Jewish Bubba: Romans and The Infamous High Priest Caiaphas of Judaea, and His Father in Law, Annas

Nadene Goldfoot

High Priest Annus with son in law-next high priest, Caiaphas

Aaron, brother of Moses, became the 1st high priest of the Israelites, chosen by Moses himself. Aaron never lived to see the Promised Land. He died on Mount Hor, near the southern end of the Dead Sea when he was 123 years old. The Israelites mourned him for 30 days, the same number of days that they mourned when, some time later, Moses died. Aaron was succeeded as High Priest by his son Eleazar. It was an inherited position from the family of Levi. To be a high priest is to be a direct descendant. They were the Cohens. Other Levites became Levites in the conduct of Jews praying. Today our Y haplogroup of DNA can show who is a Cohen, who is a Levi, etc. Cohen is one of the most common Jewish surnames.

The high priests belonged to the Jewish priestly families that trace their paternal line back to Aaron—the first high priest of Israel in the Hebrew Bible and elder brother of Moses—through Zadok, a leading priest at the time of the reigns of David and Solomon over the United Kingdom of Israel. This tradition came to an end in the 2nd century BCE during the rule of the Hasmoneans, when the position was occupied by other priestly families unrelated to Zadok.

High Priest (Hebrew: כהן גדול, romanized: Kohen Gadol or הַכֹּהֵן הַגָּדוֹל, ha'kohen ha'gadol, ^]was the title of the chief religious official of Judaism from the early post-Exilic times until the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 CE.

Here's the sad part. In 6 CE, Judaea became a newly formed Roman province. The Romans had deposed Archaelaus, the Ethnarch of Judaea, which put Judaea directly under Roman rule. Herod Archelaus 23 BCE – c. CE 18) was the ethnarch of Samaria, Judea, and Idumea, including the cities Caesarea and Jaffa, for nine years ( c. 4 BCE to 6 CE ).
Annas the High Priest

Annas was appointed by the Roman legate, Quirinius, as the 1st High Priest. Publius Sulpicius Quirinius (c. 51 BC – AD 21), also translated as Cyrenius, was a Roman aristocrat. Ananus, took the high priesthood, who was a bold man in his temper, and very insolent; he was also of the sect of the Sadducees, who are very rigid in judging offenders, above all the rest of the Jews,

After the banishment of the ethnarch Herod Archelaus from the tetrarchy of Judea in AD 6, Quirinius was appointed legate governor of Syria, to which the province of Judaea had been added for the purpose of a census.

Annas's son-in-law was Joseph Caiaphas. Ananus was one of the main leaders of the Great Revolt of Judea, which erupted in 66 CE. He was appointed as one of the heads of the Judean provisional government together with Joseph ben Gurion in late 66. In 68, Ananus was killed during the inter-rebel civil war in Jerusalem. Josephus in The Jewish War considered Ananus "unique in his love for liberty and an enthusiast for democracy" and as an "effective speaker, whose words carried weight with the people." After Ananus was deposed as high priest, he continued to exercise leadership. "Under the guidance of former high priest Ananus ben Ananus, they (the Sanhedrin) exhorted the populace for support against the radical priestly Zealots, as these 'persuaded those who officiated in the Temple sacrifices to accept no gift or services from a foreigner' (BJ II, 409-414)." Later, he marshaled recruits to fight the Zealots, resulting in the Zealot Temple Siege. While commanding the Jews during the siege, Ananus was killed by the Idumeans.
Caiaphas

According to Josephus, Caiaphas was appointed in CE 18 by the Roman prefect Valerius Gratus who preceded Pontius Pilate. He famously presided over the Sanhedrin trial of Jesus. The primary sources for Caiaphas' life are the New Testament, and the writings of Josephus. Josephus records that he was made high priest by the Roman procurator Valerius Gratus after Simon ben Camithus had been deposed. Simon ben Camithus was a 1st-century High Priest of Israel, who was given the office by the Roman procurator Valerius Gratus and held the office from 17AD to 18AD. Very little is known of him, however he is briefly mentioned in the Talmud as one of the seven sons of Kimchit to serve as high priest, and according to Josephus was succeeded as High Priest by Joseph Caiaphas.

Valerius Gratus was the 4th Roman Prefect of Judaea province under Tiberius from 15 to 26 CE. He succeeded Annius Rufus in 15 and was replaced by Pontius Pilate in 26. The government of Gratus is chiefly remarkable for the frequent changes he made in the appointment of the high-priesthood. He deposed Ananus, and substituted Ishmael ben Fabus, then Eleazar, son of Arianus, then Simon, son of Camith, and lastly Joseph Caiaphas, the son-in-law of Ananus.

Pontius Pilate was the fifth governor of the Roman province of Judaea, serving under Emperor Tiberius from 26/27 to 36/37 CE. He is best known for being the official who presided over the trial of Jesus and ultimately ordered his crucifixion.

