- John 18.12-14 KWL
- 12 The mob, the chief, and Judean police
- then arrest Jesus and bind him.
- 13 They first bring Jesus to Annas,
- for he’s the father-in-law of Joseph bar Caiaphas,
- who’s head priest that year.
- 14 Bar Caiaphas is the one who recommended to the Judeans
- for one person to die, rather than all the people.
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- John 18.19-24 KWL
- 19 The head priest then asks Jesus about his students,
- and about his instruction.
- 20 Jesus answers him, “I’ve freely spoken to the world.
- I always teach in synagogue and in temple,
- where all the Judeans come together.
- I never spoke in private.
- 21 Why do you ask me this?
- Ask those who’ve listened to what I speak to them.
- Look, they’ve known what I say.”
- 22 Once he says this, one of the police standing by
- gives Jesus a slap, saying, “This you answer the head priest?”
- 23 Jesus answers him, “If I speak evil, testify about the evil.
- If good, why beat me?”
- 24 So Annas sends Jesus away,
- having bound him for Bar Caiaphas the head priest.
In the synoptic gospels, right after Jesus’s arrest, the Judean police and their posse took Jesus to the head priest’s house. But in John they didn’t. John’s the only gospel where they took a little side trip first… to the former head priest’s house. That’d be Khánan bar Seth, whom historical records call Ananus, and whom the KJV calls Annas. John relates it’s in the courtyard of Annas’s house where Simon Peter denounced Jesus.
Backstory time. Ever since the time of the Maccabees, the head priests had also been the kings of Judea. (Or, using the title Israelis had used for their kings, the Messiah. Yep, that title.) Their dynasty ended with Herod 1, who overthrew his father-in-law Antigonus Mattathias in 37BC, and took the throne. Herod became king, but because he was Edomite not Aaronite, he couldn’t be head priest; only descendants of Aaron could be head priest, y’know. Lv 6.22 But Herod claimed the right to appoint the head priest—and did. In fact he appointed a bunch of head priests. He kept firing them when they wouldn’t do as he wished.
And once the Romans took Judea from the Herods, they did the same thing. Annas became the 11th appointed head priest since Herod took over. (He’s actually the ninth guy to hold the job. Some of the previous head priests had non-consecutive terms.) Annas was appointed by the Syrian legate Publius Sulpicius Quirinius in the year 6, and stayed in office till the year 15. He’s a descendant of King John Hyrcanus, so while he was still in the royal family, he wasn’t a contender for the throne.
Bible commentators aren’t always aware that Herod and the Romans kept swapping out head priests, and assume Annas was the hereditary head priest, like all the head priests before Herod’s time. So they aren’t so surprised when Annas’s five sons, son-in-law, and grandson become the head priest after him: Isn’t it supposed to be a hereditary job? And yeah, originally it was… but now it wasn’t, and hadn’t been for decades, and the fact Annas managed to keep his family in power for nearly sixty years is pretty darned impressive.
Annas’s successors include:
- Eleazar, his son (16-17CE)
- Joseph bar Caiaphas, his son-in-law (18-36)
- Jonathan, his son (36-37)
- Theophilus, his son (37-41)
- Matthias, his son (43)
- Jonathan again (44)
- Annas 2, his son (63)
- Mattathias, his grandson (65-66)
He wasn’t the only guy with a political dynasty though. Four sons and a grandson of Boethus, another descendant of Aaron, were also head priest. Including Joazar bar Boethus, Annas’s direct predecessor.