The trial of the Lord Jesus before the Jewish council represents the greatest violation of justice, as the Gospel mentions that the trial took place in front of false witnesses and was conducted at night, contrary to Jewish trial customs. The trial lacked defense witnesses for the accused, and instead involved fabricated charges, mockery, and insults, indicating that the Sanhedrin had already planned to eliminate the Lord Jesus.

Based on the words spoken by the Lord Jesus during the trial, the high priest accused Him of blasphemy. The council then confirmed the charge and sentenced Him to death, ” Then the high priest tore his clothes, saying, “He has spoken blasphemy! What further need do we have of witnesses? Look, now you have heard His blasphemy! What do you think?” They answered and said, “He is deserving of death.” (Matthew 26:65-66) To fully understand this stage of the trial of the Lord Jesus, we must understand the meaning of the accusation against Him. What is blasphemy?

The Greek word that is translated as blasphemy is blasphemia, from which the English word blasphemy is derived. This word conveys the meaning of insult or public cursing, defamation and slander, mockery and ridicule, whether directed against a person or against God.

There is no direct word in the Old Testament in its Hebrew language that gives the meaning of the Greek verb “μπαίνω”, but there are several verbs that have been translated into this verb in the Septuagint translation of the Old Testament, and these verbs carry the meaning of insulting, mocking, or ridiculing, especially when the act of mockery is directed against God.

If we take a quick look at the situations in which this word was mentioned in the Old Testament, we can understand the content of blasphemy.

Blasphemy in the Old Testament

The book of Leviticus mentions for us an incident where the Rabbin took as a basis to define what blasphemy is and what its punishment is. It happened that the son of an Israelite woman, whose father was an Egyptian, went out among the Israelites and got into a fight in the camp with an Israelite man. During the fight, the son of the Israelite woman blasphemed the Name with a curse (Leviticus 24:11). The Name here refers to the name of God (Jehova). The community brought the blasphemer to Moses, and he was informed of the matter. The judgment that God commanded on the matter through Moses the Prophet was ” Then you shall speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin.And whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death. ” (Leviticus 24:15-16).

The rabbis distinguished between two similar types of blasphemy, and the punishment for each. The first and most serious is cursing or showing contempt for the name of the Lord, and the second, less serious, is cursing not directed at the name of God. The punishment for the first offense is immediate death. ” the stranger as well as him who is born in the land. When he blasphemes the name of the Lord, he shall be put to death.” (Leviticus 24:16).

Another concept of blasphemy confronts us in the second book of Kings (18 and 19), when the kingdom of Judah was under the rule of King Hezekiah, it was in constant conflict with the kingdom of Assyria. When the leaders of the Jewish people wanted to rebel against Sennacherib, the king of Assyria, he sent them a warning saying, ” Do not let Hezekiah deceive you, for he shall not be able to deliver you from his hand; nor let Hezekiah make you trust in the Lord, saying, “The Lord will surely deliver us; this city shall not be given into the hand of the king of Assyria” (2 Kings 18:28-35).

The Assyrians denied the power of the Lord, the God of Israel, and belittled the king of Israel. As a result, the officials tore their clothes because of the Assyrians’ blasphemy against God. The words of the Assyrians described the Lord as weak and powerless, and their sin was their arrogance and exaltation above the Lord. The prophet Isaiah described the sin of the Assyrian king as follows: ” Whom have you reproached and blasphemed? Against whom have you raised your voice, And lifted up your eyes on high? Against the Holy One of Israel.” (2 Kings 19:22)

The nations have used their military domination over Israel as an excuse to blaspheme, so Isaiah mourned for his people and cried out because the name of God ” is blasphemed continually every day.” by those who dominate the people of God (Isaiah 52:5).

Psalm 137 alludes to the type of insults that the name of God was subjected to, while the people were in Babylonian captivity, the enemy asked them to sing them a song from the songs of Zion (Psalm 137:3). It is known that the songs of Zion praised God for His protection of His people and Jerusalem, such as Psalm 46 ” God is our refuge and strength “, Psalm 48 “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised In the city of our God, In His holy mountain.”, and Psalm 84 “How lovely is Your tabernacle, O Lord of hosts!”.These hymns demonstrate the steadfastness of Jerusalem in the face of its enemies due to God’s protection of it. Therefore, when the Babylonians asked the people of Israel for a song, they were mocking the God of Israel and insulting Him by calling Him weak and powerless.