It seems clear that the primary cause of the trial and execution of Jesus was his role in an incident at the Temple in Jerusalem. The incident occurred in April, 30 C.E. (or possibly in 33 C.E.) during Festival time, the period including the Day of Passover leading into the week of the Unleavened Bread. In the New Testament, the Sanhedrin trial of Jesus refers to the trial of Jesus before the Sanhedrin (a Jewish judicial body) following his arrest in Jerusalem and prior to the trial before Pontius Pilate. It is an incident reported by all three Synoptic Gospels of the New Testament, while the Gospel of John refers to a preliminary inquiry before Annas. The gospel accounts vary on a number of details. Jesus was taken to the house of Caiaphas the High Priest of Israel, where the scribes and the elders were gathered together. Mark 14 (Mark 14:53) states that Jesus was taken that night "to the high priest" (without naming the priest), where all the chief priests and the elders gathered.

According to John's gospel, Jesus was taken not to Caiaphas but to Annas, who questioned him only privately. A former high priest and father-in-law of Caiaphas, Annas remained very influential. The fact that Jesus was taken not to Caiaphas but to Annas is explained on the ground that the latter's palace was nearer the place of arrest than that of the former. Peter and other disciples, however, being ignorant of the state of affairs, went to Caiaphas' house in the night.

The gospels report that Jesus was brought before high priest Joseph Caiaphas and the Sanhedrin, the Jewish supreme governing council and court. Mark and Matthew report a trial at night in the house of Caiaphas, whereas Luke explicitly states that Jesus was tried in the morning before the Sanhedrin. Some scholars doubt the accuracy of of the gospel accounts. They note that Jewish law prohibits both capital trials on the eves of a festival and trials by night.

The 1st-century Jewish historian Josephus is considered the most reliable extra-biblical literary source for Caiaphas. His works contain information on the dates for Caiaphas' tenure of the high priesthood, along with reports on other high priests, and also help to establish a coherent description of the responsibilities of the high-priestly office. Josephus (Antiquitates Judaicae 18.33–35) relates that Caiaphas became a high priest during a turbulent period. He also states that the Legate of Syria Lucius Vitellius the Elder deposed Caiaphas (Antiquitates Judaicae 18.95–97). Josephus' account is based on an older source, in which incumbents of the high priesthood were listed chronologically.

The Sadducees were the party of , aristocratic families, and merchants—the wealthier elements of the population. They came under the influence of Hellenism, tended to have good relations with the Roman rulers of Palestine, and generally represented the conservative view within Judaism. They knew that good intensions of Romans was just a pretense and that they could also be on a cross, so they had to be careful. Just like Josephus, the general who because a historian for the Romans. He knew he was writing for a Roman audience and could easily be killed according to how he worded his history. The Jews were not dealing with reasonable men who thought first before taking lives. In years ago, a life was worth very little except for work. The Roman culture was one that enjoyed watching people died in a stadium from horrible deaths. The more gory it was, the better !

According to John, Caiaphas was the son-in-law of the high priest Annas, who is widely identified with Ananus the son of Seth, mentioned by Josephus. Annas was deposed after the death of Emperor Augustus, but had five sons who served as high priest after him. Augustus, also called Augustus Caesar or (until 27 BCE) Octavian, original name Gaius Octavius, adopted name Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus, (born September 23, 63 BCE—died August 19, 14 CE, Nola, near Naples [Italy]), first Roman emperor, following the republic, which had been finally destroyed by the dictatorship of Julius Caesar, his great-uncle and adoptive father. Caiaphas was the son-in-law of Annas by marriage to his daughter and ruled longer than any in New Testament times. For Jewish leaders of the time, there were serious concerns about Roman rule and an insurgent Zealot movement to eject the Romans from Israel.

The terms of Annas, Caiaphas, and the five brothers are:

Ananus (or Annas) the son of Seth (6–15)

1.Eleazar the son of Ananus (16–17)
Caiaphas, properly called Joseph son of Caiaphas (18–36/37), who had married the daughter of Annas (John 18:13)
2. Jonathan the son of Ananus (spring 37)
3. Theophilus ben Ananus (37–41)
4. Matthias ben Ananus (43)
5. Ananus ben Ananus (63)

Previously, in the Israelite religion, including during the time of the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, other terms were used to designate the leading priests; however, as long as a king was in place, the supreme ecclesiastical authority lay with him. The official introduction of the term "high priest" went hand-in-hand with a greatly enhanced ritual and political significance bestowed upon the chief priest of the Israelites in the post-Exilic period, especially from 411 BCE onward due to the religious transformations brought about during the time of the Babylonian captivity and due to the lack of a Jewish king and kingdom.

According to Helen Bond, there may be some references to Caiaphas in the rabbinic literature.

Reference:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_Priest_of_Israel

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caiaphas

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontius_Pilate

https://www.britannica.com/topic/prefect-ancient-Roman-official

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Valerius_Gratus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ananus_ben_Ananus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herod_Archelaus#:~:text=Herod%20Archelaus%20(Ancient%20Greek%3A%20%E1%BC%A9%CF%81%E1%BF%B4%CE%B4%CE%B7%CF%82,4%20BC%20to%20AD%206).

https://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/3903-caiaphas

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Augustus-Roman-emperor

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pontius_Pilate