Matthew 26:3

“Then assembled together the chief priests, etc.] About the same time, two days before the passover, that Jesus said these things to his disciples, as is plain from (<411401>Mark 14:1). By “the chief priests” are meant, either such who had been high priests, or such as were the heads of the twenty four courses of the priests; or rather, the principal men of the priesthood, who were chosen out of the rest, to be members of the great sanhedrim: and the Scribes; the doctors, of the law, who wrote out copies of the law for the people, and interpreted it to them in a literal way: this clause is left out in the Vulgate Latin, and in Munster’s Hebrew Gospel, and in the Arabic and Ethiopic versions,…”

“The chief priests and the scribes and the elders of the people - (Heads of families.) These together constituted the sanhedrim, or great council, which had the supreme authority, both in civil and ecclesiastical affairs. Matthew 26:5”

“26:3 The residence of Caiaphas, the high priest, was near the Temple in Jerusalem’s Upper City. Since it was not the normal meeting place, this gathering was ad hoc, urgent, and probably secretive. The council chamber, the traditional meeting place for the Sanhedrin, was located either at the southern end of the Court of the Israelites in the Temple, or on the western edge of the Temple hill. • Joseph Caiaphas, son-in-law of Annas (see John 18:13), was high priest from AD 18 to 36 (John 11:49), the longest tenure of any high priest from the time of Herod’s rule until AD 70. His father-in-law, Annas, had been deposed but continued to be called high priest as well (see Luke 3:2; John 18:13,…”

“assembled: Mat 21:45, Mat 21:46; Psa 2:1, Psa 2:2, Psa 56:6, Psa 64:4-6, Psa 94:20, Psa 94:21; Jer 11:19, Jer 18:18-20; Joh 11:47-53, Joh 11:57; Act 4:25-28 the palace: Mat 26:58; Jer 17:27; Mar 14:54 Caiaphas: This was Joseph, surnamed Caiaphas, who succeeded Simon son of Camith, in the high-priesthood, about ad 25. About two years after our Lord's death, he was deposed by Vitellius governor of Syria; and unable to bear his disgrace, and perhaps the stings of conscience for the murder of Christ, he killed himself about ad 35. Joh 11:49, Joh 18:13, Joh 18:14, Joh 18:24; Act 4:5, Act 4:6 Matthew 26:4”