05.02 - BARNABAS

2. BARNABAS.¹⁰²⁰ The writer of the Acts of the Apostles reports, Acts 4:36, that there was given to the Cyprian Ἰωσήφ the surname Βαρναβας ἀπὸτῶνἀποστόλων,ὅἐστινμεθερμηνευόμενονυἱὸςπαρακλήσεως. Now even if it be true that “the Apostles” so named him, yet it is improbable that they were the first to coin the name, which rather appears to be an ancient one. The derivation given by the writer of the early history of Christianity is clear only as regards its first part: βαρ is of course the Aramaic בַּר, son, so frequently found in Semitic names. In regard to ναβας, however, the second element in the name, it is not evident which Semitic word has been translated παράκλησις in the Apostolic text. The usual conjecture is נְבוּאָה. But this signifies a prophecy, and is accordingly rendered quite accurately in LXX 2Es 6:14 [MT Ezra 6:14], Nehemiah 6:12, 2 Chronicles 15:8 by προφητεία, and in 2 Chronicles 9:29 by λόγοι. A. Klostermann¹⁰²¹ therefore proposes the Aramaic נְוָחָא, pacification, consolation; but we doubt whether this will explain the transcription ναβας. It would seem better, even were the etymology given in Acts more intelligible than it is, to leave it out of account as a basis of explanation,¹⁰²² since we are at once assailed by the suspicion that we have here, as in many other passages, a folk-etymology ex post facto. We must rather try to understand the name from itself; and, as we believe, two possible explanations of the -ναβας, which is alone in question, lie open to us. In the Greek Bible, Nun, the father of Joshua, is called Ναυη. Whatever be the explanation of this form, whether or not it is actually to be understood, as has been supposed, as a corruptions¹⁰²³ of ΝΑΥΝ into ΝΑΥΗ, does not signify. The only important matter is that, for Ναυη, there also occur the variants Ναβη or Ναβι. Whether this Ναυη—Ναβη—Ναβι was already in use as a personal name (= prophet) in the time of the LXX cannot be ascertained; certainly, however, it had later on become known as such to the Jews through the Greek Bible. We might, then, possibly find this name in the -ναβας: Βαρναβας would be a Βαρναβη or Βαρναβι with a Greek termination—son of a prophet. But the author thinks it a more promising theory to connect Βαρναβας with the recently-discovered Semitic name βαρνεβοῦς. An Inscription¹⁰²⁴ found in Islahie, the ancient Nicopolis, in Northern Syria, which is assigned, probably on account of the written character, to the 3rd or 4th century A.D., runs as follows:—

Βαρνεβοῦντὸνκαὶ,¹⁰²⁵ἈπολλινάριονΣαμμανᾶαὐτθαίρετονδημιουργὸνκαὶγυμνασίαρχονφίλ[οι]. The editors explain the name quite correctly as son of Nebo.¹⁰²⁶ Their conjecture can be further confirmed, particularly by Symmachus, who in Isaiah 46:1 renders נְבוֹ, Nebo, by Νεβοῦς, while the LXX, Aquila and Theodotion transcribe it by Ναβώ.¹⁰²⁷Βαρνεβοῦς is one of the many personal names which have Nebo as a constituent part, and), as a theophoric name, will be relatively old. The hypothesis of the affinity, or of the original identity, of Βαρναβας and Βαρνεβοῦς is further borne out by the well-known fact that in the transcription of other names compounded with Nebo the E-sound of the word is sometimes replaced by a,¹⁰²⁸e.g., Nebuchadnezzar = (LXX) Ναβουχοδονοσορ = (Berosus and Josephus) Ναβουχοδονόσορος = (Strabo) Ναβοκοδρόσορος ; and Nebuzaradan2 Kings 25:8 = (LXX 4Ki. 25꞉8) Ναβουζαρδαν. It is therefore highly probable that the form Βαρναβοῦς might occur instead of Βαρνεβοῦς. The former appears to us to be the original form of the name Βαρναβᾶς.¹⁰²⁹ The termination –οῦς must, in that case, have developed into –ᾶς, but this is no extraordinary phenomenon in view of the arbitrariness with which Semitic names were Graecised; perhaps the Jews intentionally substituted the very common Greek name-ending –ας for –ους in order to remove from the name its suspiciously pagan appearance: the mutilation of Gentile theophoric names was looked upon by the Jews as an actual religious duty,¹⁰³⁰ on the authority of Deuteronomy 7:26 and Deuteronomy 12:3. We indeed see this duty discharged in another personal name formed with Nebo: the name Abed Nego¹⁰³¹ in the Book of Daniel is most probably an intentional defacement of Abed Nebo, servant of Nebo. Thus did the later Graeco-Jewish Βαρναβᾶς arise from the ancient Semitic βαρνεβοῦς or Βαρναβοῦς. It then became the part of popular etymology to give a religious interpretation to the name thus defaced from motives of piety. The very difficulty of establishing which Semitic word was believed to correspond to –ναβας bears out the hypothesis enunciated above.