I am going to try a new approach starting today. Each study will have a stand-alone blog. Once a chapter is finished it will be archived as a full chapter. This should make it easier for you to go immediately to the current section. Until I find a better solution, this is the way that we will go…

Remember, it is vitally important to look up the verses. I do not quote all verses but expect you to look them up. Catching the small nuances of the scripture means that we need to read it. This helps to understand and follow God’s Word.

The Bible reading plan is still on schedule. I encourage each of you to spend the twenty minutes each day to read through the Bible with me in a year. Look at the webpage for the schedule…

Matthew 27:1-2

It had been a long night. The Chief Priest examined Yeshua and found no error in him. They decided to deliver him up to death on the charge of blasphemy. This was based upon His claim to be the Messiah. No credible witness was found against Him. The only charge that they found was the men who quoted Him saying that He would destroy the sanctuary and rebuild it in three days. The Jewish people did not have the authority under Roman law to convict a man by executing the death penalty (Jn 18:31).  The Roman court did not convene at night, so they had to wait until the day in order to bring the case before the governor.  There is a lot that will take place quickly on this day so that Jesus, the Lamb of God, could be sacrificed during the Passover.

Matthew 27:3-10

Luke records drama that took place at the Passover Seder that is easily missed in this study. I stated in the previous chapter that Judas was trying to force the hand of Jesus. By delivering Him over, Judas may have thought that the Kingdom would then be ushered in because Yeshua was certainly the Messiah. The other disciples were also positioning for rank during the Last Supper. We see them arguing over positioning in the kingdom (Lk 22:24-27).

I have always found Judas to be interesting since he was close to the Messiah, but chose to betray Him. We discussed briefly the jockeying of power for the coming kingdom that was taking place with the disciples. They realized that Jesus was certainly the promised Messiah. This became a huge topic at the Passover Seder (Lk 22:26-30). Jesus had to address this problem as a part of the evening meal. Yeshua rebuked the disciples strongly. He brought out two important illustrations from the Passover Seder, Youth and reclining. The disciples were to consider themselves as the youngest child. The greater one reclines, they were to be servants who did not recline. Sitting is no longer an option. He makes this clear with the statement that once the Kingdom is ushered in, they will “sit” on the throne. This indicates working as servants of the people. When you understand the Passover Seder, this becomes extremely interesting.

We went on a short rabbit trail. The importance of this trail was to help us understand the setting and why Judas betrayed Jesus. Returning to the study: Peter had repented and turned from his sin, but Judas did just the opposite.

There is a slightly different version of this story that was recorded in Acts 1:18-19.  There are a couple of explanations for this. First, Acts has parenthesis around the verses. This indicates that these verses are not found in the oldest manuscripts. The thinking on this is that later at some time the verses were added by a well-meaning scribe, possibly to clear up an ambiguous statement. Second, it is possible that both stories are true. Judas hanged himself. The rope or limb that he hanged himself from broke and he fell to his death in a hideous manner.

Judas felt remorse and tried to return the money. It was more than simply returning the money though. If he wanted to return the money, he could have just dropped it in the offering box. Then the money would have been returned to the temple. Rather, Judas sought to make a point by returning the money. He wanted the Chief Priests and elders to be aware that he returned the money. Judas needed the approval of the chief priests and elders… Judas was trying to get the chief priests and elders to admit that Jesus was innocent. Their rejection of the return threw the blame back on Judas. At this point he threw the money into the temple and left to commit suicide by hanging.

The “potters field” is an interesting prophecy from Zechariah 11. The prophecy looks at false teachers who were false shepherds. Zechariah becomes frustrated with them and annihilates them completely. The wages for cleaning house was set by the people as thirty pieces of silver. God told him to throw the money to the potter. This money was thrown in the house of the Lord. At this point the brotherhood or union of Judah and Israel was figuratively broken. God said at that point that He was going to raise up worthless shepherds who were self-serving (Zech 11:16-17).

The parallel is interesting since Judas also threw the money into the “house of the Lord”. At this point the chief priests and elders purchased the potter’s field with that money. They took ownership of the money and used it to purchase land. On a deeper level, they laid claim to the prophecy regarding false shepherds. They unwittingly admitted that they were the false shepherds who were self-serving. The parallel between the incident of the money and the purchase of the potters field is accurate.

The chief priests and elders were faced with their own sin. They all but admitted this by refusing to put the money back into the temple treasury. Torah instructed that no money was allowed to be put into the treasury that was received from whores or male prostitutes (Deut 23:18). The idea was that no unrighteous money was allowed to be put into the treasury. They applied this instruction to mean that Judas received money that was used unrighteously. They admitted their sin of bribery in an unrighteous manner (Deut 27:25).

Here is the result of their decision. They admitted to being unrighteous shepherds who held firmly to a form of Torah. They established this fact by receiving the money and spending it immediately. Even though the money was not registered in the log of the temple treasury, it was spent by the temple. This took place during the Feast of Unleavened Bread… A time when sin was supposed to be eradicated from one’s life. The field was named in accordance with their sin, “the field of blood”.

These false shepherds would bring the Jewish people to a time of spiritual blindness by crucifying the Messiah. Zechariah’s prophecy of false shepherds came to full effect as the leaders chose to deny the Messiah. Their sword was effective only for cutting themselves, and their righteous arm of defense was useless, working with blind eyes.

At the same time, the followers of Jesus were about to change the world. The main focus of their evangelistic ministry was on the Jewish people. Many Jewish people would soon come to know Jesus as the Messiah. This would quickly turn the table and usher in new shepherds who were interested in leading the sheep of God to righteousness. We as Gentiles have been given an opportunity to be shepherded by the Messiah (John 10:14-18). Yet, in many ways we have duplicated the errors of the Jewish leaders and created self-serving leaders.

There is one puzzle that is in this passage. Matthew attributes the prophecy to Jeremiah when it is really Zechariah. Perhaps this was not a total error. Jeremiah also spoke of the potter (Jer 19). This prophecy looks at the destruction of Jerusalem. The earthenware vessel is purchased and then shattered. Jerusalem is soon to be shattered and soon to face the full effect of this prophecy. The error may have been Matthew thinking of two passages at once. One looking at the failure of the shepherds and one looking at the future of Jerusalem.

In our day, this lesson is very important to each one of us.  We look at Judas and scratch our heads wondering why he would abandon His Messiah, yet we pity him when he returned to the temple.  First we want to judge him, pointing fingers at him and saying that he was worse than Satan.  In reality, he was just like we are now.  He is a picture for all of us of what it means to be a sinner.  Judas walked away from God, turned his back on Him, and never returned to repentance.  It is a danger that all Christians are faced with.  The Pharisees demonstrated for us the corruption of religion and how that it will cause us to go against God for the greater good of our beliefs.  When religion takes precedence over relationship, our religion becomes worthless.  Just a thought. All comments are welcomed.