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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - John 18:40 - 18:40
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40. ἐκραύγασαν. They cried out therefore again: πάντες is of very doubtful authority. S. John has mentioned no previous shout, but, as usual, assumes that his readers know the main facts. Pilate declared Jesus innocent both before and after sending Him to Herod, and in both cases this provoked an outcry (Luk 23:4-7; Luk 23:14-21): S. John in narrating the later clamour implies the earlier. Κραυγάζω expresses a loud cry, and (excepting Mat 12:19; Act 22:23) occurs only in S. John (Joh 11:43, Joh 12:13, Joh 19:6; Joh 19:12; Joh 19:15).
τ. Βαραββᾶν. Bar-Abbas, son of Abba (father): the derivation Barrabban, son of a Rabbi, seems fanciful. The innocent Son of the Father is rejected for the blood-stained son of a father. The name has the article, although S. John has not mentioned him before. The Jews who speak had mentioned him before. In Mat 27:16-17 some inferior authorities give ‘Jesus Barabbas’ as his name, and Pilate asks ‘Which do ye wish that I release to you, Jesus Barabbas, or Jesus Who is called Christ?’ The reading is remarkable, but it is supported by no good MS.
ἦν δὲ ὁ Β. λῃστής. For the tragic brevity of this remark comp. ἐδάκρυσεν ὁ Ἰησοῦς (Joh 11:35) and ἧν δὲ νῦξ (Joh 13:30). The λῃστής as distinct from the κλέπτης (Joh 10:1) is the man of violence, the bandit or brigand, more dangerous to persons than to property. In the case of Barabbas we know from S. Mark and S. Luke that he had been guilty of insurrection and consequent bloodshed rather than of stealing; and this was very likely the case also with the two robbers crucified with Jesus. Thus by a strange irony of fate the hierarchy obtain the release of a man guilty of the very political crime with which they charged Christ,—sedition. The people no doubt had some sympathy with the insurrectionary movement of Barabbas, and on this the priests worked. Barabbas had done, just what Jesus had refused to do, take the lead against the Romans. “They laid information against Jesus before the Roman government as a dangerous character; their real complaint against him was precisely this, that He was not dangerous. Pilate executed Him on the ground that His kingdom was of this world; the Jews procured His execution precisely because it was not.” Ecce Homo, p. 27.