"Matthew" Shows His Barabbas 27:16. Is "Jesus Barabbas" original?

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Secret Alias
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Re: "Matthew" Shows His Barabbas 27:16. Is "Jesus Barabbas" original?

Post by Secret Alias »

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pharnabazus_II. Φαρνάβαζος. It is difficult to account for Josephus's transcription error.
“Finally, from so little sleeping and so much reading, his brain dried up and he went completely out of his mind.”
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Ethan
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Re: "Matthew" Shows His Barabbas 27:16. Is "Jesus Barabbas" original?

Post by Ethan »

Then it contradicts what Josephus wrote about Barnabazus.

Ant XI - 6:4. - Barnabazus, the servant of one of the eunuchs, being by birth a Jew.

Josephus also wrote "the eunuchs were hanged upon a cross" and yet the Book of Esther reads 'Hang on a tree'.
https://vivliothikiagiasmatos.files.wordpress.com/2012/01/joseph-yahuda-hebrew-is-greek.pdf
Secret Alias
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Re: "Matthew" Shows His Barabbas 27:16. Is "Jesus Barabbas" original?

Post by Secret Alias »

No my point isn't that one is the other but that the name is attested in Greek sources and is originally Persian. This likely explains why Josephus starts the name with a beta instead of a phi. I think it is a strong candidate for the origin of the name Barnabas. I have to thank for this. Remember that the name is associated with a Phrygian individual. It might be linked with Montanism.
“Finally, from so little sleeping and so much reading, his brain dried up and he went completely out of his mind.”
― Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Don Quixote
Secret Alias
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Re: "Matthew" Shows His Barabbas 27:16. Is "Jesus Barabbas" original?

Post by Secret Alias »

The root of the name is here - http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/farrah
“Finally, from so little sleeping and so much reading, his brain dried up and he went completely out of his mind.”
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Matthew Shows His Barabbas 27:16. Is "Jesus Barabbas" original?

Post by JoeWallack »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeuK8YePo-M

JW:
Secret Agent Man has recently provided a link to an article by Dirk (no, not that Dirk) concluding that "Jesus Barabbas" is not original to GMatthew:

Top Secret

Was Barabbas called Jesus Barabbas?

Dirk's conclusion is relatively easy to find:
Whichever way it appeared in Origen’s original commentary in Greek, it is clear that the variant ‘Jesus Barabbas’ goes all the way back into the third century, and that much later manuscripts did preserve an old, though incorrect, reading.
Dirk's related evidence is a little harder to find:
The variant has limited support in the surviving manuscripts of the New Testament
So Dirk claims to be doing Textual Criticism but perhaps even more amazing than Jesus Barabbas' supposed resurrection is that he never directly mentions the Difficult Reading Principle (DRP). Strangely/bizarrely/macabrely he actually implies that the DRP favors "Barabbas":
Despite the obvious preachability of this textual variant
Buyzantiner beware!


Joseph

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davidmartin
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Re: "Matthew" Shows His Barabbas 27:16. Is "Jesus Barabbas" original?

Post by davidmartin »

on a related matter. Josephus mentions Atomos the magician, 'Simon' in some MS
In Acts Paul has a magical battle with Elymas, but in codex Bezae it's spelled Hetoimas
This was noted in something i was reading and thought is a curiousity, Hetoimas (Acts) and Atomas (Josephus)
But If you play around with the words a bit, 'He Toimas' sounds a lot like Hebrew definite article + Thomas, ie the twin
Anyone want to go crazy with this and suggest some wild theories?
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Re: "Matthew" Shows His Barabbas 27:16. Is "Jesus Barabbas" original?

Post by mlinssen »

davidmartin wrote: Sun May 08, 2022 11:45 pm on a related matter. Josephus mentions Atomos the magician, 'Simon' in some MS
In Acts Paul has a magical battle with Elymas, but in codex Bezae it's spelled Hetoimas
This was noted in something i was reading and thought is a curiousity, Hetoimas (Acts) and Atomas (Josephus)
But If you play around with the words a bit, 'He Toimas' sounds a lot like Hebrew definite article + Thomas, ie the twin
Anyone want to go crazy with this and suggest some wild theories?

