Tuesday, March 31, 2020

I. Howard Marshall on Luke 13:1



There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. (Luke 13:1)

Commenting on this verse, I. Howard Marshall wrote:

(1) ἐν αὐτῷ τῷ καιρῷ (2:38 note) serves to link with the preceding incident. πάρειμι* can mean ‘to be present’ (Acts 10:33), but may also mean ‘to arrive’ (Acts 10:21; 12:20; 17:6; 24:19*; Diodorus Siculus 17:2, cited by Creed, 180). The impression is that messengers have arrived from Jerusalem bringing news of the latest incident there (J. Blinzler*, 25); ἀπαγγέλλω has the sense ‘to bring news of something fresh’ (7:18; Gn. 26:32; Est. 6:2; 1 Mac. 14:21). The situation reported concerns certain Galileans—the number, unspecified, need have been no more than a couple (Easton, 213)—who had been offering sacrifice at the temple in Jerusalem. The occasion could have been Passover, the only time when the laity slaughtered their own animals (Jeremias, Words, 207 n. 4), and the incident involved the killing of the men while they were sacrificing. Thus Pilate could be said to mix (μίγνυμι, Mt. 27:34; Rev. 8:7; 15:2**) their blood with that of their sacrifices (cf. SB II, 193). The expression need not be taken literally, but could simply be a gruesome metaphor for the two events taking place simultaneously. A number of events to which allusion is possibly being made are discussed by J. Blinzler*, 32–37. These include: 1. the affair of the ensigns in Jos. Bel. 2:169–174; Ant. 18:55–59, but this took place in Caesarea in AD 26; 2. the tumults associated with the building of an aqueduct (Jos. Bel. 2:175–177; Ant. 18:60–62), but this incident involved the murder of Judaeans with cudgels outside the temple; 3. an attack on some Samaritans (Jos. Ant. 18:85–87), but this took place in AD 36; 4. the slaughter of about 3,000 Jews offering Passover sacrifices by Archelaus in 4 BC (Jos. Bel. 2:8–13; Ant. 17:213–218). This incident, however, took place some thirty years earlier and was committed by a different ruler; moreover, the murder of 3,000 men would not bear comparison with an accident to 18. It is wisest to conclude that the event is not attested from secular sources. This, however, is no argument against its historicity, since Josephus’ account of Pilate’s career is very incomplete (cf. Philo, Leg. 299–305). Pilate would have been in Jerusalem at Passover time, and the Galileans had a reputation for rebelliousness. The suggestion that Zealots were involved (O. Cullmann, The State in the NT, London, 1957, 14) lacks proof. (I. Howard Marshall, The Gospel of Luke: A Commentary on the Greek Text [New International Greek Testament Commentary; Exeter, U.K.: Paternoster Press, 1978], 553)