Barabbas

{{Primary sources|section|date=April 2023}}

According to all four canonical gospels, there was a prevailing Passover custom in Jerusalem that allowed Pontius Pilate, the {{lang|la|praefectus}} or governor of Judea, to commute one prisoner's death sentence by popular acclaim. In one such instance, the "crowd" (ὄχλος : óchlos), "the Jews" and "the multitude" in some sources, are offered the choice to have either Barabbas or Jesus released from Roman custody. According to the Synoptic Gospels of Matthew,{{sfn|Evans|2012|pp=452ff}} Mark,{{bibleverse|Mark|15:6–15|TNIV}} and Luke,{{bibleverse|Luke |23:13–25|TNIV}} and the account in John,{{bibleverse|John| 18:38–19:16|TNIV}} the crowd chooses Barabbas to be released and Jesus of Nazareth to be crucified.{{bibleverse|Mark|15:6–15|TNIV}} Pilate reluctantly yields to the insistence of the crowd. One passage, found in the Gospel of Matthew, has the crowd saying (of Jesus), "Let his blood be upon us and upon our children."{{bibleverse|Matthew| 27:25}}

Matthew refers to Barabbas only as a "notorious prisoner".{{bibleverse|Matthew|27:16}} Mark and Luke further refer to Barabbas as one involved in a στάσις (stásis, a riot), probably "one of the numerous insurrections against the Roman power" who had committed murder.{{bibleverse|Mark| 15:7}}, {{bibleverse| Luke |23:19}} Robert Eisenman states that John 18:40 refers to Barabbas as a λῃστής (lēistēs, "bandit"), "the word Josephus always employs when talking about Revolutionaries".{{efn| name=Eisenman}}

Three gospels state that there was a custom that at Passover the Roman governor would release a prisoner of the crowd's choice; {{bibleref2|Mark|15:6}}, {{bibleref2|Matthew|27:15}}, and {{bibleref2|John|18:39}}. Later copies of Luke contain a corresponding verse ({{bibleref2|Luke|23:17}}), although this is not present in the earliest manuscripts, and may be a later gloss to bring Luke into conformity.{{sfn|Brown |1994| pp= 793–795}}

The custom of releasing prisoners in Jerusalem at Passover is known to theologians as the Paschal Pardon,{{sfn|Merritt|1985|pp=57–68}} but this custom, whether at Passover or any other time, is not recorded in any historical document other than the gospels, leading some to question its historicity and make further claims that such a custom was a mere narrative invention of the Bible's writers.{{cite web|url=http://www.bc.edu/schools/stm/c21online/resources/deathofjesus.html|title=The Death of Jesus: Four Gospel Accounts|publisher=Center for Christian–Jewish Learning at Boston College|author=Cunningham, Paul A.|access-date=2012-03-25|archive-date=2012-11-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121105045343/http://www.bc.edu/schools/stm/c21online/resources/deathofjesus.html|url-status=dead}}{{sfn|Ehrman|2016|p=}}

Image:GiveUsBarabbas.png

There exist several versions of this figure's name in gospel manuscripts, most commonly simply {{Langx|grc-x-biblical|Bαραββᾶς|translit=Barabbās}} without a first name. However the variations ({{Langx|grc-x-biblical|Ἰησοῦς Bαῤῥαββᾶν|translit=Iēsoûs Bar-rhabbân}}, {{Langx|grc-x-biblical|Ἰησοῦς Bαραββᾶς|translit=Iēsoûs Barabbâs}}, {{Langx|grc-x-biblical|Ἰησοῦς Bαῤῥαββᾶς|translit=Iēsoûs Bar-rhabbâs}}) found in different manuscripts of the Matthew 27:16–17 give this figure the first name "Jesus", making his full name "Jesus Barabbas" or "Jesus Bar-rhabban", and giving him the same first, given name as Jesus.{{Efn|This version of the name in Greek can be found the Codex Koridethi, some minuscules of Family 1 manuscripts, and in Minuscule 700 – translations of this version name also exist in Syriac and Armenian sources, such as the Codex Syrus Sinaiticus, the Harklean version, and in the Bible used by the Armenian Apostolic Church. The Codex Koridethi spells the name {{Langx|grc-x-biblical|Ἰησοῦς Bαῤῥαββᾶν|translit=Iēsoûs Bar-rhabbân}} with an emphazied gap between the two Rhos.{{Cite book |last=Paul |first=Winter |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/979784188 |title=On the Trial of Jesus |year=1961 |isbn=978-3-11-082540-4 |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter |pages=94–95 |oclc=979784188}}}}

