Topzle Updated: Wikipedia source
According to the New Testament, Barabbas (fl. 1st cent.) was a Jewish bandit and rabble-rouser who was imprisoned by the Roman occupation in Jerusalem, only to be chosen over Jesus by a crowd to be pardoned by Roman governor Pontius Pilate at the Passover feast.
| Leviticus 16 (Day of Atonement) | Gospel Narrative |
| Two goats are set before the community, lots distinguish the goat for the Lord from the goat for Azazel, and the people witness the assignment Leviticus 16:7–10 | Two prisoners are set before the crowd, Jesus of Nazareth and Barabbas, and the people determine the outcome by acclamation rather than by lots Matthew 27:15–21 Mark 15:6–11 Luke 23:18–19 John 18:39–40 |
| The goat for the Lord is killed as the sin offering Leviticus 16:15 | Gospel Jesus is condemned and executed, which early Christian texts interpret as a once for all sacrificial offering that fulfills and supersedes temple sacrifice Hebrews 9:11–14 Hebrews 10:1–14 |
| The scapegoat bears the iniquities of the community and is sent out alive to the wilderness Leviticus 16:20–22 | Barabbas the ληιστης is released alive back into the social body, which typological readers construe as the bearer of communal transgression displaced from the innocent one John 18:40 |
| The priestly rite involves confession over the scapegoat | The crowd's shouted choice and the Matthean cry "Let his blood be on us and on our children" function as the narrative moment of transfer in the typology, though Brown and others caution that the legal setting and absence of lots mark a transformation rather than replication Matthew 27:25 |