Matthew 27:2

and when they had bound Him, they led Him away, and delivered Him to Pontius Pilate, the governor.

The trial of Jesus before the Sanhedrin, the highest court of the Jewish Church, had lasted into the hours of early morning on Friday, to the time of cock-crowing. Even after that, the Lord had been given no rest, the wicked tortures which some of the servants and others inflicted upon Him robbing Him of even the few moments of respite which his racked and weary body needed. And as soon as the day dawned, the members of the Council convened once more to confirm the sentence of a few hours before, and to make plans for carrying out the resolution thus passed. The law required at least two sittings in grave criminal cases, and thus they observed the letter, even if they did not comply with the spirit of the Law. All the members being present, a formal vote was taken, really only a formality, since any opposing voices would quickly have been silenced. Again the object is nakedly stated: to put Him to death. It seems from the language used by Luke 22:66, that they led Jesus, in formal procession, from the palace of the high priest to the House of Polished Stones, the meeting-hall at the Temple, for according to the Talmud sentence of death could be pronounced only in this room. In the bitterness of their hatred and their burning desire for revenge, the Jews even overlooked the fact that on a festival day the rules of the Sabbath held good, according to which a meeting of the Sanhedrin was unlawful. Having agreed upon their course of action, they now led forth the Lord, bound like a criminal, and delivered Him to Pilate, the governor or procurator of the province. For since Judea had become a Roman province, after the deposition of Archelaus, the Jews no longer had the right to carry out a sentence of capital punishment. They were obliged to turn over criminals whom they believed guilty of death to the procurator, who resided at Caesarea, but came up to Jerusalem during the week of the Passover, partly to keep order among the many thousands of pilgrims, partly to overawe and thus keep in check any Revolutionary spirits by the power of Roman prestige.