The Codex Koridethi seems to emphasise Bar-rhabban as composed of two elements in line with a patronymic Aramaic name.{{Cite book |last=Paul |first=Winter |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/979784188 |title=On the Trial of Jesus |year=1961 |isbn=978-3-11-082540-4 |location=Berlin |publisher=De Gruyter |pages=94–97 |oclc=979784188}}{{sfn|Evans|2012|p=453}} These versions, featuring the first name "Jesus" are considered original by a number of modern scholars.{{Cite book |last=Lagrange |first=Marie-Joseph |url=https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6543845s/f718.item.texteImage# |title=ÉVANGILE SELON SAINT MATTHIEU |publisher=V. Lecoffre |year=1923 |location=Paris |pages=520 |language=fr}}{{Cite journal |last=Dahl |first=N. A. |date=September 1955 |title=Die Passionsgeschichte bei Mattheus |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/s0028688500017185 |journal=New Testament Studies |volume=2 |issue=1 |pages=23 |doi=10.1017/s0028688500017185 |s2cid=170230969 |issn=0028-6885|url-access=subscription }}

Origen seems to refer to this passage of Matthew in claiming that it must be a corruption, as no sinful man ever bore the name "Jesus" and argues for its exclusion from the text.Origen, Commentary on Matthew, Chapter 27, paragraph 17 He however does not account for the high priest {{Langx|grc-x-biblical|Ἰάσων|translit=Iásōn}} from 2 Maccabees 4:13, whose name seems to transliterate the same Aramaic name into Greek, as well as other bearers of the name Jesus mentioned by Josephus. It is possible that scribes when copying the passage, driven by a reasoning similar to that of Origen, removed this first name "Jesus" from the text to avoid dishonor to the name of the Jesus whom they considered the Messiah.{{sfn|Warren|2011|p=118}}

Of the two larger categories in which transmitted versions of this name fall {{Langx|grc-x-biblical|Bαῤῥαββᾶν|translit=Bar-rhabbân}}, seems to represent Jewish Palestinian Aramaic: בּר רַבָּן, romanized: Bar Rabbān, lit. 'Son of our Rabbi/Master', while {{Langx|grc-x-biblical|Bαραββᾶς|translit=Barabbâs}} appears to derive ultimately from Jewish Palestinian Aramaic: בּר אַבָּא, romanized: Bar ʾAbbā lit. 'Son of ʾAbbā/[the] father', a patronymic Aramaic name. However, ʾAbbā has been found as a personal name in a 1st-century burial at Giv'at ha-Mivtar. Additionally it appears fairly often as a personal name in the Gemara section of the Talmud, a Jewish text dating from AD 200–400.{{sfn|Brown|1994|pp=799–800}}

The majority of scholars such as Craig A. Evans and N. T. Wright accept of the historicity of the Passover pardon narrative, quoting evidence of such pardons from Livy's Books from the Foundation of the City, Josephus's Antiquities of the Jews, Papyrus Florence, Pliny the Younger's Epistles and the Mishnah.{{sfn|Evans|Wright|2009|p=21}}

