12. He was equally unpopular with the Sanhedrin
The Sanhedrin was the council of 71 rabbis who served as Judea’s ecclesiastical judges. They also hated Herod. Sanhedrin enmity predated Herod’s reign as King. While he was still a tetrarch, the council had reported Herod’s brutality to Mark Anthony. However, the Roman dismissed the charges. Once Herod became King, matters grew steadily worse. Herod could not be the high priest, but he could appoint them. So he chose men sympathetic to him. The high priest’s dependence on Herod increased with the fact that the office was no longer for life, meaning they depended on Herod’s good will to stay in office. Worse still, Herod shifted some of the Sanhedrin’s powers to his royal court, which was increasingly populated by foreigners.