first to Annas. This was
an old man of seventy years, who had been high priest twenty years
before. As many as five of his sons succeeded him in this office,
which at that period was not a life appointment, but was generally held
only for a short time; and the reigning high priest at this time,
Caiaphas, was his son-in-law. Annas was a man of very great
consequence, the virtual head of ecclesiastical affairs, though
Caiaphas was the nominal head. He had come originally from Alexandria
in Egypt on the invitation of Herod the Great. He and his family were
an able, ambitious and arrogant race. As their numbers multiplied,
they became a sort of ruling caste, pushing themselves into all
important offices. They were Sadducees, and were perfect types of that
party--cold, haughty, worldly. They were intensely unpopular in the
country; but they were feared as much as they were disliked. Greedy of
gain, they ground the people with heavy ritual imposts. It is said
that the traffic within the courts of the temple, which Jesus condemned
so sternly a few days before, was carried on not only with their
connivance but for their enrichment. If this was the case, the conduct
of Jesus on that occasion may have profoundly incensed the
high-priestly caste against Him.

Indeed, it was probably the depth of his hatred which made Annas wish
to see Jesus in the hands of justice. The wary Sadducee had in all
likelihood taken a leading part in the transaction with Judas and in
the sending out of the troops for Christ's apprehension. He,
therefore, waited out of bed to see what the upshot was to be; and
those who took Jesus brought Him to Annas first. But whatever
interrogation Annas may have subjected Him to was entirely informal.[3]

It allowed time, however, to get together the Sanhedrim. Messengers
were dispatched to scour the city for the members at the midnight hour,
because the case was urgent and could not brook delay. None knew what
might happen if the multitude, when it awoke in the morning, found the
popular Teacher in the hands of His unpopular enemies. But, if the
trial were all over before daybreak and Jesus already in the strong
hands of the Romans before the multitude had learnt that anything was
going on, there would be nothing to fear. So the Sanhedrim was
assembled under cloud of night; and the proceedings went forward in the
small hours of the morning in the house of Caiaphas, to which Jesus had
been removed