Barabbas

"Give us Barabbas!", from The Bible and its Story Taught by One Thousand Picture Lessons, 1910. Courtesy Wikipedia.

Chapter 27 of Matthew's gospel records the account of Pilate's release of an apparently well known prisoner named Barabbas. This event involves Pilate giving the assembled people the choice to release either Barabbas or Jesus and the people choose Barabbas. 

In reading the scriptures it must be kept in mind that the primary objective of the authors is not to simply record the events of history as they happened. Rather, their object is to promote their own particular viewpoint or ideas. The different gospel writers arranged the chronology and emphasized or deemphasized certain aspects of the events they wrote about in order to achieve their purposes.

The author of Matthew evidently wrote his gospel in such a way as to demonstrate how Jesus fulfilled the prophecies of the Pentateuch, especially Deuteronomy 18:18 wherein God promises to send his people a new prophet like unto Moses. 

It is helpful to examine the account in Matthew 27 in light of this knowledge as we attempt to discern why Matthew chose to include it in his gospel. It's possible that Matthew's inclusion of the Barabbas episode is intended as an allusion to Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) to illustrate how this most sacred of Jewish holy days pointed to the eventual ministry and mission of Jesus.

Leviticus chapter 16 describes the required rituals that are to be performed in observing Yom Kippur, central among them is the designation of the well known scapegoat. Perhaps less well known is that along with the scapegoat another goat was chosen as part of the ritual. Leviticus 16 describes the key elements of the ritual: 

The Scapegoat by William Holman Hunt, 1854. Courtesy Wikipedia

1. Two goats were to be chosen and presented at the door of the tabernacle (verse 7).
2. Aaron, the high priest, was to cast lots for the goats to designate one "for Yahweh" (aka Jehovah) and one "for Azazel" (verse 8).
3. The goat for Yahweh was to be sacrificed as a sin offering and its blood was to be taken into the holy of holies and sprinkled on the mercy seat and in front of the mercy seat (verses 9,15-16).
4. Aaron was then to lay his hands on the head of the goat for Azazel and confess over it all the sins, iniquities and transgressions of the people of Israel and then was to be banished into the wilderness (verses 21-22).

According to the Mishnah (Yoma 4:2) at the time of Jesus the scapegoat was to have a "thread of crimson wool" tied to its head prior to being sent away. Likewise a similar thread was to be placed on the neck of the sacrificial goat before being slaughtered. We will return to this point shortly.

Regarding the account of the prisoner release its interesting to note that early manuscript evidence indicates that Barabbas and Jesus may have shared the same name. The Anchor Bible Dictionary notes the following regarding the name of Barabbas (ABD, Barabbas [person]):

"An interesting variant occurs in Matt 27:16–17, where he is called 'Jesus Barabbas.' While extant manuscript evidence is weak, Origen implies that most manuscripts in his day (ca. A.D. 240) included the full name. Many scholars today accept the full name in Matthew as original and suggest that it was probably omitted by later scribes because of the repugnance of having Jesus Christ’s name being shared by Barabbas (TCGNT 67–8). It is not improbable for Barabbas to have the very common name Jesus. Matthew’s text reads more dramatically with two holders of the same name: 'Which Jesus do you want; the son of Abba, or the self-styled Messiah' (cf. Albright and Mann Matthew AB, 343–4). There is some evidence that the full name 'Jesus Barabbas' also originally appeared in Mark’s gospel (Mann Mark AB, 637)."

Wilkins, M. J. (1992). Barabbas (Person). In D. N. Freedman (Ed.), The Anchor Yale Bible Dictionary (Vol. 1, p. 607). New York: Doubleday.

Therefore, based on this information about the observance of Yom Kippur and the detail of Barabbas' name it appears as though, as Daniel Stökl Ben Ezra points out in his book entitled The Impact of Yom Kippur on Early Christianity, the writer of Matthew may have been alluding to Yom Kippur motifs:

"...Matthew underscores the contrast between the two homonymous men (both called Jesus) and the choice between two similar entities. The people choose between Jesus A and Jesus B, who are very similar in name but extremely different in character. This description agrees with the halakhic ruling regarding the two goats on Yom Kippur. On the one hand the Mishnah demands similarity in look and value, on the other hand the ritual destinations of the two goats are totally different. While one goat is slaughtered and its blood brought into the holy of holies, the other goat is sent from the sanctuary into the desert." (169)

 It is also interesting to note that Matthew (in Matthew 27:28) has Jesus' Roman tormentors placing a scarlet robe on him perhaps suggestive of the scarlet thread which was placed on the neck of the sacrificial Yom Kippur goat.

