"Barabbas and Jesus stand accused of the same crime: sedition, insurrection, treason. Barabbas is a revolutionary who has directly challenged Roman rule (Luke 23:18–19). And from a Roman point of view, Jesus’ claim to be king of the Jews poses a threat to Caesar. Few examples of substitutionary atonement in Scripture are clearer than Jesus, the innocent man, taking the penalty so that none remains for the guilty Barabbas.
There is also an Exodus dimension here. The Gospels point out that freeing prisoners is a Passover custom. In other words, it happens in honor of the night when Pharaoh’s firstborn son died so that God’s firstborn son (Israel) could be released. But the Gospels raise a subtle question: Which of these two accused men is really God’s firstborn son? The one whose name, Bar-abbas, means “son of the father”? Or the one claiming to be the Son of God? And is God’s Son playing the part of Israel, escaping to freedom—or that of the Passover lamb, shedding his blood to liberate others?"
"Another layer to the story is the question of how Israel should respond to Roman rule. Barabbas represents the way of war, strength, and violent insurrection. Jesus represents the way of peace, innocence, and sacrifice. When Pilate asks the crowd for their preference, this is the point at issue. And Jerusalem chooses the way of violence—“No, not him! Give us Barabbas!” (John 18:40)—as Jesus tearfully predicted it would (Luke 19:41–44). But the Prince of Peace will enjoy vindication—not least through the mouths of Roman soldiers, the men of violence par excellence (Matt. 27:54; Luke 23:47)."
"For a final lens on the Barabbas story, consider the Day of Atonement. On this crucial day in the Jewish year, the high priest would cast lots over two goats. One became the sacrificial goat, whose blood was spilled. The other became the scapegoat, who was released from the camp into the wilderness. The parallels with the Barabbas story are fascinating—one dies while the other is released—not least because it was the chief priests who wanted Barabbas released and Jesus killed (Mark 15:11). When, like a priest scrutinizing a sacrificial animal, Pilate explains that he has “examined” Jesus and found him faultless (Luke 23:14), the Levitical echoes grow louder still."
Very good, all the nuances of Barabbas that never got mentioned as I was growing up. May I add, to further the goat comparison, the two goats had to be perfect for sacrifice and equivalent in every way, so that they were chosen for their fate by random lot, not quality. And Barabbas' given name was Jesus; both of them Jesus, son of the father. Barabbas was most likely a Zealot, and so were the two "thieves" crucified with Jesus. Thieves wouldn't be worth the trouble of crucifying. They had been in a riot where someone was killed and it was all a lesson not to challenge the worldly power of Rome. In the future, after the Jews continued to choose violence and the Romans destroyed the Temple, Hadrian paved over the Temple Mount and built a temple to Zeus and Aphrodite over the Holy Sepulcher, which at that time was a known landmark--only a few hundred years later, all this was undone, the Romans had preserved that landmark for posterity by trying to desecrate it. God wins.
The Western Wall bit that we see today wasn't even part of the Temple, but the outside wall around the whole complex. Guess the Romans were running out of places to throw stones. Between them and the later Muslims, who also filled in and built over the ruins of Jerusalem, they certainly created desolation. The Western Wall continues underground a long way under the "new" constructions. It took winning the 6 Days War for excavations under Jerusalem to be done, to figure out a lot of these changes and find lost sites like the Pool of Siloam and a surprising number of cisterns that apparently were for Temple use. Plenty of candidates for what exactly was the "abomination." To me it seems like it would be the destruction of the Temple and all that went with it, but maybe it was more metaphysical, like the way of violence.
Well if you've read the Left Behind series, "the abomination" was when the AntiChrist marched into the newly rebuilt temple and declared himself to be God.
There are a lot of people who believe none of what has already happened fulfilled these prophecies. There are others who believe all this was fulfilled already, and still other who say prophecies have more than one meaning, and all of this was fulfilled, but will still happen again. Given the antiquity of the documents recording the prophecies it is difficult to judge who's right.
Altho Jesus did say "this generation shall not pass" before all was fulfilled, so it seems like events prior to the 2nd century AD are good candidates
And the cry of the crowd, "Let His blood be upon us, and upon our children" in relation to Jesus our Savior, is a prayer that even we can pray today. They unwittingly asked for the saving Blood of Jesus to cover them and their families!
