Mat 27:3-4 | KingComments | STEP | Judas followed the ‘trial’. When he sees that the Lord is condemned, he wants to withdraw from the plot. During the interrogation and mistreatment he did nothing. It seems he has been waiting for the moment when the Lord would miraculously rid himself of His assailants. But Judas is blind to Who Christ is and to the work He will do. The money has him in its grip. Therefore, all his considerations are in vain. Nor is his repentance a repentance for his crime, but for the outcome that he did not estimate. Judas knows that the Lord is innocent. His conscience, deceived by satan, needs to bear witness to the innocence of the Lord. The hardening of the chief priests and elders is, if possible, even worse than that of Judas. Judas acknowledges that he has betrayed innocent blood. The leaders are unscrupulous, people without any feeling. They want to get rid of Christ whatever it costs them in money or people. After the complete insensitivity of the leaders Judas sinks into complete despair. What he seemed to have won with his betrayal, he throws back for nothing into the temple sanctuary. Tempted and completely overwhelmed by the devil, he then loses himself as well. He goes away and hangs himself. It is no redemption from his tormenting conscience. His deed will torment him forever in the pains of hell ( ; ). The chief priests have the silver back in their hands. It reveals their supreme hypocrisy. The money that they themselves have paid out for the betrayal is now labelled as blood money. It betrays their blindness. They themselves are the cause of this blood money. In so doing, they condemn themselves. They confer what to do with this money. Every deliberation is based on the idea that they want to get rid of the Son of God, while pretending to themselves that they want to keep clean hands. As always, God is above this event and uses the outcome of their deliberations as a testimony against them. By buying the field they have created a permanent memorial of their own sin and the blood they have shed. Through the murder of God’s Son, the world has become a Field of Blood. The plan to use the pieces of silver for the purchase of the Potter’s Field was also foretold by God in His Word. The citation comes from Zechariah 11 ( ). [That it says “which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet” may have been the result of a later insertion, for it is possible that originally there was nothing but “the prophet”.]

‏ Matthew 27:3-4

The Death of Judas

Judas followed the ‘trial’. When he sees that the Lord is condemned, he wants to withdraw from the plot. During the interrogation and mistreatment he did nothing. It seems he has been waiting for the moment when the Lord would miraculously rid himself of His assailants. But Judas is blind to Who Christ is and to the work He will do. The money has him in its grip. Therefore, all his considerations are in vain. Nor is his repentance a repentance for his crime, but for the outcome that he did not estimate.

Judas knows that the Lord is innocent. His conscience, deceived by satan, needs to bear witness to the innocence of the Lord. The hardening of the chief priests and elders is, if possible, even worse than that of Judas. Judas acknowledges that he has betrayed innocent blood. The leaders are unscrupulous, people without any feeling. They want to get rid of Christ whatever it costs them in money or people.

After the complete insensitivity of the leaders Judas sinks into complete despair. What he seemed to have won with his betrayal, he throws back for nothing into the temple sanctuary. Tempted and completely overwhelmed by the devil, he then loses himself as well. He goes away and hangs himself. It is no redemption from his tormenting conscience. His deed will torment him forever in the pains of hell (Jn 17:12; Mt 18:8-9).

The chief priests have the silver back in their hands. It reveals their supreme hypocrisy. The money that they themselves have paid out for the betrayal is now labelled as blood money. It betrays their blindness. They themselves are the cause of this blood money. In so doing, they condemn themselves. They confer what to do with this money. Every deliberation is based on the idea that they want to get rid of the Son of God, while pretending to themselves that they want to keep clean hands.

As always, God is above this event and uses the outcome of their deliberations as a testimony against them. By buying the field they have created a permanent memorial of their own sin and the blood they have shed. Through the murder of God’s Son, the world has become a Field of Blood.

The plan to use the pieces of silver for the purchase of the Potter’s Field was also foretold by God in His Word. The citation comes from Zechariah 11 (Zec 11:12-13). [That it says “which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet” may have been the result of a later insertion, for it is possible that originally there was nothing but “the prophet”.]