What do we know about Bar-Jesus?

[Dolphin]

Who was he? Some translations refer to him as a sorcerer while others translate his name to mean ‘son of Jesus’ or ‘son of Joshua’ and a false prophet.

As I can read, write, and speak Greek I looked into this and his name in Greek is Βαριησοῦ which means “of Jesus” but the of does not refer to being a “child of” but rather as a “prophet of” but in this case is a false prophet.

What else do we know of his story?

Also - he is mentioned in Acts 13:6-12 as is Simeon of Cyrenian, is this the same Simeon of Cyrene that carried the cross for Jesus during the passion or no?

 

[po18guy]

Simeon and Simon are different men. One a sorcerer, the other the father of Alexander and Rufus. Essentially all we know of them is the brief mention that each receives. Simon of Cyrene was compelled into a great blessing of carrying our Lord’s cross while Simeon the (whatever) was accursed for desiring to buy and sell spiritual things - the grave sin of Simony is named after him.

 

[EndTimes]

as an aside: Yeshua // Jesus – was a common name back when.

It is Bar which means “son of” … A common Prefix - as in Barabbas…

"When they had traveled through the entire island [of Cyprus] as far as Paphos,
they found a sorcerer, a Jewish false prophet named Bar - Jesus

 

[Bithynian]

Βαριησοῦ

The initial βαρ is the Greek transliterstion of the Hebrew בַּר (bar) meaning “son”.

 

[porthos11]

Who was he? Some translations refer to him as a sorcerer while others translate his name to mean ‘son of Jesus’ or ‘son of Joshua’ and a false prophet.

As I can read, write, and speak Greek I looked into this and his name in Greek is Βαριησοῦ which means “of Jesus” but the of does not refer to being a “child of” but rather as a “prophet of” but in this case is a false prophet.

What else do we know of his story?

Also - he is mentioned in Acts 13:6-12 as is Simeon of Cyrenian, is this the same Simeon of Cyrene that carried the cross for Jesus during the passion or no?

It’s not just “of Jesus” but “son of Jesus”, bar- being the Aramaic prefix for “son of”. So bar-Iesou is literally “son of Jesus”.

 

[redal]

Preformatted text

The initial βαρ is the Greek transliterstion of the Hebrew בַּר ( bar ) meaning “son”.

This…

I’m not sure who not he original poster of this thread was speaking of as “bar Jesus” in scripture…perhaps the anti-Roman revolutionary Bar-Abbas, who the Jews wanted freed instead of the Christ? By tradition he had the first name of Jesus, which would see Jesus Bar-Abbas as Jesus the son of the father (bar and abba)…an interesting twist since many of those clamoring for his freedom viewed Bar-Abbas as a Messiah figure to release the Jews from the oppression of the Romans, and the real Christ as only a rabble rouser who would make things worse on them because of his revolutionary believes and actions, which offended both the Jewish religious establishment and the Romans.

 

[porthos11]

Bithynian:

The initial βαρ is the Greek transliterstion of the Hebrew בַּר ( bar ) meaning “son”.

This…

I’m not sure who not he original poster of this thread was speaking of as “bar Jesus” in scripture…perhaps the anti-Roman revolutionary Bar-Abbas, who the Jews wanted freed instead of the Christ? By tradition he had the first name of Jesus, which would see Jesus Bar-Abbas as Jesus the son of the father (bar and abba)…an interesting twist since many of those clamoring for his freedom viewed Bar-Abbas as a Messiah figure to release the Jews from the oppression of the Romans, and the real Christ as only a rabble rouser who would make things worse on them because of his revolutionary believes and actions, which offended both the Jewish religious establishment and the Romans.

Barjesus was a sorcerer and false prophet based in Cyprus. He had a Greek alias, Elymas.

 

[irenaeuslyons]

Pope B16 mentioned that in his book. An interesting twist indeed thats not immediately obvious.