he law?" Afterward he
apologized, saying that he knew not that it was the high priest who had
given the command that he be smitten. See _Articles of Faith_, xxiii,
II, and Note 1 following the same lecture; and Farrar's _Life and Works
of St. Paul_, pp. 539-540.
3. High Priests and Elders.--These titles as held by officials of the
Jewish hierarchy in the time of Christ must not be confused with the
same designations as applied to holders of the Higher or Melchizedek
Priesthood. The high priest of the Jews was the presiding priest; he had
to be of Aaronic descent to be a priest at all; he became high priest by
Roman appointment. The elders, as the name indicates, were men of mature
years and experience, who were appointed to act as magistrates in the
towns, and as judges in the ecclesiastical tribunals, either in the
Lesser Sanhedrins of the provinces, or in the Great Sanhedrin at
Jerusalem. The term "elder" as commonly used among the Jews in the days
of Jesus had no closer relation to eldership in the Melchizedek
Priesthood than had the title "scribe". The duties of Jewish high
priests and elders combined both ecclesiastical and secular functions;
indeed both offices had come to be in large measure political
perquisites. See "Elder" in Smith's _Bible Dictionary_. From the
departure of Moses to the coming of Christ, the organized theocracy of
Israel was that of the Lesser or Aaronic Priesthood, comprizing the
office of priest, which was confined to the lineage of Aaron, and the
lesser offices of teacher and deacon, which were combined in the
Levitical order. See "Orders and Offices in the Priesthood" by the
author in _The Articles of Faith_, xi:13-24.
4. Illegalities of the Jewish Trial of Jesus.--Many volumes have been
written on the so-called trial of Jesus. Only a brief summary of the
principal items of fact and law can be incorporated here. For further
consideration reference may be made to the following treatments:
Edersheim, _Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah_; Andrews, _Life of Our
Lord_; Dupin, _Jesus before Caiaphas and Pilate_; Mendelsohn, _Criminal
Jurisprudence of the Ancient Hebrews_; Salvador, _Institutions of
Moses_; Innes, _The Trial of Jesus Christ_; Maimonides, _Sanhedrin_; MM.
Lemann, _Jesus before the Sanhedrin_; Benny, _Criminal Code of the
Jews_; and Walter M. Chandler, of the New York Bar, _The Trial of Jesus
from a Lawyer's Standpoint_. The last named is a two volume work
treating respective
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