Judas Barsabbas was a leader in the Jerusalem church and was chosen to deliver the

decree to Antioch (Acts 15:22). There was also a Joseph Barsabbas, who was nearly

chosen to replace Judas Iscariot as one of the twelve (Acts 1:21-23), and was also known

as Justus. Two explanations for the name Barsabbas (Acts 1:23, 15:22) are given in the

commentaries. One is that Barsabbas is a festal name, given to someone who was born of

the Sabbath. However, the name is unattested, and it would be a remarkable coincidence

for two leading figures in the Jerusalem church to have independently the same very rare

name. Furthermore, according to Williams, Sabbath names are almost always first names,

rather than second names.(1) The second explanation is that Joseph and Judas were

brothers and that their father was called Sabba. However, the language used in both 1:23

and 15:22 is inconsistent with the theory that the name Barsabbas was a mere

patronymic. We would expect just a straight genitive.

The new explanation offered here is that Joseph and Judas were brothers and were given

the name ‘Barsabbas’ by Jesus or the apostles. The naming of Joseph and Judas would

then parallel the giving of the name 'Boanerges' to the brothers James and John (Mark

3:17). It is not surprising to find brothers being given the same new name, since new

names in the Jesus movement served to replace the patronymic as the means to

distinguish the people from others with the same first name. We see this in John 1:42,

‘You are Simon son of John. You are to be called Cephas’. The only other mention of

Peter’s father is in John 21:15, 16, & 17, where Jesus repeated the question to Peter,

"Simon son of John, do you love me". Here Peter’s loyalty is in question so his father’s

name is used instead of the name ‘Cephas’, which was given to him when he declared his

allegiance to Jesus. In the Jesus movement loyalty to one’s biological family, and

particularly one’s father, was replaced by loyalty to Jesus and the gospel (Matt 23:9; Matt

10:37; Luke 14:25-26; Matt 12:50; Mark 3:35; Luke 8:21; Matt 8:21; Luke 9:59-60; Luke

12:53; Matt 10:35), so it is fully to be expected that patronymics were replaced by

pseudo-patronymics with religious significance. Boanerges, Barnabas, BarJesus(3) (Acts

13:6), and BarKokhba are further examples of pseudo-patronymics. The high frequency of

pseudo-patronymics may explain the rather curious phraseology in Mark 10:46,

"Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus." Perhaps Mark is telling us that this patronymic is really

just a natural patronymic.(3)

Another example where the fathers name was replaced is the case of John the Baptist. He

was going to be named ‘Zechariah’ after his father, but was called ‘John’ on the insistence

of his mother.

Acts 15:32 tells us that Judas Barsabbas was a prophet and this increases our suspicion

that his second name was given for religious reasons. There is reason to believe that

religious renaming was particularly common among prophets.

So, if Barsabbas was indeed a new name, what might it have signified? The name is often

interpreted as ‘son of the Sabbath day’, but it could equally mean ‘son of the Sabbath

year’, or ‘son of rest’. These are related concepts and it is probably not possible to

determine the exactly what meaning the name would have carried for Jesus and the

apostles. ‘Son of rest’ brings to mind the words of Jesus of Matt. 11:28, ‘Come to me, all

you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke

upon you, and learn fro me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for

your souls.’

Alternatively (or in a addition) the Sabbath year might lie behind the name, given Jesus’

proclamation of Jubilee in Luke 4:16-21. Joseph Barsabbas joined Jesus at the very start of

his ministry (Acts 1:21-23) and some have identified this time as a Sabbath year (See

Riesner, ‘Paul’s Early Period’ p 43-45). It has also been argued that the events of Acts 15,

when Judas Barsabbas travelled to Antioch, took place during a Sabbath year.(4) The

events of Acts 15 can be dated to 48-50 and it can be shown that a Sabbath year occurred

in this time period. Similarly the later Aegean collection belongs to 55-57, which also

corresponds to a Sabbath year. Also, the apostles’ request that Paul and his companions

‘remember the poor’ (Gal. 2:10) is particularly understandable if it was a Sabbath year,

since the lack of harvest created hardship. Furthermore, Paul’s two mentions of ‘fourteen

years’ both come into sharper focus. In Gal. 2:1 the fourteen years end with Paul’s visit to

Jerusalem, which we are proposing was a Sabbath year. Similarly, the fourteen years of 2

Cor. 12:1 ends at the time of writing, which was the time of the Aegean collection. In each

case Paul may simply be counting Sabbath years (fourteen years being two Sabbath year

cycles). He needs to do no research to calculate the fourteen year intervals in each case;

he simply recalls that the intervals started two Sabbath years previously. The Sabbath year

cycles explain why these fourteen year intervals come naturally to Paul’s mind. Some

further evidence that Paul organized a collection after his Acts 15 visit to Jerusalem is

presented in the discussion of Titus-Timothy.

It is therefore possible that Joseph and Judas left their fields in accordance with the

Sabbath year requirement of Lev 25:1-13 and followed Jesus (Mark 10:29), who gave them

the name ‘Barsabbas’. Judas would then have returned to his fields in non-Sabbath years,

but, because of his Sabbath year observance, became available in a subsequent Sabbath

year to travel to Antioch (Acts 15:22-33).

While we cannot know the exact circumstance in which the name ‘Barsabbas’ was given,

it seems likely that it was given in adult life and carried religious significance.

Joseph Barsabbas was also called "Justus" and this name/epithet is interesting. It is

possible that he had been named "Justus" (Just) by his fellow Jews because of his

religious devotion.

(1)M.H. Williams, "Palestinian Jewish Personal Names in Acts", The Book of Acts in its

First Century Setting Vol 4 The Book of Acts in its Palestinian Setting Ed R. Bauckham

(Eerdmans, Grand Rapids) p 101-2.

(2) See R. Strelan, ‘Who was Bar-Jesus (Acts 13:6-12)?’, Biblica 85 [2004]: 65-81

(3) Thanks to Stephen Carlson for this and other observations.

(4)J. Jeremias, ‘Sabbathjahr und neutestamentliche Chronolgie’ Zeitschrift fur die

Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft 1928 p 98-103.

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