard our Lord’s second reply, he solemnly rent his clothes, crying out, that he had spoken blasphemy; and, appealing to the council, he said, What need we any further witness? (Luke 22:71.) And they said, What need we, &c. — The council replied, As you have justly observed, what need have we of witnesses now, seeing we ourselves have heard in what manner he hath blasphemed? And being asked what punishment he deserved, they answered, that he deserved death. Matthew 26:26; Matthew 26:66.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

22:63-71 Those that condemned Jesus for a blasphemer, were the vilest blasphemers. He referred them to his second coming, for the full proof of his being the Christ, to their confusion, since they would not admit the proof of it to their conviction. He owns himself to be the Son of God, though he knew he should suffer for it. Upon this they ground his condemnation. Their eyes being blinded, they rush on. Let us meditate on this amazing transaction, and consider Him who endured such contradiction of sinners against himself.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

See the notes at Matthew 26:57-68.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

Lu 22:63-71. Jesus Condemned to Die and Shamefully Entreated.

(See on [1730]Mr 14:53-63; [1731]Joh 18:19, &c.; and [1732]Lu 22:55-62.)

Matthew Poole's Commentary

Ver. 66-71. Our blessed Lord before his death passed two trials or examinations. The one before the Jewish sanhedrim, whose proper province it was to try such as were accused as false prophets, or blasphemers. This was a kind of ecclesiastical court. The high priest was the chief judge in it, and we are told that they used to sit in his palace. The other was before Pilate, the Roman governor of Judea at that time; he principally took cognizance of criminal things, such especially as concerned the peace of the country, considered as a part of the Roman empire. These verses give an account only of the former. Blasphemy was the crime they charged upon him. We cannot from any one evangelist have a full account of either of them.

See Poole on "Matthew 26:57" and following verses to Matthew 26:68, when have fully considered what all the evangelists say.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And as soon as it was day,.... See Gill on Matthew 27:1.

The elders of the people; or "the presbytery of the people", that were chosen from among the people to sit in the sanhedrim; the Israelites, as distinct from priests and Levites, and the doctors:

and the chief priests and the Scribes came together; which made up the great sanhedrim, or council of the nation:

and led him into their council; or sanhedrim, the place where the sanhedrim sat, which was in the temple, and in the chamber called , "the paved stone chamber" (n); here they usually met, and so the Persic version renders it, "where their congregation was daily there".

(n) Misna Saobedrin, c. 10. sect. 2. & Middot, c. 5. sect. 3.

Geneva Study Bible

{21} 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,

(21) Christ is wrongly condemned of blasphemy before the high priest's judgment seat in order that we might be acquitted before God from the blasphemy which we deserved.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Meyer's NT Commentary

Luke 22:66-67. According to Luke, the Sanhedrim now first comes together after daybreak, and Jesus is led in for trial. Where it assembled Luke does not say, and there is nothing therefore opposed to our finding in this place the leading away from the court of Annas (see on Luke 22:54) into the house of Caiaphas (John 18:24). The trial itself, as to its matter, is plainly the same which Matthew—although immediately after the bringing in of Jesus—makes to be held in the house of Caiaphas. See Matthew 26:59 ff. Luke relates the matter and proceedings in a merely summary and imperfect manner.

τὸ πρεσβυτέριον κ.τ.λ.] the elders of the people, (the) chief priests, and scribes. These are the three constituent elements of the Sanhedrim. Comp. Luke 9:22, Luke 20:1. On πρεσβυτέριον, denoting the elders as a corporation, comp. Acts 22:5. By the non-repetition of the article the three parts are bound into a unity, in respect of which the difference of the gender and number is no difficulty (comp. Plato, Pol. vi. p. 501 D: τοῦ ὄντος τε καὶ ἀληθείας ἐραστάς; Soph. Oed. C. 850: πατρίδα τε τὴν σὴν καὶ φίλους), especially in respect of the collective nature of πρεσβυτέριον. See in general, Krüger, § 58. 2. 1; Winer, p. 115 f. [E. T. 157 f.].

ἀνήγαγον] The subject is the assembled members of the Sanhedrim who had caused Him to be brought up. ἀνα indicates a locality situated higher, as contrasted with the court of Annas, in which locality the Sanhedrim were met.

