This will be the last post till 2/10.  Thank you for your understanding.

ACCORDING TO JEWISH law, witnesses were to be sequestered…

The practice of separating witnesses is still often used today in criminal cases.  This helps prevent conspiracies to defraud the court.  As this was essential to Jesus’ defense, and the Gospel writers assert that the chief priest had obtained false witnesses, it seems obvious that the judicial body did not take proper precautions to prevent witness tampering.

After the first false witnesses presented their accusations, Mark says, “And some rose up and bore witness against Him, saying, ‘We heard Him say, “I will destroy this temple that is made with hands, and within three days I will build another made without hands'” (Mark 14:57-58).  In other words, the second group of witnesses had been allowed to overhear the first group.  You can feel irony in Mark’s tone when he adds: “But not even did their testimony agree” (v. 59).  Dale Foreman in “Crucify Him,”–A lawyer looks at the trial of Jesus, 117-118

“For many bore false witness against Him, but their testimony did not agree.”  Mark 14:56

–Mike Benson