Horace Abram Rigg, Jr. Source: Journal of Biblical ... - YoYo.pl

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RIGG: BARABBAS 441 the curious evidence attached to Barabbas as another Jesus in the Gospel accounts of the trial itself. This evidence we shall take up when we get to the first stage of the trial itself below. There is, finally, the statement of Paul, Rom 8 1582 (aXX EXaC/3ere rvEUvULa uvoOeoLas, Ev X Kpa'oaev' 'A3'fa o6 rar,p) and Gal 4 4-683 ( Ca,r ertXev 6 Oeos r6v vlv aOVTOV..... 'va T77j vloOeoLav a7roXarXf3wgLe. T 6l be EoTe vto, ECar7rl- TELXEV O oe0s r56 7ve'v/U a Tro v vVo aVTOV elS TLa Kap&laS rl/uWv, Kpa'ov 'Af3a o 6 rar)p). Whatever else can be made of these clear statements, they surely fit into the picture I am drawing, not least because they are early testimony. In the light of the above, what can now be made of the trial? I shall be brief. What went on in the meting of the Sanhedrin (Juster, II. 136, doubts that there was one) does not here con- Baptist (Jn 3 29: 6 U (pl\os TOV vvI(plov) where the latter bespeaks a non- Galilean term l'atel, for which see Levy, op. cit., s. v. and Strack-Billerbeck I, 500. This interesting point seems even to have escaped Montefiore, Synoptic Gospeis I. 59. My point about the cries at Jesus' entry into Jerusalem is that we should not be too philologically finicky. We may never be able to determine them exactly. Two thousand years afterwards it is unlikely that we can know their sound and their meaning - probably neither was too clear even then. An extraordinary parallel, in many ways, has come to hand. It concerns Gandhi following his recent release. In the Times (London, June 25, 1945) p. 4 the Correspondent, writing from Simla (June 24), states: "Mr. Gandhi's journey from Bombay was a triumphant progress. Thousands of his supporters in Delhi went to the station to see him when he passed through last night, and they raised the roof with shouts of 'Zindabad' ('Long Live Revolt!)." Now the shout "Zindabad," meaning "Long Live Revolt" according to the Cor- respondent (he is presumably an eye witness), drew some criticism, not only as to what the crowd actually cried (implying, therefore, that he had heard incorrectly) but particularly as to what actually was meant (implying, therefore, that he had misunderstood or been misinformed). Thus, an interesting correspondence arose. For the former point, see A. C. Edwards in the Times (London, June 28) and, for the latter, J. D. Shams, the Imam of the London Mosque, ibid. (July 5). It would be interesting to know what Gandhi thought! 82 For this passage see Sanday-Headlam, Epistle to the Romans, (ICC. New York, 1906) ad loc. 83 See esp. E. D. Burton, Epistle to the Galatians (ICC. New York, 1920) ad loc. and Hodgson, op. cit., 41 ff.
442 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE cern us. In any case, whatever their jurisdictional competence,84 the fact is that Jesus is brought before Pilate and is ultimately disposed of by him.85 We must bear in mind at once that it is quite unlikely that any procurator ever looked forward to this part of his job (we tend to forget that he was not there prima- rily as a judge), for Judaea in these times was not exactly another Laish (Judg 18 7-8).86 And Jerusalem, at the time of Passover, was probably peculiarly difficult - a difficulty not confined to these times.87 Jesus, then, is brought before Pilate88 - probably early in the morning89 -who asks (nominis delatio?) what it is all about. The answers at this point probably were very confusing to Pilate, as anyone who has witnessed similar trials before resident governors can well attest.90 It is unlikely that they bothered 84 It would take another paper to substantiate my opinion that it was purely religious - whatever sentence they might inflict! See E. G. Hirsh, The Crucifixion, Viewed from a Jewish Standpoint 3rd ed. (New York, 1921) and E. F. Scott, The First Age of Christianity (New York, 1935) 81. 8s This much even the creed makes clear: qui sub Pontio Pilato crucifixus est et sepultus. But see Juster I, 301; II, 141 n. 2. 86 Whether E. T. Salmon, History of the Roman World (Methuen Series, London, 1944) 195, 145 n. 2, gives a fair appraisal might be doubted. It is beyond me what he means on pp. 320-1: "Its founder i. e. Christ had, indeed, aroused enough opposition among certain sects in Judaea to lead the Jews to demand and receive the right to execute him." See also Charlesworth, CAH X. 643, 649. 87 The procurator, residing usually at Caesarea, came up to Jerusalem at this time (cf. here, Momigliano, CAH X. 339). For an interesting modern parallel, see Sir Ronald Storrs, Memoirs (New York, 1937) 419 ff., 449 (cf. Guignebert, Jewish World in the Time of Jesus, 37). 88 By whom need not concern us. We do not know whether Pilate had been apprised of the case, pace Bernard, op. cit. II, 606. If we are to accept the triumphal entry stories (V. E. Harlow, Jesus' Jerusalem Expedition [Oklahoma City, 1936] makes almost as much of it as Eisler, op. cit.) it is likely that he was not wholly in the dark (cf. Wellhausen, Einleitung in die drei ersten Evangelien, 2nd ed. [Berlin, 1911] 83). A. Plummer, Luke (ICC. New York, 1907) suggests that the Sanhedrin hoped simply to have Pilate confirm their own sentence of death (cf. Klausner, Jesus, 464 ff.). 89 All the accounts agree (thus Mk 15 1: evOVs 7rpwc); cf. Swete, op. cit., 366 and Keim, Jesus of Nazara VI, 79. In Mk 1 35 7rpwt means very early! 90 For the timing of the charges, see E. Norden, Agnostos Theos (Leipzig, 1913) 195-7, and S. Buss, Roman Law and History in the N. T. London, 1901) 204 ff. What language was used?
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Horace Abram Rigg, Jr. Source: Journal of Biblical ... - YoYo.pl

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