It is clear from this that the concept of blasphemy in the Old Testament is limited to the meaning of disdain and arrogance, as blaspheming against Jehova leads to mocking Him and uttering insults against His name, while arrogance or haughtiness leads to challenging the power of Jehova and denying His existence. This is the same meaning that we encounter in the second legal books or what is known as the period between the two testaments.

Blasphemy in the Second Legal Books
These books strongly criticize the blasphemies uttered by the Greek occupation of Israel, describing in the first chapter of the first book of Maccabees the attempt of King Antiochus Epiphanes to replace the worship of Jehova with pagan worship. The second chapter records the weeping and lamentation of Mattathias the priest because of these blasphemies (2:6). The many insults directed against Jehova, the people, the temple, and the law caused Mattathias and his sons to despair of life, tearing their clothes and mourning. The final and most severe of these insults was the offering of a pig as a sacrifice in the temple, which directly led to the Maccabean revolt against the Greek occupiers.

Throughout the story of the Maccabean revolt, the Greeks are accused of being blasphemers. When the remnants of the enemy barricaded themselves behind the walls of the fortified city of Gezer, they began insulting the Jewish people and exaggerating blasphemies and insults, so 20 young men bravely came forward, climbed the wall and burned the blasphemers alive (2 Maccabees 10:32 – 38) The city of Cephas was also treated with the same severity, because “those in it, overconfident in the strength of the walls and the abundance of provisions, began to blaspheme and speak obscene words” (2 Maccabees 12:14).

These events prove that insulting words against Jehovah, denying His power, desecrating the temple, violating His law, and persecuting His people were considered blasphemous and the punishment for blasphemy was death.

Blasphemy in late Jewish writings

During the first century AD, the Jewish historian Josephus tried to explain the Jewish religion to the Roman occupier, and in his writings he referred several times to blasphemy. He mentioned that the Jew learns that he must not blaspheme in the sense of mocking the blind or the dumb. He also explained that the Jew reveres Moses the prophet immediately after God, and any blasphemy or insult to either of them is considered a major sin, and insulting the king appointed by Jehovah deserves the death penalty.

In general, Josephus understood blasphemy in the same way as in the Old Testament: anyone who blasphemes the name of Jehovah deserves death, as does anyone who ridicules His law, His temple, His servants, or even His nation, and the same concept is found in the writings of Philo, the first-century Alexandrian Jewish philosopher.

When the interpretations of the Jews on the Torah were recorded, such as the Mishnah around 200 AD, and later the Talmud around 500 AD, laws defining blasphemy were introduced. The Talmud contains several discussions by rabbis explaining the laws of Torah, and these writings were circulated orally before being recorded as a tradition perhaps dating back to the time of Jesus on earth. the Talmud states that a blasphemer who is warned and then persists in insulting the name of God must be stoned to death. If the judge did not have the right to impose the death penalty, the accused would be expelled from the community and his relationship with his Jewish community would be cut off. As for those who speak out of ignorance without disrespecting the name of God, they would be punished by whipping. Similarly, physical punishment would be imposed on anyone who insults the king, the nation, or Jewish law.

Whoever hears the words of defamation should tear his clothes as an expression of sadness. When summoned to testify, he is not allowed to repeat the words of defamation he heard except once, in a closed session at the end of the trial. At that time, the judge tears his clothes and pronounces the verdict.

Why was Jesus accused of blasphemy?

We now come to the trial of Jesus and His accusation of blasphemy in light of the concept of blasphemy in the Old Testament and therefore the concept of blasphemy before the Sanhedrin that judged Him. And let us note that this accusation was based solely on the statement made by the Lord Jesus before the court. The high priest asked Jesus if He was the Christ, the Son of the Blessed. Jesus’ answer was that He accepted these two titles for Himself, or as Saint Mark mentioned, he said, “I am.” In the three Gospels where this trial was mentioned, the Lord Jesus not only accepted the two titles but also explained their meaning to Him, “hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven..” (Matthew 26:64, Mark 14:62, Luke 22:69-70).

