Robber
Robber
ROBBER (, Vulgate latro) is found in Authorized Version only in Joh 10:1; Joh 10:8; Joh 18:40 (Barabbas). In Revised Version NT 1881, OT 1885 it stands for the same Greek word also in Mat 21:13 = Mar 11:17 = Luk 19:46 (den of robbers); Mat 26:55 = Mar 14:48 = Luk 22:52 (Are ye come out as against a robber?); Mat 27:38; Mat 27:44 = Mar 15:27 (two robbers); Luk 10:30; Luk 10:36 (fell among robbers). In all these places Authorized Version has thief, which elsewhere is the equivalent of . The two Greek words differ precisely as the two English; the (robber, brigand, highwayman) takes by force, the (thief) by stealth. Judas was a thief (Joh 12:6), Barabbas a robber (Joh 18:40, cf. Mar 15:7). But earlier English versions join with Authorized Version in ignoring this distinction; thief occurs in them all in the above passages from the Synoptists; in Joh 10:1; Joh 10:8 when another word was needed, Tind. [Note: Tindales NT 1526 and 1534, Pent. 1530.] and Geneva have robber, but Cranmer murtherer (cf. Luther, Mrder); in Joh 18:40 Wyc. [Note: Wyclifs Bible (NT c. 1380, OT c. 1382, Purveys Revision c. 1388).] and Rhem. [Note: Rhemish NT 1582.] have thief, Tind. [Note: Tindales NT 1526 and 1534, Pent. 1530.] robber, Cran. [Note: Cranmers Great Bible 1539.] and Gen. [Note: Geneva NT 1557, Bible 1560.] murtherer. But in 16th cent. English, thief was used in a wider sense than now, including all kinds of robbery. Thus Shakespeare calls pirates water thieves (Merchant of Venice, i. 3); Latimer (Sermons, Parker Soc. 208) calls Robin Hood a traitor and a thief, and (139) applying Is 1:23 says He calleth princes thieves. Had they a standing at Shooters Hill or Standgate Hole, to take a purse? So Cranmer (Remains, Parker Soc. 107), Job said not These wicked thieves have wrought me this woe; but referred all to God. See Trench, NT Synonyms, xliv.
Palestine has always, if its government has been weak, been infested by robbers, to whom its rocks and caves afford plentiful cover and shelter (cf. Jdg 9:25, Hos 6:9; Hos 7:1). Herod, when quite young, first made his reputation by ruthlessly executing robbers in Galilee (Josephus, Ant. xiv. ix. 2, BJ i. x. 5). At a later time he destroyed robbers who lived in inaccessible caverns, by lowering chests full of soldiers from the cliff above (Ant. xiv. xv. 45, BJ i. xvi. 24). This reminds us of den of robbers (Jer 7:11, Mat 21:13 ||). Not only had the Temple become a haunt of robbersthe dealers in the Temple market were notorious for their extortionbut it gave them fancied security in their evil-doing. (During the Jewish War the Temple was literally the stronghold of the robbers or Zealots, BJ iv. iii. 7, etc.). There was a great outbreak of robbery on the death of Herod (Ant. xvii. x., BJ ii. iv.). We read later of robbers plundering a servant of the Emperors, near Bethhoron, which was avenged on the neighbouring villagers by Cumanus (Ant. xx. v. 4, BJ ii. xii. 2), and of Fadus, Felix, and Festus destroying large numbers of them (Ant. xx. i. 1, viii. 5, 10, BJ ii. xiii. 2, xiv. 1). Under the later procurators the country swarmed with them. It is probable that some of these robbers were really Zealots, in rebellion against the authority of Rome, so that there was an element of misplaced, patriotism and even religion in their proceedings. Trench (l.c.) shows how this may throw light on the character of the Penitent Robber. In any case, Josephus at a later date identifies robbers and Zealots (BJ iv. iii. 3, 9, etc.).
The road from Jerusalem to Jericho, the scene of the parable of the Good Samaritan, has always had a bad name for robbers. Near it Pompey destroyed two robbers strongholds (Strabo, xvi. 2); Jerome (on Jer 3:2) speaks of its dangers, and derives the ascent of Adummim on this road from the blood shed there by robbers (Loc. Heb. s.v.). See Stanley, Sin. [Note: Sinaitic.] and Pal. [Note: Palestine, Palestinian.] 314, 424, and art. Samaritan (The Good).
Harold Smith.
Fuente: A Dictionary Of Christ And The Gospels
Robber
“a robber, brigand” (akin to leia, “booty”), “one who plunders openly and by violence” (in contrast to kleptes, “a thief,” see below), is always translated “robber” or “robbers” in the RV, as the AV in Joh 10:1, Joh 10:8; Joh 18:40; 2Co 11:26; the AV has “thief” or “thieves” in Mat 21:13, and parallel passages; Mat 26:55, and parallel passages; Mat 27:38, Mat 27:44; Mar 15:27; Luk 10:30, Luk 10:36; but “thief” is the meaning of kleptes. See THIEF.
an adjective signifying “robbing temples” (hieron, “a temple,” and sulao, “to rob”), is found in Act 19:37. Cp. hierosuleo, “to rob a temple,” Rom 2:22, AV, “commit sacrilege.”