The similarities of the name ({{Langx|grc-x-biblical|Ἰησοῦς Bαραββᾶς|translit=Iēsoûs Barabbâs}}) in some manuscripts and the name of Jesus have led some modern scholars to argue that the counter-intuitive similarity of the two men's names is evidence of its historicity. They doubt a Christian writer would invent a similar name for a criminal, practically equating Christ with a criminal, if he were fictionalizing the story for a polemical or theological purpose.{{sfn|Warren|2011|p=118}}{{sfn|Dimont|1999|p=}}

Contrarian beliefs include Max Dimont's opinion the story of Barabbas as related in the Gospels lacks credibility from both the Roman and Jewish standpoint. Dimont argues against the believability of the Barabbas story by noting that the alleged custom of {{lang|la|privilegium Paschale}}, "the privilege of Passover", where a criminal is set free, is only found in the Gospels. Raymond E. Brown argued that the Gospels' narratives about Barabbas cannot be considered historical, but that it is probable that a prisoner referred to as Barabbas (bar abba, "son of the father") was freed around the period Jesus was crucified, and this gave birth to the story.{{sfn|Brown|2008|pp=815–820}}

Bart D. Ehrman notes the story is not in Pontius Pilate's character and comments that the name Barabbas "son of the father" is interestingly similar to Jesus's role as the son of God.{{sfn|Ehrman}}

Another minority of scholars, including Benjamin Urrutia, Stevan Davies, Hyam Maccoby and Horace Abram Rigg, have contended that Barabbas and Jesus were the same person.{{sfn|Rigg|1945|pp=417–456}}{{sfn|Maccoby|1969|pp=55–60}}{{sfn|Davies|1981|pp=260–262}}{{sfn|Maccoby|1973|p=}}

{{See also|Blood curse}}

The story of Barabbas has played a role in historical antisemitism, because it has historically been used to lay the blame for the crucifixion of Jesus on the Jews, and thereby to justify antisemitism – an interpretation known as Jewish deicide.{{sfn|Pope Benedict XVI|2011}}{{sfn|Reynolds|2011}}

Pope Benedict XVI, in his 2011 book Jesus of Nazareth, dismisses this reading, since the Greek word ὄχλος (óchlos) in {{bibleverse|Mark|15:6–15|TNIV}} means "crowd", rather than "Jewish people".{{sfn|Pope Benedict XVI|2011}}{{sfn|Reynolds|2011}}

Samuel Crossman's English hymn "My Song Is Love Unknown" (published 1684){{cite web |url=https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-my-song-is-love-unknown |title=History of Hymns: 'My Song Is Love Unknown' |publisher=United Methodist Church |access-date=2019-04-04}} contains this verse alluding anonymously to Barabbas as "a murderer"

:They rise, and needs will have

:my dear Lord made away;

:a murderer they save,

:the Prince of Life they slay.

:Yet cheerful He

:to suffering goes,

:that He His foes

:from thence might free.{{cite web |url=https://hymnary.org/hymn/CP1998/184 |title=My Song Is Love Unknown |website=Hymnary.org |access-date=2019-04-04}}

Barabbas is the main character in the novel Barabbas (1950) by Pär Lagerkvist.

• Biblical criticism
• Historicity of Jesus
• Textual criticism

{{notelist|refs=

{{efn| name=Eisenman|Contemporaries combining insurrection and murder in this way were sicarii, members of a militant Jewish movement that sought to overthrow the Roman occupiers of their land by force (Eisenman 177–84, et passim).}}

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{{Reflist|refs=

{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Barabbas-biblical-figure|title=Barabbas : Facts & Significance|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en|access-date=2019-11-11}}

{{Cite web|url=http://biblehub.com/commentaries/cambridge/mark/15.htm |work=Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges |title=Mark 15|access-date=11 December 2017}}