Acts 13:6 Διελθόντες (Having passed through) δὲ (now) ὅλην (all) τὴν (the) νῆσον (island), ἄχρι (as far as) Πάφου (Paphos), εὗρον (they found) ἄνδρα (a man)— τινὰ (a certain) μάγον (magician), ψευδοπροφήτην (a false prophet) Ἰουδαῖον (Jewish)— ᾧ (whose) ὄνομα (name) Βαριησοῦ (was Bar-Jesus),
7 ὃς (who) ἦν (was) σὺν (with) τῷ (the) ἀνθυπάτῳ (proconsul) Σεργίῳ (Sergius) Παύλῳ (Paulus), ἀνδρὶ (man) συνετῷ (an intelligent). οὗτος (He) προσκαλεσάμενος (having called to him) Βαρνάβαν (Barnabas) καὶ (and) Σαῦλον (Saul), ἐπεζήτησεν (desired) ἀκοῦσαι (to hear) τὸν (the) λόγον (word) τοῦ (-) Θεοῦ (of God).
8 ἀνθίστατο (Was opposing) δὲ (however) αὐτοῖς (them) Ἐλύμας (Elymas) ὁ (the) μάγος (magician) — οὕτως (thus) γὰρ (for) μεθερμηνεύεται (means) τὸ (the) ὄνομα (name) αὐτοῦ (of him) — ζητῶν (seeking) διαστρέψαι (to turn away) τὸν (the) ἀνθύπατον (proconsul) ἀπὸ (from) τῆς (the) πίστεως (faith).

Bezae

https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/MS-NN-00002-00041/765

αυτοις
και περιελθοντων δε αυτων
ολην την νησσον αχρι παφου
ευρον ανδρα τινα μαγον
ψευδοπροφητην ϊουδαιον ·
ονοματι καλουμενον βαρϊησουα
ος ην συν τω ανθυπατω
σεργιω παυλω ανδρι συνετω
ουτος συνκαλεσαμενος βαρναβαν και σαυλο(ν)
και εζητησεν ακουσαι τον λογον του θυ
ανθειστατο δε αυτοις ετ[...] ιμας ο μαγος
ουτως γαρ μεθερμηνευεται
το ονομα αυτου ζητων διαστρεψαι
τον ανθυπατον απο της πιστεως

A most aggressive attempt at erasure has been undertaken in Bezae - follow the link to see for yourself
Bezae_Acts13-6-ElymasCorrection.jpg
Bezae_Acts13-6-ElymasCorrection.jpg (436.71 KiB) Viewed 1021 times
davidmartin
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Re: "Matthew" Shows His Barabbas 27:16. Is "Jesus Barabbas" original?

Post by davidmartin »

whoaa what the hack is that
my source for this just said
We may note that Acts does know of a Jewish Cypriot magician, Barjesus alias Elymas or, in the Western Text, Hetoimas.
Rendel Harris, taking the Western reading to be authentic, sought to identify Hetoimas and Atomos (A.l.(i) : Harris , 1902) .
The Thomas connection is my idea it seems damn obvious Josephus had 'the twin' and it got transliterated to a similar sounding name
So Acts used Josephus like we already know it did, and not only that the person of Thomas comes into it. what am i missing?

I wonder what Harris said?
they don't make scholars like him any more.

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davidmartin
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Re: "Matthew" Shows His Barabbas 27:16. Is "Jesus Barabbas" original?

Post by davidmartin »

OK i found the JR Harris article. It's here https://biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/expo ... 05-189.pdf

He connects the Elymas of Acts directly to the Atomos of Josephus
In any case the Western text stands, and it helps us,
as in so many other instances, to a better position for
historical research. We are also in a better position for
philological inquiry into the reason for the name that was
given to the magician, for we have rid ourselves of Elymas ;
and although there is some variation in the spelling of the
name that replaces it, we ought to be able to decide
whether Etoemos is a genuine Greek word, translating an
Aramaic name, or whether it is a mere transliteration of
some such name
The Jesus Barabbas episode with similarly named individuals meshes with the Bar-Jesus sorcerer being called 'the twin' through translating Etoemos to Thomas. Going further if the appearance of Barabbas in the gospels is a late addition then maybe it's something else. The Barabbas being let go - that is the heretical Christ escaping, and the sorcerers like Bar-Jesus are the preachers opposed to orthodoxy - but by dating these events so early it's an admission by orthodoxy that different understandings to theirs had long existed and been preached all over the place. These stories are distancing themselves from all that, if Josephus mentions Atomos in a garbage story and there's a connection the answer has to be he gets condemned in Acts by Paul himself, to oppose the conclusion that he has any genuine connection
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