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Mat_27:16 Εἶχον ] The subject is to be found in ὁ ἡγεμών , Mat_27:15, that is to say: the procurator and his soldiers; for, like Jesus, Barabbas had also to be examined before Pilate before his case could be finally disposed of. He was lying in the prison in the praetorium awaiting execution, after having received sentence of death.
Concerning this robber and murderer Jesus Barabbas (see the critical remarks), nothing further is known. The name Barabbas occurs very frequently even in the Talmud; Lightfoot, p. 489. There is the less reason, therefore, for thinking, with Olshausen, that the characteristic significance of the name áÌÇø àÇáÌÈà , father’s son (i.e. probably the son of a Rabbi, Mat_23:9), in close proximity with the person of Jesus, is an illustration of the saying: “Ludit in humanis divina potentia rebus.” Still it is possible that the accidental similarity in the name Jesus (see the critical remarks) may have helped to suggest to Pilate the release of Barabbas as an alternative, though, after all, the circumstance that the latter was a most notorious criminal undoubtedly swayed him most. For the baser the criminal, the less would Pilate expect them to demand his release. “But they would sooner have asked the devil himself to be liberated,” Luther’s gloss.