Joseph Caiaphas, who was appointed in A.D. 26 to the high priesthood by Valerius Gratus, the Roman procurator, and the immediate predecessor of Pontius Pilate (Joseph., Antiq. XVIII. ii. 2).  Caiaphas and his father-in-law Annas were high priests when John the Baptist commenced his ministry (Luke iii. 2).  It was Caiaphas who expressed the worldly-wise but unrighteous sentiment, "It is expedient for us that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not."  He was not aware of the prophetic significance attaching to the words he had uttered (John xi. 49-53; xviii. 14).  It was at his palace that the council or secret conclave of the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders was held to concoct measures for the arrest of our Lord (Matt. xxvi. 3-5).  When Jesus was apprehended, He was taken first to the palace of Annas, who sent Him bound to Caiaphas (John xviii. 24), whence He was led next to the praetorium of Pilate (28).  Deeply responsible for the judicial murder of the innocent prisoner, Caiaphas afterwards took part in the trial of Peter and John (Acts iv. 6).  In A.D. 35 he was deposed by Vitellius, the Roman president of Rome (Joseph., Antiq. XVIII. iv. 3). (The Sunday School Teacher's Bible Manual, Hunter, 1894)