Barrabas as scapegoat

This post will not make much sense to anyone who is not a church attender or studied the bible but you are welcome to read and comment (if you so choose) all the same.. just a disclaimer.

 This thought came to me while reading over the past week or so.. I claim no theological truth in it just an interesting thought. To lend some meat to the post I must explain a little first... my nighttime (bedtime actually) reading currently is Tosca Lee's wonderful new book called "Iscariot", it is a new fictional take on the life of Judas Iscariot who you will recall was the one who betrayed Jesus. She spent years doing tons of deep research on Judas and the time period he lived in. I highly recommend this book. Anyway, she mentioned a Jewish zealot or insurrectionist group that called themselves the "Bar Abbas" or "Sons of the Father". That is going to sound more important soon, just stick with me. Next I was doing bible study a few days ago and my daily reading that day was the trials of Jesus prior to his crucifixion and specifically when Pilate let the people choose what prisoner he would release to them. They chose Barabbas, who was in prison for revolt against Rome. So here is where the earlier note about the "Bar Abbas" will come in. Barabbas in Hebrew means "Son (Bar) of the Father (Abba) and Greek tradition holds that his first name was Jesus which was a common name in the 1st century. So in other words he was called Jesus Son of the Father.

 Now lets briefly flash back to when God was leading the Hebrews out of Egypt and was instituting the laws and sacrificial system. On the Day of Atonement or Yom Kippur, which is the Holiest Day of the Jewish Calendar, the people were to bring 2 lambs to the High Priest. There were to cast lots and one was to be prayed over and then sent out the camp to the wilderness as the "Scapegoat", while the other was to be killed to cover the people's sins.

 So now' back to period of Jesus... here you find TWO (2) "lambs, both Jesus "Son of the Father. One, Jesus Barabbas, and second, Jesus Christ.... again both "Sons of the Father". One was freed (Barabbas) serving as the scapegoat and the second (Jesus Christ) was killed to pay the penalty for our sins. I had never put these facts together until just recently and have never heard it taught or mentioned before. However, I have recently talked to some who have heard it before so there goes my new theological insight..lol.

 Again, I claim to no theological validity or truth... just found it meaningful and interesting. If it bothers you or makes you uncomfortable please by all means disregard it, but I hope you find it as interesting and new as I did.