Sanhedrin, called "the great" was instituted by Moses. (3) As a matter of
fact, Moses chose seventy colleagues to assist him in governing, because he
was not able to bear alone the burden of the whole people; but he
never passed any law for forming a college of seventy members; on the
contrary he ordered every tribe to appoint for itself, in the cities which
God had given it, judges to settle disputes according to the laws which he
himself had laid down. (4) In cases where the opinions of the judges
differed as to the interpretation of these laws, Moses bade them take
counsel of the High Priest (who was the chief interpreter of the law), or of
the chief judge, to whom they were then subordinate (who had the right of
consulting the High Priest), and to decide the dispute in accordance with
the answer obtained. (5) If any subordinate judge should assert, that he was
not bound by the decision of the High Priest, received either directly or
through the chief of his state, such an one was to be put to death (Deut.
xvii:9) by the chief judge, whoever he might be, to whom he was a
subordinate. (6) This chief judge would either be Joshua, the supreme
captain of the whole people, or one of the tribal chiefs who had been
entrusted, after the division of the tribes, with the right of consulting
the high priest concerning the affairs of his tribe, of deciding on peace or
war, of fortifying towns, of appointing inferior judges, &c. (7) Or, again,
it might be the king, in whom all or some of the tribes had vested their
rights.(8) I could cite many instances in confirmation of what I here
advance. (9) I will confine myself to one, which appears to me the most
important of all. (10) When the Shilomitish prophet anointed Jeroboam king,
he, in so doing, gave him the right of consulting the high priest, of
appointing judges, &c. (11) In fact he endowed him with all the rights over
the ten tribes, which Rehoboam retained over the two tribes. (12)
Consequently Jeroboam could set up a supreme council in his court with as
much right as Jehoshaphat could at Jerusalem (2 Chron. xix:8). (13) For it
is plain that neither Jeroboam, who was king by God's command, nor