This was not the first time they accused the Lord Jesus of blasphemy. They tried to stone Him when He told them, “I and My Father are one.” Then He answered them, “Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?”

The Jews answered Him, saying, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God.”

Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I said, “You are gods” ‘?

If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken),

do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?

If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me;

but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.” (John 10:31-38)

In fact, they had no excuse for not believing in Him and accusing Him of blasphemy when He called Himself the Son of God, because as the Lord Jesus said about them,”If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would have no sin; but now they have seen and also hated both Me and My Father.” (John 15:24)

They really saw Him doing works that no one else had done, and they testified to that, saying, “John performed no sign, but all the things that John spoke about this Man were true” (John 10:41). They clearly showed their fear of believing in Him when He raised Lazarus from the dead, as “Then the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered a council and said, “What shall we do? For this Man works many signs.If we let Him alone like this, everyone will believe in Him, and the Romans will come and take away both our place and nation.” (John 11:47-48). And Pilate himself realized that they had handed Him over out of envy (Matthew 27:18, Mark 15:10).

Many were called the title of Messiah or Christ in the Old Testament, as the word means anointed by God and God anointed many and sent them to carry out His will. So if the Lord Jesus was called the Messiah in this sense, meaning just a messenger or prophet anointed by God and sent to carry out His will and deliver His message, then it is the right of the high priest to shout and accuse Him of blasphemy.

If Jesus were just a new savior sent by God to save His people and liberate them from external occupation, this would have been of interest to the Romans the most. But the Lord denied Himself to be just a savior in the political sense of this word by saying, “My kingdom is not of this world. If My kingdom were of this world, You say rightly that I am a king. For this cause I was born, and for this cause I have come into the world, that I should bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.” (John 18:37).

Jesus was the Christ or the Messiah in the full sense of the word, and so the chief priest understood what Jesus meant. It is amazing that it was the same concept that the Samaritan woman understood with the rest of the Samaritan people, “I know that Messiah is coming” (who is called Christ). “When He comes, He will tell us all things…. Now we believe, not because of what you said, for we ourselves have heard Him and we know that this is indeed the Christ, the Savior of the world.” (John 4:25, 42)

And when the Lord said to the high priest, “From now on you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of power and coming on the clouds of heaven,” the high priest immediately understood the meaning of this statement, as the Lord Jesus drew the attention of the high priest and the Sanhedrin to the prophecy of the prophet Daniel, which he prophesied about Him. It is certain that the high priest directly understood what the Lord meant,” I was watching in the night visions, And behold, One like the Son of Man, Coming with the clouds of heaven! He came to the Ancient of Days, And they brought Him near before Him.

Then to Him was given dominion and glory and a kingdom, That all peoples, nations, and languages should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion, Which shall not pass away, And His kingdom the one Which shall not be destroyed.”

(Daniel 7:13-14)

By referring to this prophecy, Jesus confirmed that He is the Son of Man who came from heaven and is seated at the right hand of Jehovah, who will judge the living and the dead, and will also judge those who dared to make Him stand before them as accused. In the eyes of non-believers, this speech is considered arrogant and proud, elevating oneself above the divine nature, as if Christ is exalting Himself to be equal with God and therefore considered blasphemous. This was the judgment of the Sanhedrin council against Him, and although He did not utter any blasphemous words against the name, the council sentenced Him to death, thus violating the laws of Sharia. They had to convince the Roman governor that Jesus deserved to die, so the council fulfilled their mission by changing the charge before Pilate and accusing Him of treason in order to ensure the governor’s approval of the sentence: “We found this fellow perverting the nation, and forbidding to pay taxes to Caesar, saying that He Himself is Christ, a King.” (Luke 23:2)

So why did those who tried Jesus insist on accusing Him of blasphemy? They considered His words as justification for their crime because this accusation is the easiest charge to sentence someone to death, just bring two witnesses who claim they heard him say…

As for believers in His name, His words are a revelation of truth. As for Jesus, His testimony about Himself led Him to the cross, which His disciples had been forewarned about, and to the tomb borrowed from Joseph of Arimathea, then to the glorious resurrection that affirmed and proved the truth of His testimony and words, “and declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead. (Romans 1:4).