Multicolored Lemur

Well-known member
Atheist / Agnostic
Nov 23, 2021
1,870
637

Trial and execution of Jesus —

“All four gospels also mention that Pilate had the custom of releasing one captive in honor of the Passover festival; this custom is not attested in any other source. Historians disagree on whether or not such a custom is a fictional element of the gospels, reflects historical reality, or perhaps represents a single amnesty in the year of Jesus's crucifixion.”

———————————

So, from Wiki . . . maybe they didn’t.

And just for the record, yes, I think Wikipedia is a pretty okay place, at least to start.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: AgnosticBoy

Did Rome have a tradition of releasing one criminal on a holiday?​

I think that it is not likely to be a real custom. Nearly all of the articles I've read say that this custom is not mentioned in any source outside of the Gospels. That alone doesn't mean that the information is false, but doubt can easily come in when you consider that such a common custom would've likely been mentioned by non-biblical sources, like Josephus.

Some believe the Gospel writers engaged in a lot of 'spin' by presenting the details in a way to fit a narrative or even going as far as adding in made up details to bolster their narrative. Perhaps they added this custom to show how corrupt that Jews were towards an upright man.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Multicolored Lemur
That alone doesn't mean that the information is false, but doubt can easily come in when you consider that such a common custom would've likely been mentioned by non-biblical sources, like Josephus
Funny you should mention Josephus.

He has a really juicy quote about Jesus that most scholars think is an “interpolation,” meaning a later addition. The quote is too much. Plus, I don’t think it’s in the earliest copies.

So anyway, sometimes even the presence of evidence is not really evidence! :p
 
  • Like
Reactions: AgnosticBoy

Mark, chapter 15,
verse 6 — Now at the feast he was accustomed to releasing one prisoner to them, whomever they requested.
verse 7 — And there was one named Barabbas, who was chained with his fellow rebels; they had committed murder in the rebellion.



———

I don’t think Pontius Pilate is going to release Barabbas if he’s suspected of having murdered Roman citizens!
 
  • Like
Reactions: AgnosticBoy

“Robert L. Merritt cites evidence from the ancient world of prisoners being released: in Greece during certain religious festivals (although released only temporarily for the period of the festival),

“Babylon . . .

“Assyria . . . ”

———

Okay, short-term in Greece,

although I’m guessing not the dangerous prisoners such as murderers.
 
Last edited:

“The Roman historian Titus Livy (59 BCE – 17 CE) reports that when the eight-day celebration of the Lectisternium or Draping of Couches, a propitiatory ceremony at which a sacrificial meal was offered to gods and goddesses, was held for the first time in Rome in 399 BCE, prisoners were released on condition that they return to prison at the end of the festival.”

———

And maybe an occasional leader likes to live dangerously? ??

———

I added to the title —

Short-term, Yes. But long-term for dangerous criminals?​

 
Last edited:

Francis Wright Beare (1902-1986), an Anglican priest and Professor of New Testament Studies, views the Barabbas episode as a part of,

“… the Christian programme of laying the whole guilt [for the Crucifixion] on the Jews, and absolving the Romans, so far as that could be done …”

———

People who break off always have to run down the previous people. Like the Israelites themselves. When they broke away from the Canaanites, they had to run down the Canaanites as worshipping Baal, engaging in infant sacrifice, and I think other stuff as well.

And when West Virginians broke off from Virginia during the U.S. Civil War, they couldn’t say, Hey, we’re bailing on the Virginians in their time of need. Probably couldn’t even say that to themselves.

I’m guessing they had to specifically run down regular Virginians. Criticizing the action, saying it’s sorry to start a war mostly for slavery was not enough. They had to run down the people.
 
Last edited:
Short-term, Yes. But long-term for dangerous criminals?
I think that's the effect the Gospel writers were going for. In a wicked generation, the people would hate good; the ywould hate the things that go against their lifestyle - the more good the more hate. Keep in mind I'm only speaking from the writer's standpoint where they wrote the account to be taken as true. Of course, us seeing it differently (as not likely true) would lead us to not accept what they were trying to sell - that Jesus was hated because he was an upright man in a wicked generation.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Multicolored Lemur