Nicodemus

The rich ">Pharisee and member of the ">Sanhedrin who became, for a time, a secret follower of Jesus, until the death of Jesus when he openly went along with Joseph of Arimathea to claim Jesus's body and have it buried.

Nicodemus, whose name means "victor/y over the people" in Greek, appears only in the Gospel of John. He is recorded as first seeking out Jesus at night to clarify how he may know that Jesus was in fact "a teacher who has come from God," to which Jesus told him about the need for a spiritual rebirth (Jn 3:1-21). We hear of him again in Jn 7:50, when he sought to defend Jesus by urging the Jewish leaders not to condemn Jesus when they had not given him a fair hearing, for which he was given a verbal slap in the face (v52). Upon the death of Jesus he openly accompanied Joseph of Arimathea to claim Jesus's body, bringing with him "seventy-five pounds" of embalming herbs, for burial (Jn 19:39).

We know nothing about Nicodemus's private life or background, though he must have hailed from a fairly well-to-do family to find a place among the council of Jewish leaders. A conjecture proposes that he may be Nicodemus ben Gorion, the brother of the Jewish historian ">Josephus. Though one of the three richest man in Jerusalem, he was reduced to abject poverty as a result of his faith so that his daughter had, eventually, to beg for food. This identification, however, remains only a conjecture.

CONCORDANCE (NIV)
Nicodemus is mentioned 6x in verses in the Gospel of John:

Jn 3:1 — Now there was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a member of the Jewish ruling council. [He came to Jesus at night and said, "Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God. For no-one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him."]

Jn 3:4 — "How can a man be born when he is old?" Nicodemus asked. "Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother's womb to be born!"

Jn 3:9 — [The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."] "How can this be?" Nicodemus asked. ["You are Israel's teacher," said Jesus, "and do you not understand these things?]

Jn 7:50 — [No! But this mob that knows nothing of the law--there is a curse on them."] Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, ["Does our law condemn a man without first hearing him to find out what he is doing?"]

Jn 19:39 — [Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus. Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews. With Pilate's permission, he came and took the body away.] He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night. Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about seventy-five pounds. [Taking Jesus' body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen. This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs.]