"Barabbas and Jesus stand accused of the same crime: sedition, insurrection, treason. Barabbas is a revolutionary who has directly challenged Roman rule (Luke 23:18–19). And from a Roman point of view, Jesus’ claim to be king of the Jews poses a threat to Caesar. Few examples of substitutionary atonement in Scripture are clearer than Jesus, the innocent man, taking the penalty so that none remains for the guilty Barabbas.
There is also an Exodus dimension here. The Gospels point out that freeing prisoners is a Passover custom. In other words, it happens in honor of the night when Pharaoh’s firstborn son died so that God’s firstborn son (Israel) could be released. But the Gospels raise a subtle question: Which of these two accused men is really God’s firstborn son? The one whose name, Bar-abbas, means “son of the father”? Or the one claiming to be the Son of God? And is God’s Son playing the part of Israel, escaping to freedom—or that of the Passover lamb, shedding his blood to liberate others?"
"Another layer to the story is the question of how Israel should respond to Roman rule. Barabbas represents the way of war, strength, and violent insurrection. Jesus represents the way of peace, innocence, and sacrifice. When Pilate asks the crowd for their preference, this is the point at issue. And Jerusalem chooses the way of violence—“No, not him! Give us Barabbas!” (John 18:40)—as Jesus tearfully predicted it would (Luke 19:41–44). But the Prince of Peace will enjoy vindication—not least through the mouths of Roman soldiers, the men of violence par excellence (Matt. 27:54; Luke 23:47)."
"For a final lens on the Barabbas story, consider the Day of Atonement. On this crucial day in the Jewish year, the high priest would cast lots over two goats. One became the sacrificial goat, whose blood was spilled. The other became the scapegoat, who was released from the camp into the wilderness. The parallels with the Barabbas story are fascinating—one dies while the other is released—not least because it was the chief priests who wanted Barabbas released and Jesus killed (Mark 15:11). When, like a priest scrutinizing a sacrificial animal, Pilate explains that he has “examined” Jesus and found him faultless (Luke 23:14), the Levitical echoes grow louder still."
https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2021/april/andrew-wilson-barabbas-story-prisoner-swap.html
Very good, all the nuances of Barabbas that never got mentioned as I was growing up. May I add, to further the goat comparison, the two goats had to be perfect for sacrifice and equivalent in every way, so that they were chosen for their fate by random lot, not quality. And Barabbas' given name was Jesus; both of them Jesus, son of the father. Barabbas was most likely a Zealot, and so were the two "thieves" crucified with Jesus. Thieves wouldn't be worth the trouble of crucifying. They had been in a riot where someone was killed and it was all a lesson not to challenge the worldly power of Rome. In the future, after the Jews continued to choose violence and the Romans destroyed the Temple, Hadrian paved over the Temple Mount and built a temple to Zeus and Aphrodite over the Holy Sepulcher, which at that time was a known landmark--only a few hundred years later, all this was undone, the Romans had preserved that landmark for posterity by trying to desecrate it. God wins.
There is a lot of speculation that the paving over of the temple mount marked the "abomination that makes desolation" prophesied in Revelations
The Western Wall bit that we see today wasn't even part of the Temple, but the outside wall around the whole complex. Guess the Romans were running out of places to throw stones. Between them and the later Muslims, who also filled in and built over the ruins of Jerusalem, they certainly created desolation. The Western Wall continues underground a long way under the "new" constructions. It took winning the 6 Days War for excavations under Jerusalem to be done, to figure out a lot of these changes and find lost sites like the Pool of Siloam and a surprising number of cisterns that apparently were for Temple use. Plenty of candidates for what exactly was the "abomination." To me it seems like it would be the destruction of the Temple and all that went with it, but maybe it was more metaphysical, like the way of violence.
Well if you've read the Left Behind series, "the abomination" was when the AntiChrist marched into the newly rebuilt temple and declared himself to be God. There are a lot of people who believe none of what has already happened fulfilled these prophecies. There are others who believe all this was fulfilled already, and still other who say prophecies have more than one meaning, and all of this was fulfilled, but will still happen again. Given the antiquity of the documents recording the prophecies it is difficult to judge who's right. Altho Jesus did say "this generation shall not pass" before all was fulfilled, so it seems like events prior to the 2nd century AD are good candidates
And the cry of the crowd, "Let His blood be upon us, and upon our children" in relation to Jesus our Savior, is a prayer that even we can pray today. They unwittingly asked for the saving Blood of Jesus to cover them and their families!
That's a nice way to look at what has so often been used as an excuse to hate Jews, or at least not have any sympathy. Really.