SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/18/2024 9:03 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
PT-3 “Intro to Matt. 26:57-68”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Matthew
26:57-68
Message of the verses: “57 Those who had
seized Jesus led Him away to Caiaphas, the high priest, where the scribes and
the elders were gathered together. 58 But Peter was following Him at a distance
as far as the courtyard of the high priest, and entered in, and sat down with
the officers to see the outcome. 59 Now the chief priests and the whole Council
kept trying to obtain false testimony against Jesus, so that they might put Him
to death. 60 They did not find any, even though many false witnesses
came forward. But later on two came forward, 61 and said, "This man
stated, ‘I am able to destroy the temple of God and to rebuild it in three
days.’" 62 The high priest stood up and said to Him, "Do You not
answer? What is it that these men are testifying against You?" 63 But
Jesus kept silent. And the high priest said to Him, "I adjure You by the
living God, that You tell us whether You are the Christ, the Son of God."
64 Jesus said to him, "You have said it yourself; nevertheless I
tell you, hereafter you will see THE SON OF MAN SITTING AT THE RIGHT HAND OF
POWER, and COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF HEAVEN." 65 Then the high priest tore
his robes and said, "He has blasphemed! What further need do we have of
witnesses? Behold, you have now heard the blasphemy; 66 what do you
think?" They answered, "He deserves death!" 67 Then they spat in
His face and beat Him with their fists; and others slapped Him, 68 and said,
"Prophesy to us, You Christ; who is the one who hit You?’”
The more times that I read over these verses the sadder I
get. I know that in order for me to
become a child of God that Christ had to die in my place, but nonetheless it is
sad to see what Christ had to go through in order to save me. I now want to continue to look at more
commentary from MacArthur’s commentary as we continue looking at the Jewish
laws, which as we will see that the Jews did not follow any of them in order to
crucify Christ, it was like mob rule with no laws followed.
“Rabbinical law required that a sentence of death could
not be carried out until the third day after it was rendered and that during the
intervening day the members of the court were to fast. That provision had the effect of preventing a
trial during a feast, when fasting was prohibited. The delay of execution also provided
additional time for evidence or testimony to be discovered in the defendant’s
behalf.
“Simon Greenleaf was a famous professor of law at Harvard
University in the last (19th) century. In his book The Testimony of Evangelists ([Jersey City, JM: Frederick P. Linn,
1881], pp. 581-84) a section written by lawyer Joseph Salvador gives
fascinating and significant information about proper Sanhedrin trial
procedure. Because a defendant was
protected against self-incrimination, his confession, no matter how convincing,
was not sufficient in itself for conviction.
“On the day of the trial, according to Salvador, the
court officers would require all evidence against the accused person to read in
the full hearing of open court. Each
witness against him would be required to affirm his testimony was true to the
best of his knowledge and was based on his own direct experience and not on
hearsay or presumption. Witnesses also
had to identify the precise month, day, hour, and location of the event about
which they testified. A council itself
could not initiate charges agains a person but could only consider charges
brought before it by an outside party.
“A woman was not allowed to testify because she was
considered to lack the courage to give the first blow if the accused were
convicted and sentenced to death.
Children cont not testify because of their immaturity, nor could a
slave, a person of bad character, or a person who was considered mentally
incompetent.
“There was always to be presumption of innocence, and
great latitude was given the accused in presenting his defense. In a local council, eleven votes out of the
total of twenty-three were required for acquittal, but thirteen were required
for conviction. If the accused was found
guilty, the sentence was not pronounced until two days later and, as mentioned
above, the council members were required to fast during the intervening
day. On the morning of the third day the
council was reconvened, and each judge, in turn, was asked if he changed his
decision. A vote for condemnation could
be changed to acquittal, but not the reverse.
“If a guilty verdict was reaffirmed, an officer with a
flag remained near the council while another officer, often mounted on
horseback, escorted the prisoner to the place of execution. A herald went before the slow-moving
procession declaring in a loud voice, ‘This man [stating his name] is led to
punishment for such a crime; the witnesses who have sworn against him are such
and such persons; if any one has evidence to give in his favor, let him come
forth quickly.’ If, at any time before
the sentence was carried out, additional information pertaining to innocence
came to light, including the prisoner’s recollection of something he had
forgotten, one officer would signal the other, and the prisoner would be
brought back to the council for reconsideration of the verdict. Before the place of execution was reached,
the condemned person was urged to confess his crime, if he had not already done
so and was given a stupefying drink to dull his senses and thereby make his
death less painful.”
I have to say that there is much more to this
introduction which is explaining what the laws were like in Israel at the time
when the mock, fake trial was going on which would end up in the crucifixion of
Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
6/18/2024 9:33 AM
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