The New Sanhedrin
In 2004 on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, a new Sanhedrin arose after an absence of more than 1,400 years. Staffed by Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox rabbis who want Israeli life to conform to the Torah and rabbinical law, the Sanhedrin has been a great indicator that the stage is being set for the last days, as foretold in Bible prophecy.
The new court supports rebuilding the Temple, reinstating the priesthood, and resuming sacrifices and opposes giving biblical Jewish land to the Arabs.
In Jesus’ day, the 70-member Sanhedrin composed the Supreme Court of the Jewish people. It administered activities at the Temple and also elected the high priest.
Today the Sanhedrin is playing more and more of a role in Israeli society. In November 2006 it held an alternate summit in Jerusalem while the Middle East Peace Summit was taking place in Annapolis, Maryland.
Called the New Jewish Congress, it spoke of the importance of erecting the Temple on the Temple Mount, restoring the sacrificial system, and reinstituting Temple worship.
Because of the outcome of the Annapolis Peace Conference and the political push for Israel to abandon its communities in Judea and Samaria, there is now a move to establish a separate Jewish state if the Israeli government forsakes the settlers.
Well-known Israeli Torah scholar Rabbi Shalom Dov Wolpe told me recently that if the Israeli government does not want Judea and Samaria, the Jewish settlers living there do. And they will, he said, if need be, establish a second Jewish state there.
He also told me the settlers would fight for the right to stay on land that he and others believe God has given them. When I asked if they would fight the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), he said they would not; but they do not want the IDF to fight the settlers either.
Rabbi Wolpe did say that each Jewish father and husband would protect his home and family
in any way necessary to keep them from becoming “homeless.”
The clear implication is that the settlers will take up arms if the government attempts to remove them from the land.
When I asked him if the creation of a second Jewish state was a possibility or simply a dream, he replied, “David Ben Gurion, the first prime minister of Israel, had a dream in 1948 that became a reality.”
