Knowing The Word in Matthew 26:14-16

Judas to Betray Jesus

[We pick back up after the interlude and see the answer to the chief priests dilemma.]

14 Then one of the twelve, whose name was Judas Iscariot [only mentioned previously in 10:4, the list of disciples, now becomes a chief player], went to the chief priests [on his own initiative] 15 and said, “What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?” And they paid him thirty pieces of silver [equal to 120 denarii]. [Thirty pieces of silver was the sum paid to an owner as compensation for the loss of a slave. See Exodus 21:32 but more importantly Zechariah 11:12 where the same sum is weighed out (the same LXX word used here for paid) as the derisory wages of the rejected shepherd, who was a Messianic figure.] 16 And from that moment he sought an opportunity to betray him. [Why? It seems most likely that he as disillusioned with Jesus’ Messianic leadership and wanted to get out before it was too late and save his own skin. He may have concluded, like Saul of Tasus, that Jesus was a false prophet. So the scene is set. The devotion of the faithful woman who anointed Jesus is counterpointed by the cold, calculated betrayal of Judas.]