Matthew 27:1-10 When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death:… The day, whose dawn brought repentance to Peter, found the Jewish rulers still plotting how they might effect the murder of Jesus. They had in the night infamously condemned him as a blasphemer, thereby exposing him to the penalty of death by stoning. Almost a hundred years before this Judaea was conquered by Pompey, and made tributary to the Romans, yet it was not until about two years before this that it was made part of the province of Syria. Then the power of capital punishment was taken from the Jews. Surely the sceptre had now departed, and Shiloh must have come (see Genesis 49:10). Doubting whether the Roman governor would put Jesus to death for an alleged offence in religion, the Sanhedrin resolve to accuse him of treason against the Romans on the ground of his having allowed himself to be saluted as King of the Jews (cf. ver. 11; Luke 23:2; John 18:31). This decision brought Judas again upon the scene (ver. 3, etc.). I. WHAT COULD THIRTY SHEKELS DO? 1. They could sell Christ into the hands of murderers. The prophecy in Zechariah sets forth: (1) That God appointed one eminent Shepherd to feed the Jewish people, who are called "the flock of slaughter," evidently in anticipation of what they should suffer from the Romans. This blessed Person is Divine, and confessedly Messiah (see Zechariah 11:7). (2) That the ordinary guides had no regard for their charge: "Their own shepherds pity them not" (Zechariah 11:5). This was literally the case with the Jewish rulers, Pharisees, scribes, and priests, in our Lord's time. (3) That between these unworthy shepherds and the shepherds of God's appointing there was strong enmity: "My soul loathed them, trod their soul also abhorred me." So Christ had a holy loathing for the pride, hypocrisy, and wickedness of the scribes and Pharisees, and they cherished a malignant hatred of him for his purity and truth. (4) That he gives up his charge in judicial visitation. And here follows an awful description of the ruin to be brought upon them by the Romans (see ver. 9). (5) That the covenant between him and his people was broken, viz. the Sinai covenant, and his people rejected, because they refused the covenant from Zion which came to replace it (Zechariah 11:10). (6) That some of the people, however, should admit Messiah's claims. "So the poor of the flock," etc. (Zechariah 9:11). These were evidently the disciples of Jesus, who were chiefly from the humbler classes. (7) That in contrast to these, the heads of the nation estimate Messiah at the price of a slave: "thirty pieces of silver" - the "goodly price," as he sarcastically observes, "that I was prised at of them" (Zechariah 11:12, 13). When they had an opportunity of withdrawing from their infamous bargain with Judas, they refused it. 2. They could purchase "the potter's field, to bury strangers in. This field was thenceforth called The field of blood," and thereby became: (1) A monument to the truth of Scripture. Zechariah continues, "And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord" (cf. vers. 3-10; Zechariah 11:13). (2) A monument of the innocence of Jesus. This act of Judas was ordained by Providence to refute the sceptic who otherwise could object that Jesus was crucified as an impostor, on the testimony of a disciple who knew him well. In confessing Jesus innocent, Judas acknowledged his Messiahship, for otherwise he would not have been innocent. In this confession of Judas we have a specimen of the victory of Christ over Satan, and a warning to persecutors. (3) A monument of the infamy of the traitor and of the rulers. And it remained so when Matthew wrote. Jerome also says that in his days it was to be seen in AElia (the name of the city built on the site of Jerusalem), on the south side of Mount Zion. (4) It was "to bury strangers in." The unclean "stranger" must not, even in his burial, come near to the "holy" villains who murdered their Messiah! The "stranger" has a Friend in Jesus. As the priests by procuring the Lord's death had been unwitting agents in procuring the redemption of the world, so in the final disposal of the price of his blood they unconsciously did an act which represents the reception of the Lord's salvation by the Gentiles. He that has his burial through the blood of Christ may hope also for a resurrection through it. II. WHAT COULD THE SHEKELS NOT DO? 1. They could not redeem Christ from death. (1) Over that mile lying between the house of Caiaphas to that of Pilate, they led him away, "from prison and from judgment" (see Isaiah 53:7, 8), to "deliver him to the Gentiles," according to his prediction (cf. Matthew 20:19; John 18:32). The Churchmen of the Apostasy imitated their Jewish predecessors when they called in the civil power to shed for them the blood of the martyrs. (2) The bonds in which Jesus was now led differed from those in which he was carried to Annas. They were those special bonds which marked it to be the will of his persecutors that he should be crucified (see John 21:18). So we note that Jesus was put to death by his own countrymen in his true character as the "Son of God;" and by the Romans as "King of the Jews." (3) The true bonds which bound Jesus were those of his wondrous love to man. Other bonds could not have held him. He suffered himself to be bound, that man might be loosed from the bands of sin (see Proverbs 5:22; Lamentations 1:12-14). So likewise "by his stripes we are healed." 2. They could not purchase the repentance of the rulers. (1) "What is that to us?" These men did not concern themselves about the innocency of Jesus. They did not say, "What is that to us?" when Judas came to them saying, "What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you?" They paid the price of blood, and were determined to shed it. If the elders of Jezreel, to please Jezebel, murder Naboth, is it nothing to Ahab (see 1 Kings 21:19)? (2) "See thou to that." Thus they disclaim the guilt of their own wicked instrument, and turn him over to his terrors. Obstinate sinners stand on their guard against convictions. Those who betray Christ, and justify themselves, are worse than Judas. The resolutely impenitent look with disdain upon the penitent. The wicked encourage men to crime, and desert them after its commission. (3) The cold villainy of the priests and elders bears testimony to the injustice with which they had treated Christ. (4) "And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury." An astonishing amount of rascality may be associated with the utmost ceremonial scrupulosity. Probably they had taken the money out of the treasury to pay the price of blood (see Matthew 23:24). They were fearful of defiling the temple with blood money, while ruthlessly defiling their consciences with innocent blood. Men are often scrupulous about trifles who stick not at great crimes. 3. They could not redeem Judas from perdition. (1) Some think Judas was partly induced to betray his Master by the expectation that, as Messiah, he could not suffer death, and that he would deliver himself from the rulers as he had done before. He might, therefore, have calculated that in this case Christ would have the honour, the Jews would have the shame, and he would have the money. They are mistaken who imagine that Christ will work his miracles in the interests of selfishness. But actions are not to be estimated by their consequences, but by their relation to the Law of God. (2) How differently did the silver appear to the traitor before and after his transgression! He "cast down" the price of the innocent blood. How the victim now hates the snare! That which is ill gotten brings sorrow to the getter (see Job 20:12-15). (3) As Judas was actuated by avarice in his sin, so was he possessed with despair in his repentance. Remorse, sharpened by the sense of the contempt and abhorrence of good men, is unbearable. Miserable is the wretch who must go to hell for ease. The repentance of Judas was that of the damned at the judgment, when mercy's door is shut. (4) There is little reason to believe that the repentance of Judas was more than the remorse of an upbraiding conscience (cf. Matthew 26:24; John 17:12; Acts 1:25). It was a repentance which needs to be repented of (2 Corinthians 7:10). Had he returned the money before he had betrayed Christ, he would have agreed while yet in the way (see Matthew 5:23-26). Had he gone to Christ, or even to the disciples of Christ, in his distress, he might have obtained some relief. Sinners under conviction of sin will find their old companions miserable comforters. The devil by the help of the priests drove Judas to despair. Despair of the mercy of God is a fatal sin. One may know his sin, repent, confess, make restitution, and yet be like Judas! - J.A.M. Parallel Verses KJV: When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death: |
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