It is also possible that the scarlet robe was instead suggestive of the scarlet thread placed on the head of the scapegoat and that the involvement of the assembled masses in the choice between the two men inverted the Yom Kippur ritual in which God chose between the two goats through the casting of lots. Ben Ezra says the following regarding this idea:

"The people usurp the role of God on Yom Kippur in choosing between the two goats, Jesus of Nazareth and Jesus Barabbas, who is released in their midst (and consequently pollutes them), and hence as the sacrificial goat, the wrong goat, Jesus of Nazareth, whose blood spilled at the wrong place, also pollutes them. Matthew mocks the temple ritual, and the people disregard the atonement in Jesus." (170-1)

In conclusion, it seems reasonable to suppose that Matthew did indeed intend an allusion to the rituals of Yom Kippur in his account of the prisoner release found in chapter 27 of his gospel and seems to support the words of Amulek found in Alma 34:14 where he says:

"And behold, this is the whole meaning of the law, every whit pointing to that great and last sacrifice; and that great and last sacrifice will be the Son of God, yea, infinite and eternal."

Church of the Pater Noster

Church of the Pater Noster - Central Exterior Staircase

Near the summit of the Mount of Olives there is a partially constructed Roman Catholic Church called the Church of the Pater Noster. The current structure was built atop of the ruins of a fourth century basilica constructed under the direction of Constantine the Great's mother Helena. "Pater noster" is Latin for "our father" and is the traditional location of the "certain place" mentioned in Luke 11:1 where Jesus taught his disciples the Lord's Prayer. It is also the traditional site where Jesus taught his great eschatological sermon found in Matthew 24  (see also Joseph Smith Matthew).

In volume 1, book 2 (of the 3 volume edition), page 274 (excursus 53) of Jeff Bradshaw's commentary on the book of Moses in the Pearl of Great Price, entitled In God's Image and Likeness: Ancient and Modern Perspectives on the Book of Moses, there is a brief discussion of this site which provides some very exciting insights:

Grotto of the Church of the Pater Noster

"According to Eusebius, the Roman Emperor Constantine's mother Helena founded churches at the spot of three 'mystic caves' associated with the life of the Savior. One was located in Bethlehem at the supposed site of Jesus' birth, one in Jerusalem where the Church of the Holy Sepulcher now stands, and a third on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem.

"Englebert argues that the site on the Mount of Olives is 'the most easily shown to be authentic.' He depicts the spot as a safe resort for the Savior during times of persecution, there being 'no other place in Jerusalem where He could "lay his head." After telling of a stormy scene that took place in the Temple, St. John writes: "And they went each to his home, and Jesus to the Mount of Olives" [John 7:53 - 8:1. See also Luke 21:37, 22:39]. It would appear that, for Jesus, "going home" meant returning to his grotto, and that it was here that the Pharisee Nicodemus came for the nocturnal meeting he had requested.' ... Early traditions record that Jesus found a place 'where he could teach His disciples those things that were beyond the understanding of His usual hearers.' More specifically, Eusebius passed on a 'true report ... that in that cave the Savior of the Universe initiated the members of his guild in the ineffable mysteries.' An instance of such an initiation may have occurred on the night Jesus was arrested, before going down to Gethsemane. According to the Acts of John, these instructions were concluded with a prayer in which 'he told us to form a circle, holding one another's hands, and himself stood in the middle.' Initiation into the 'ineffable mysteries' was also a prominent theme in accounts of the teachings of Jesus Christ to his apostles during the forty days following his resurrection."

Peace I Leave With You

This upcoming Sunday my ward's gospel doctrine class will be on lesson 23 which includes John 13-15. This afternoon I have been reviewing those chapters in preparation. 

In chapter 14 Jesus promises his disciples that those who love him by keeping his commandments will be blessed by an appearance of the Father and the Son (vs. 23). 

He then goes on in verse 27 to bestow peace upon those who are listening. As I read that it made me think about this statement in Jack's Welch's book "The Sermon at the Temple and the Sermon on the Mount" p.60 which says the following:

"John Durham has explored in detail the fundamental meanings of shalom [peace], especially in Numbers 6:26 and in certain of the Psalms, and concludes that it was used as a cultic term referring to a gift or endowment to or of God that 'can be received only in his Presence,' 'a blessing specially connected to theophany or the immanent Presence of God,' specifically as appearing in the Temple of Solomon and represented 'within the Israelite cult' and liturgy."

If Jesus did indeed intend his usage of "peace" in that manner then it fits the context perfectly.