Acts 4:5

And it came to pass on the morrow, that their rulers and elders and scribes were gathered together in Jerusalem; and Annas the high priest was there, and Caiaphas, and John, and Alexander, and as many as were the kindred of the high priest.

This august assembly was known as the Sanhedrin, a form of Jewish Supreme Court, composed of the presiding officer, who was the high priest, and seventy others. It was the same body which had demanded and received the crucifixion of Jesus. It was the historical successor to the board of judges appointed by Moses (Numbers 11:16-25).

In Jerusalem ... The council chamber in which they met was traditionally in the temple; but about A.D. 30, they changed their meeting place "to a court on the east side of the temple mount ... the meeting at the palace of the high priest (Matthew 26:56ff) was irregular."[12]

Annas the high priest ... The critics who make some big thing out of the various references in the New Testament to Caiaphas as high priest, or to Annas as high priest, are only quibbling. Luke denominated both as holders of that office concurrently, "in the high priesthood of Annas and Caiaphas" (Luke 3:2), hence it was altogether correct to refer to either one of them as high priest. The circumstances that brought this condition about are well known. Annas was deposed from his high office by Tiberius in 14 A.D.,[13] a penalty incurred through his excess in executing one of his enemies; but the Jews did not honor the Emperor's deposition, still recognizing Annas as the rightful holder of the office; however, Rome controlled the patronage, and the office was rotated among no less than five of Annas' sons, with Caiaphas his son-in-law also holding it for a period of time. His sons who held the office were: "Eleazar, Jonathan, Theophilus, Matthias, and Ananus."[14]

John ... in Acts 4:6 is thought by some to have been the same "as Jonathan, son of Annas, and successor to Caiaphas."[15]

The record of those who controlled the assembly in view here reveals them to have been the hard cadre of Sadducean priests who sat at the heart of official Jewry. They were as evil and unscrupulous a group as any that may be found in history, fit architects indeed of the crucifixion of the Son of God.

[12] Robert Milligan, Analysis of the New Testament (Cincinnati, Ohio: Bosworth, Chase and Hail, Publishers, 1874), p. 325.

[13] F. N. Peloubet, Bible Dictionary (Philadelphia: John C. Winston Company, 1025), under "Annas."

[14] A. C. Hervey, The Pulpit Commentary, Acts (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmans, Publishers, 1950), Vo1. 18, p. 123.

[15] John William Russell, Compact Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1964), p. 289.