Orientation

The mountainous terrain in Palestine offered many hiding places for bandits.

Often arising from the peasant class, bandits were a group of men (women occasionally but rarely participated) who preyed on the wealthy or on government soldiers. Their outlaw status usually required them to live in marginal geography, such as on the edge of a wilderness or deep inside a forest. 1st century Palestine had a significant population of Jewish bandits who lived in the many caves and wadis that dotted the mountainous landscape. Jesus seems to have been arrested as a potential bandit, was offered to the crowd as an alternative to Barabbas the bandit, and was crucified between bandits.

Disaffected Palestinians became bandits in response to various social stresses such as persecution, heavy taxes, debt, confiscation of land, or other wrenching economic changes. Bandit groups generally worked independently from each other, using a variety of goals and methods. While we are not certain how widespread banditry was in 1st century Palestine, we do know that it helped to create social chaos in the years leading up to the Jewish-Roman War of 66-70 A.D. Josephus reports that bandits were common before Herod the Great came to power in 39 B.C., and again from the 30s and 40s A.D. until 70 A.D. When Romans caught a bandit alive, they typically crucified him in a public place in order to frighten the local population and assert the superiority of Roman power.

Some 1,000 years before Jesus, during the latter years of the reign of King Saul, David became a bandit and a leader of bandits before taking Saul's place in the throne of Israel. Given the fierce jealousy Saul had for David, David probably had no other realistic choice than to become a bandit. In medieval England, Robin Hood and his men were also bandits.

The Greek word for bandit is lestes (plural: lestai), variously translated as "bandit," "robber," or "thief," which the New Testament uses a total of 15 times. To better understand how the writers of the New Testament use this word, click on the seven passages below:

• Jesus accuses the Temple leadership of banditry (Mark 11:17-18).

• Jesus is arrested as if he were a bandit (Mark 14:43-48).

• Jesus is crucified with bandits (Mark 15:27-28).

• Travelers to and from Jerusalem are at danger from attack by bandits (Luke 10:30-34).

• Shepherds and sheep are at risk from theft by bandits (John 10:1-5).

• The crowd chooses Barabbas, a bandit, instead of Jesus (John 18:38b-40).

• Paul is afraid of bandit attacks during his travels (2 Corinthians 11:25b-27).

Some Jewish leaders, along with Pilate, appear to have regarded Jesus as bandit or at least a potential bandit. The temple police arrested Jesus just as they would have arrested a bandit (14:48). The fact that Pilate offers the crowd a choice between Barabbas and Jesus implies that he believes Jesus to be at least as dangerous as Barabbas, if not more so. Pilate's decision to crucify Jesus between two bandits suggests that in his mind Jesus might as well be a bandit. But given how thoroughly Jesus rejected violence, his crucifixion as a bandit shows how badly others misunderstood him.

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