Barabbas

In the Christian story of the passion of Jesus, Barabbas, actually Jesus bar-Abbas, (Aramaic Bar-abbâ, "son of the father"), was the insurrectionary murderer whom Pontius Pilate freed at the Passover feast in Jerusalem. The "crowd" (ochlos)— which becomes "the Jews" in translation— were offered a choice of whether to have Barabbas or Christ released from Roman custody, according to the closely parallel canonic gospels of Matthew (27:16), Mark (15:7), Luke (23:18 - 19), and the more divergent accounts in John (18:40) and the formerly lost gospel of Peter.John 18:40 refers to Barabbas as a l?st?s, "bandit;" Mark and Luke further refer to Brabbas as one involved in a stasis, a riot. Mark 15:7; Luke 23:19. Some scholars posit that Barabbas was a member of the sicarii, a militant Jewish movement that sought to overthrow the Roman occupiers of their land by force, noting that Mark (15:7) mentions that he had committed murder in an insurrection.

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The sicarii and the ongoing revolt of Jews against foreign presence in Judea he been discussed by Robert Eisenman (James the Brother of Jesus : The Key to Unlocking the Secretes of Early Christianity and the Dead sea Scrolls); however, many historians maintain that the sicarii only arose in the 40's or 50's of the 1st century— after Jesus' execution. Brown, Raymond E. (1994). The Death of the Messiah: From Gethsemane to the Grave: A Commentary on the Passion Narratives in the Four Gospels v.1 pp. 688-92. New York: Doubleday/The Anchor Bible Reference Library. ISBN 0-385-49448-3; Meier, John P. (2001). A Marginal Jew: Rethinking the Historical Jesus v. 3 p. 210. New York: Doubleday/The Anchor Bible Reference Library. ISBN 0-385-46993-4 (v.3). The penalty for Barabbas' crime was death by crucifixion, but according to the Gospels there was a prevailing custom in Jerusalem that allowed Pilate, the praefectus or governor of Judaea, to commute one prisoner's death sentence by popular acclaim. The crowd ("the multitude") chose Jesus Barabbas to be released and Jesus of Nazareth to be crucified.

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The story of Barabbas has special social significances, partly because it has frequently been used to lay the blame for the Crucifixion on the Jews and justify anti-Semitism. Equally, the social significance of the story to early hearers was that it shifted blame away from the Roman imperium, removing an impediment to Christianity's eventual official acceptance.

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Passion: :This article describes the Christian Passion. For other meanings, see passion (disambiguation)....

Jesus: Jesus (Greek: Ἰησοῦς Iēsoûs), also known as Jesus of Nazareth or Jesus Christ, is Christianity's central figure, both as Messiah and, for most Christians, as God incarnate. In Islam he is regarded as a very important prophet....

Aramaic: REDIRECT Aramaic language...

Barabbas related Images and Photos (experimental)

Barabbas from Left Anthony Quinn Silvana Mangano 1962