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{{refbegin|2|indent=yes}}

• {{cite book|author=Pope Benedict XVI|authorlink=Pope Benedict XVI|title=Jesus of Nazareth: From the Entrance Into Jerusalem to the Resurrection. Holy week. Part two|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cbzkRUa2j18C|year=2011|publisher=Ignatius Press|isbn=978-1-58617-500-9}}
• {{cite book|last=Brown|first= Raymond E. |date=1994|title=The Death of the Messiah|volume= 1|location= New York|publisher= Doubleday}}
• {{Cite book|last=Brown|first=Raymond E.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3-oNIgAACAAJ|title=The Death of the Messiah: From Gethsemane to the Grave : a Commentary on the Passion Narratives in the Four Gospels|date=2008|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-14009-5}}
• {{cite book|last=Bulgakov|first=Mikhail |authorlink=Mikhail Bulgakov|title=The Master and Margarita|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WZYfDAAAQBAJ|year=2016|publisher=Grove Atlantic|isbn=978-0-8021-9051-2}}
• {{cite journal|last=Davies|first=Stevan L.|year=1981|title=Who is called Bar Abbas?|journal=New Testament Studies|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/new-testament-studies/article/who-is-called-bar-abbas/49943C87620DA8ACB23C745CD7FBC856|volume=27|issue=2|pages=260–262|doi=10.1017/S0028688500006202|s2cid=170332233 |url-access=subscription}}
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• {{Cite book|last=Ehrman|first=Bart|title=Jesus Before the Gospels|publisher=HarperOne|year=2016}}
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• {{cite news|last=Holland|first=Tom|author-link=Tom Holland (author)|title=The Liars' Gospel by Naomi Alderman – review|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/sep/06/liars-gospel-naomi-alderman-review|access-date=27 May 2014|newspaper=The Guardian|date=6 September 2012}}
• {{cite journal|last=Maccoby|first= H. Z.|year=1969|title=Jesus and Barabbas|journal=New Testament Studies|url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/new-testament-studies/article/jesus-and-barabbas/431BEAC3C161E7634DEDE1EBB51A76F6|volume=16|issue=1|pages=55–60|doi=10.1017/S0028688500019378|s2cid= 170255986|url-access=subscription}}
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• {{cite journal|first=Robert L. |last=Merritt|title=Jesus (the nazarene) Barabbas and the Paschal Pardon|journal= Journal of Biblical Literature |volume= 104|issue= 1 |date=March 1985|pages=57–68|doi=10.2307/3260593|jstor=3260593}}
• {{cite book|last=Oursler|first=Fulton |authorlink=Fulton Oursler|title=The Greatest Story Ever Told|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A7_0vgEACAAJ|year=1957|publisher=World's Work}}
• {{Cite web |title=Pope Benedict XVI Points Fingers on Who Killed Jesus |last=Reynolds |first=Matt |work=ChristianityToday.com |date=2 March 2011 |access-date=1 July 2021 |url= https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2011/marchweb-only/popepointsfinger.html?ctlredirect=true |url-access=subscription}}
• {{cite journal|last=Rigg|first= Horace Abram|year=1945|title=Barabbas |journal=Journal of Biblical Literature|volume=64|issue=4|pages=417–456|doi=10.2307/3262275|jstor=3262275}}
• {{cite book|last=Urrutia|first= Benjamin|chapter=Pilgrimage|title=The Peaceable Table|date=October 2008}}
• {{cite book|last=Van Hooydonck|first=Peter |title=Willy Vandersteen: De Bruegel van het beeldverhaal : biografie|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UvW7zQEACAAJ|year=1994|publisher=Standaard|isbn=9789002195464 }}
• {{cite book|last=Warren|first=William|editor=Bart D. Ehrman|editor2=Daniel B. Wallace|editor3=Robert B. Stewart|title=The Reliability of the New Testament|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AFOengEACAAJ|year=2011|publisher=Fortress Press|isbn=978-0-8006-9773-0|chapter=Who Changed the Text and Why? Probable, Possible, and Unlikely Explanations}}

{{refend}}

{{New Testament people}}

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Category:People in the canonical gospels

Category:Pontius Pilate

Category:Gospel of Mark

Category:Gospel of Matthew

Category:Gospel of Luke

Category:Gospel of John

Category:Prisoners and detainees

Category:Biblical murderers