εἰς τὸ συνέδρ. ἑαυτῶν] into their own concessus, into their own council gathering, in order now themselves to proceed further with Him. Comp. the use of συνέδριον of the Amphictyonic council, also of the Roman and the Carthaginian Senate (Polyb. xl. 6. 6, i. 11. 1, 31. 8).

Luke 22:67. εἰ σὺ κ.τ.λ.] may mean: If thou art the Messiah, tell us (Vulgate, Luther, and most commentators), or: Tell us whether thou art the Messiah (Castalio, Bornemann, Ewald, and others), or: Is it the case that thou art the Messiah? Tell us (Erasmus). The first is the simplest, and corresponds to the purpose of framing the question so as to elicit an affirmative answer.

Expositor's Greek Testament

Luke 22:66-71. Morning trial, the proceedings of which, as reported by Lk., correspond to those of the night meeting reported by Mt. and Mk. (Matthew 26:59-66, Mark 14:55-64), only much abridged. No mention of the attempt to get, through witnesses, matter for an accusation, or of the testimony concerning the word about destroying the temple. The Messiah question is alone noticed. Perhaps Lk. omitted the former because of their futility, though they were important as revealing the animus of the judges.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

66-71. The third Jewish Trial.

66. as soon as it was day] The Oral Law decided that the Sanhedrin could only meet by daylight.

elders of the people] Literally, “the presbytery of the people,” as in Acts 22:5.

elders...chief priests...scribes] See Mark 15:1. The three constituent parts of the Sanhedrin, 1Ma 14:28. The Sanhedrin was the successor of the Great Synagogue, which ended with Simon the Just. Where they met is uncertain. It was either in the Paved Hall, or ‘Hall of Squares’ (Lisehath haggazzith); or in the Beth Midrash (Temple Synagogue), a chamber which abutted on the “middle wall of partition” (Chet), or in the Chanujoth ‘shops’ or ‘booths’ founded by the house of Hanan to sell doves, &c. for the temple.

their council] Synedrion, from which the word Sanhedrin (mistakenly spelt Sanhedrim) is derived. The word is first found on the occasion when they summoned before them Hyrcanus II., son of Alexander Jannaeus. It gloried in being a mild tribunal, but was now an extremely degenerate body, and unworthy of its earlier traditions (Jos. Antt. xiii. 10, § 6; B. J. ii. 8, § 14). The Jewish authorities had lost the power of inflicting death; they could only pass sentence of excommunication, and hand over to the secular arm.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 66-71. - The third trial before the Sanhedrin. Verse 66. - And as soon as it was day. The Sanhedrin as a council could only meet by day; all the preliminaries had been settled and the course of procedure fully arranged when the legal time for the meeting of the state council arrived. The elders of the people and the chief priests and the scribes earns together, and led him into their council. These were the three constitutional parts of the Sanhedrin. The name of the famous Sanhedrin, curiously enough, is a Greek, not a Hebrew or Aramaic word, being derived from συνέδριον, an assembly. We first come on the word, says Dr. Farrar, when this state council summoned before them Hyrcanus II., son of Alexander Jannaeus. In the time of our Lord, the Roman government had taken from them the power of carrying out capital sentences; hence their bringing Jesus before Pilate. There is a remarkable tradition that the council left their proper place of assembly, Gazith, and sat in another chamber (forty years before the destruction of the temple). Now, it was forbidden to condemn to death except in Gazith (see 'Avoda Zara,' pp. 61, etc.). Dr. Westcott quotes from Derenbourg ('Essai sur l'Histoire et la Geographie de Palestine'), who suggests the probability of the night sitting of Anrias and Caiaphas and the members of the Sanhedrin favorable to their policy (the second trial) being held at "the Booths of the Sons of Hanan" (Annas), These booths, or shops, were under two cedars on the Mount of Olives (Jerusalem Talmud, 'Taanith,' 4:8). There were four of these booths, which were for the sale of objects legally pure. In one of these pigeons were sold for the sacrifices of all Israel. Derenbourg conjectures that these booths on the Mount of Olives were part of the famous Booths of the Sons of Hanan (Annas), to which the Sanhedrin retired when it left the chamber Gazith. Luke 22:66

Vincent's Word Studies

The elders (πρεσβυτέριον)

More correctly, the assembly of the elders. So Rev.