show_no_mercy

Asking "what version I was using" is a nonsense question if you read the link.

Since Matt is copying from Mark, this might mean that Mark originally wrote "Jesus Barabba" since there was no reason for Matt to add it.

yalla

The character name Barabbas and the general plotline of the Passion seems to borrow heavily from this earlier work by Philo of Alexandria.
Read the quote below and much will sound familiar.

http://www.oldwritings.com/writings/yonge/book36.html

"VI. (36) There was a certain madman named Carabbas, afflicted not with a wild, savage, and dangerous madness (for that comes on in fits without being expected either by the patient or by bystanders), but with an intermittent and more gentle kind; this man spent all this days and nights naked in the roads, minding neither cold nor heat, the sport of idle children and wanton youths; (37) and they, driving the poor wretch as far as the public gymnasium, and setting him up there on high that he might be seen by everybody, flattened out a leaf of papyrus and put it on his head instead of a diadem, and clothed the rest of his body with a common door mat instead of a cloak and instead of a sceptre they put in his hand a small stick of the native papyrus which they found lying by the way side and gave to him; (38) and when, like actors in theatrical spectacles, he had received all the insignia of royal authority, and had been dressed and adorned like a king, the young men bearing sticks on their shoulders stood on each side of him instead of spear-bearers, in imitation of the bodyguards of the king, and then others came up, some as if to salute him, and others making as though they wished to plead their causes before him, and others pretending to wish to consult with him about the affairs of the state. (39) Then from the multitude of those who were standing around there arose a wonderful shout of men calling out Maris; and this is the name by which it is said that they call the kings among the Syrians; for they knew that Agrippa was by birth a Syrian, and also that he was possessed of a great district of Syria of which he was the sovereign; (40) when Flaccus heard, or rather when he saw this, he would have done right if he had apprehended the maniac and put him in prison, that he might not give to those who reviled him any opportunity or excuse for insulting their superiors, and if he had chastised those who dressed him up for having dared both openly and disguisedly, both with words and actions, to insult a king and a friend of Caesar, and one who had been honoured by the Roman senate with imperial authority

TedM

Oops. sorry show_no_mercy. I thought I was responding to Clive. I hadn't seen the link. Another reason they might have removed it was to avoid confusion. Might it have been there originally by mistake--a copyist error, and copied over by Matthew? Do we know that "Jesus Barabbas" was a name even in use during that time?

TedM

I see only a mild connection--being the mockery of someone by dressing him up like a king, although part of the point here was to actually mock the king, it appears. The Passion story could have borrowed, but I see no need for such. In the Passion story you have a would-be Messiac king being crucified. It isn't surprising that he would be mocked and in a similar manner. JMO.

bacht

Yes, but this didn't reflect typical messianic expectations. The Qumran writers expected a military messiah, and the Zealots & Sicarii actively engaged in conflict with Roman authorities. Revelation is similar but moves the action to the spirit realm, where the Lamb defeats the enemies of God.

The Passion seems more like a dramatization of deutero-Isaiah's Servant passages, with some material from the Psalms.

show_no_mercy

No worries.

I'm not sure that "Barabba" was a name in use during the time period of Mark's story (which I date to around 80 - 120 CE), but the name "Jesus" most certainly was a very common name in 1st century Judaism. Jesus is merely the Latinized Greek version of "Joshua".

But the Barabba story fits well within the paradigm of "Markan Irony". A Jesus who is only "son of the father" in name who rightly deserves execution is let off the hook and the Jesus who is the real son of the father who doesn't deserve execution gets crucified.

Not only that, but the Pilate presented here is in complete contrast to the Pilate described in Philo (who was a contemporary of Pilate) and Josephus. His only function is to guide the narrative.

TedM

It would not surprise me if the Passion account borrowed/inspired from the OT. It could have done that with either a fictional Savior-Servant or an arrested preacher-instigator. Parts of the story could have been borrowed without ALL of the story being borrowed.

TedM

Ok, thanks. Interesting and it is ironic.

yalla

Philo [writing some decades before the gospels]:

"There was a certain madman named Carabbas afflicted not with a wild, savage, and dangerous madness (for that comes on in fits without being expected either by the patient or by bystanders), but with an intermittent and more gentle kind; this man spent all this days and nights naked in the roads, minding neither cold nor heat, the sport of idle children and wanton youths; (37) and they, driving the poor wretch as far as the public gymnasium, and setting him up there on high that he might be seen by everybody, flattened out a leaf of papyrus and put it on his head instead of a diadem, and clothed the rest of his body with a common door mat instead of a cloak and instead of a sceptre they put in his hand a small stick of the native papyrus which they found lying by the way side and gave to him; (38) and when, like actors in theatrical spectacles, he had received all the insignia of royal authority, and had been dressed and adorned like a king, the young men bearing sticks on their shoulders stood on each side of him instead of spear-bearers, in imitation of the bodyguards of the king, and then others came up, some as if to salute him, and others making as though they wished to plead their causes before him, and others pretending to wish to consult with him about the affairs of the state. (39) Then from the multitude of those who were standing around there arose a wonderful shout of men calling out Maris; and this is the name by which it is said that they call the kings among the Syrians; for they knew that Agrippa was by birth a Syrian, and also that he was possessed of a great district of Syria of which he was the sovereign; (40) when Flaccus heard, or rather when he saw this, he would have done right if he had apprehended the maniac and put him in prison, that he might not give to those who reviled him any opportunity or excuse for insulting their superiors, and if he had chastised those who dressed him up for having dared both openly and disguisedly, both with words and actions, to insult a king and a friend of Caesar, and one who had been honoured by the Roman senate with imperial authority"

Check out "Mark" CH 15.

A few bolds to see some parallels.

This is not, of course, my original idea.

Here is one major Christian scholar's comment from his perspective.

"The parallel was first noticed by Grotius in the 17th century ...[synopsis of the above quote from Philo]....some scholars, seeing here a connection with Barabbas and drawing on various parallels in world religions, have found in the story evidence of a widespread ancient ritual in which one man [known, in the rite, as Carabbas or Barabbas] was treated as a mock king while another was ritually slaughtered. In the ancient world convicts were frequently forced to play the leading part in such rituals, so the way is open for an interpretation of Jesus' passion and Jesus Barabbas' release as having taken place within the context of such such rite....."

"St. Mark" D.E. Nineham Pelican Books London 1963 pages 418-419.

Or, for the author of g"Mark' to have borrowed the plot elements for his story.

Huon

The character of Carabbas exists in southern France. At the beginning of carnival, a big puppet is crowned and declared king. At the end of carnival, this puppet is burnt. The name of the puppet has been changed to Caramantran (meaning Carême entrant = Beginning of Lent, entry to Lent).