Death of Judas.

(Mat. 27:3-10).

Only Evangelist Matthew tells us of the further fate of Judas the betrayer. “Then Judas, His betrayer, seeing that He had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders” — it is of course possible, that Judas didn’t expect Jesus to be sentenced to death, or by and large, being blinded by avarice, didn’t consider the consequences of his betrayal. When his Teacher was condemned and his greed satiated with the silver coins, his conscience suddenly awakened: the whole horror of his mindless act dawned upon him. Unfortunately, while he did repent, this repentance was joined to despair and not to the hope of God’s all-forgiving mercy. This type of repentance is just an unbearable agony of the conscience, without any hope of reformation. That’s why it is fruitless and useless, and that’s why it led Judas toward suicide. “And brought back the thirty pieces of silver” — that, which a short time ago seemed so alluring, now, when his conscience began to stir, appeared to him quite repulsive. Such is any sin in general. It’s not silver coins that he should have thrown down before the high priests, but himself — before the Lord Jesus Christ, pleading for forgiveness of his sin, and of course, he would have then been forgiven. However, he is not considering help from above but to rectify this with just his own endeavor: returning the money, he testifies: “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” According to Saint John Chrysostom, this testimony increases the guilt of both Judas and the high priests: “He — because he didn’t repent, or when he did, it was too late, and he pronounced judgment on himself, because he confessed that he betrayed an innocent Lord; their guilt is increased, because when they had the opportunity to repent and change their minds, they didn’t repent.” They treated Judas heartlessly, coldly and mockingly. “What is that to us? You see to it!” This indicates their moral coarseness. “Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed.” He threw down the unaccepted coins in the temple, thinking that perhaps this act may salve his conscience — to no avail: his anguish brought him to such a state, that he went and hanged himself. Following this, he apparently fell to the ground as Apostle Peter states in Acts (1:18): “and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his entrails gushed out.”

Even with all their corruption, the high priests found it impossible to utilize this money for the temple — “put them into the treasury,” i.e. into the temple treasury, as it was the “price of blood.” Furthermore, they apparently were basing their action on Deut. 23:18, in which case, their hatred of the Lord Jesus Christ becomes apparent, just as it becomes apparent that they valued His betrayal at 30 pieces of silver. The characterization of the Pharisees is made remarkably clear in their tendency to fulfill a minor commandment, while violating an important one — not to condemn the innocent. There was a field belonging to a renowned potter, which was useless because it was used for excavating clay, firing clay pots and “bury strangers in” — Jews and proselytes that died among the huge numbers, which gathered in Jerusalem at Passover and other significant feast-days. Thus, Prophet Jeremiah’s prophesy had been fulfilled: “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the value of Him who was priced, Whom they of the children of Israel priced”: “And gave them for the potter’s field.” However, nothing resembling these words can be found in Prophet Jeremiah: the only part in 32:7, speaks in general terms the purchase of a potter’s field. Perhaps a later transcriber had made this insertion.

We find similar statements in Prophet Zechariah 11:12-13. There is also mention of a potter in Jeremiah chps. 18-19, and it is possible that Zechariah took his subject matter from there. Apart from this, in ancient times it was the accepted thing to abbreviate personal names, and it’s possible that the transcriber may have made a mistake by putting Jeremiaiah’s abbreviated name (Jriah) instead of Zachariah’s (Zriah). The meaning of this section from the Book of Zechariah is this: God had placed the Prophet as the representative of the High Shepherd God, to attend to the sheep of the house of Israel. The Jews didn’t listen to the Prophet i.e. they didn’t listen to God Himself. In order to demonstrate to the Jews, how little they value the ministrations of the Prophet and consequently of God Himself, God directs the Prophet to ask them: what sum would they give him for his pastoral efforts? They gave him the price of a slave — 30 pieces of silver i.e. they valued the Prophet’s labors, and consequently of God Himself, as trivial, like that of a slave. God then said to the Prophet: put this vast sum (ironically of course) at which they valued Me, into the temple treasury. And I took it (said the Prophet), and threw it unto the potter, in the house of the Lord (Zech. 11:11-12). This prophecy was fulfilled with the betrayal of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Jews evaluated their Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ at 30 pieces of silver — the price of a slave — and with this money purchased land from a potter.