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

Recommendations

Info

RIGG: BARABBAS him very much (certainly for very long) with what had gone on in the Sanhedrin, in which the procurator could have had no interest. On the other hand, it is extremely unlikely that they brought Jesus to Pilate (or that, for that matter, Pilate sum- moned Jesus) on a purely academic matter. There must have been some occasion which could have given them, or him, cause.91 More and more it begins to look as though there was rioting involved. It is not at all improbable that the Temple cleansing was part of it (see Lake, Introduction to the N. T., 34 and Eisler, op. cit. II. 439 ff.).92 This particular riot involved even murder.93 It was this sort of thing, by the way, that the rabbis tried to avoid.94 443 Now note carefully that it is just these charges (the Temple cleansing even indirectly) that the Gospels later fasten on this other Jesus whom, after Origen's time at the latest, they called one Barabbas. And about whom other not unconnected charges 9I Jn 11 53 (the Synoptics have much the same): &7r' CKelvrls ovy r's l7Aepas epovXevaavPro iva a7roKrTdvcoaL aivrov. See Bernard, op. cit. II, 407. Since rioting (and revolt?) was endemic, such cause could easily be found in crowded Jerusalem at Passover. The rioting type of Jew was well known (Juster I, 47, 90 and II, 182 n. 2), though it can be overstressed (H. Loewe, op. cit.). 92 It may be considered part of the charges brought by the rabbis specifically against Jesus: thus Lk 23 2-5; cf. Plummer, Luke, 520 ff. 93 Mk 15 7 and Lk 23 19. Both these passages make clear that murder (spovov) was committed but do not- as some translations fail to make clear - say by whom it was done. Even the texts here become confused on this point; see Legg, op. cit. Still worth study is K. Kautsky, Der Ursprung des Christentums (Stuttgart, 1908) but see H. Windisch, Der Messianische Krieg u. d. Urchristentum (Tiibingen, 1909). This specific mention of murder (epic particularity?) is interesting, for the records indicate that murder was almost never committed by the Jews (Juster II, 203-4), but it is inadvisable to take this too literally. 94 Note that Jn 11 48 pointedly confirms this. Who was better able to appreciate the fact that Judaea was a powder box than the rabbis? On this question, often overlooked, in addition to Juster I, 220 esp. n. 8, see now H. Loewe, op. cit. 4-37 (this should be required reading on this question). For extra-biblical parallels: Philo, In Flaccum VII (ed. Colson [Loeb] 45-50) and Josephus, Ant. XVIII 9.3 (ed. Niese, 325-31); cf. O. Holtzmann, Life of Jesus London, 1904) 483.
444 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE are made: Jn 18 40: v S 6 f apa33as' Xo-,r's;95 Mk 15 7 (cf. Lk 23 19): o-Taaaolr's;96 and about whom Mt 27 16, records that he was even notable (a&iLtos E&arl/uos).97 Indeed, they make out that Pilate already held such a man, along with others, possibly on the assumption that he had got the potential, if not actual, ringleader.98 Maybe he did already have him. We cannot now be sure.99 This man, I maintain, was Jesus (as Barabbas) and it is this man about whom Pilate dickers with the crowd and it is this man whose case he dismisses,Ioo as outside his competence. gs AoraTsj is a peculiar word on which I am preparing a fuller treatment to be published later. It is usually translated by 'robber' which, if not exactly wrong, is often misleadingly meaningless. Eisler, op. cit. (so also Dembitz, Jewish Encyc. X, 436, for example) makes it "bandit," which at many places is surely right. Often it depends on who is calling whom a Xo-rT's; as in Josephus before and after A. D. 70 (see Rengstorf, TWNT s. v., with full literature). The word is often used in the rabbinical literature of the times; see S. Krauss, Griech. u. Latein. Lehnwirter (Berlin, 1898-9) s. v. D'w'[ (p. 315-6) and Levy, Neuhebr. u. Chald. Wdrterbuch, s. v. In this literature it often is to be equated with the zealots; for which see Stumpff, TWNT s. v. 'r^XoTrs). There is no word in English which quite adequately translates it, so each occurrence must be judged in its own context. It may be said that in general at this time the word is used sensu malo; though not seldom with a certain element of pride. There suvives in later literature a strong notion that Jesus was a Xoarq7s (possibly, too, a confusion with 'ITro0vs 6 Xpr'T7S; for which see W. Bacher, Die Agada d. Paldstinensischen Amorder I [Strassburg, 1892] 24 n. 7): e. g. Origen, adv. Cels. III. 59 (ed. Koetschau, 253) and Lactantius, Divin. Instit. V. 3 (PL 6. 557). 96 "ATrat X\eyo6uEvov in Biblical Greek, although it occurs in Josephus: see Wettstein, ad loc. It means simply "one who stirs up (possibly seditious?) revolt" (cf. Preuschen-Bauer, Wirterbuch, s. v.). 97 For brlora7utos see Wettstein, ad Mt 27 16; Preisigke, Wirterbuch; and Preuschen-Bauer, Wirterbuch, s. v. Commentaries have a great time with this word and its implications; thus Gould Mark (ICC) ad 15 7. Cf. Rengstorf, TWNT s. v. XparTos (Vol. 4, p. 267). 98 Cf. Tischendorf, N. T. ed. VIII, ad Jn 18 40, for aptXlXTarS. 99 If he did already have him, this would only put back a little further his having been turned over to him. In other words, his already having him does not invalidate the stories concerning his having been turned over to him. Pilate's own words confirm this (Jn 18 35): Tr6 WvoS rO aov Kal ol &PXtepe6S 7rapWoKav 0aE ElLOL. 'oo I cannot discover who started the translation 'release' (in the sense it has come to have), though obviously this was what the Gospels themselves
Page 1 and 2: Barabbas Author(s): Horace Abram Ri
Page 3 and 4: 418 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE
Page 27: 442 JOURNAL OF BIBLICAL LITERATURE
Page 41: 456 JOURNAL OF BIBILCAL LITERATURE

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

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?