Zechariah 11:12-14 And I said to them, If you think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver.… And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord. Why these words should have been referred to by the Evangelist Matthew (Matthew 27:9, 10), and applied to Christ and Judas, I cannot explain. Nor can any one else, judging from the conflicting interpretations of biblical critics. Matthew not only misquotes the words, but ascribes them to Jeremiah, and not to Zechariah. The probability is that the "thirty pieces of silver" and the "potter's field," in connection with Judas, reminded the evangelist of these words, brought them to his memory, and from his memory he quotes them; for he gives them very incorrectly, neither according to the Greek version nor the original Hebrew. As the words, as they stand here, have an historical meaning entirely independent of St. Matthew's application of them, they may be fairly employed to illustrate a model spiritual teacher in relation to secular acknowledgments of his teachings. Three things are suggested concerning the shepherd in this capacity. I. HE LEAVES THE SECULAR ACKNOWLEDGMENT TO THE FREE CHOICE OF THOSE TO WHOM HIS SERVICES HAVE BEEN RENDERED. "And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear." He does not exact anything, nor does he even suggest any amount. He leaves the matter entirely to themselves, give or not give, give this amount or that. This is as it should be. Ministers, whilst they have a Divine claim to a secular remuneration of their services, are neither authorized nor are they disposed, if they are true teachers, to enforce their claims upon the reluctant. "We have not used this power," says Paul (see 1 Corinthians 9:9-17). It may be asked - Why should the temporal support of the spiritual teacher be left entirely to the choice of the people? 1. Because contributions that are entirely free are the only proofs to the minister that his services are really valued. What proof is there in the amounts raised by tithes or rates, or, as in some Nonconformist Churches, by diaconate guarantees, that the service of the existing minister has been really valued? 2. Because the contributions that are entirely free arc the only contributions that are of any moral worth. Those who give from custom or law, or in any way reluctantly, without a "willing mind," have no claim to moral credit; their contributions, however large, are counted worthless in the empire of virtue. II. HIS SPIRITUAL SERVICES ARE SOMETIMES SHAMEFULLY UNDERRATED, "So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver." Thirty shekels. An amount in our money of about £3 3s. 9d. This was the price they put on his services, just the price paid for a bond-servant (Exodus 21:32). 1. Do not determine the real worth of a spiritual teacher by the amount of his stipend. This is often done: all fools do this. Yet who does not know ministers who get for their labours £100 a year who are of far higher character, and render nobler services than many who get their £500, and even £1000? The fact is, the minister who wants a large income, as a rule, must get a large congregation; and he who would get a large congregation must pander to popular prejudices and tastes. 2. Deplore the backwardness of the world in appreciating the highest services. The highest service one man can render another is the impartation of those Divine ideas that will most quicken, invigorate, and ennoble his mind. But such services are, alas! the least valued. Men will pay their scullery maid or their groom a larger sum every year than they pay their minister. "Thirty shekels," £3, for a minister; £100 for a horse! Curates are starving, whilst cooks, dressmakers, and tailors are getting fat. III. HIS INDEPENDENT SOUL REPUDIATES INADEQUATE SECULAR ACKNOWLEDGMENTS. "And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord." He felt the insult of being offered such a miserable sum. "Cast it unto the potter" - perhaps a proverbial expression, meaning, "Throw it to the temple potter." "The most suitable person to whom to cast the despicable sum, plying the trade, as he did, in the polluted valley (2 Kings 23:10) of Hinnom, because it furnished him with the most suitable clay." A true teacher would rather starve than accept such a miserable acknowledgment for his services. Your money perish with you! CONCLUSION. Oh for ministers of this lofty type! - ministers who feel as Paul did when he said, "I seek not yours, but you" (2 Corinthians 12:14). - D.T. Parallel Verses KJV: And I said unto them, If ye think good, give me my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver. |
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