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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadCambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges - Matthew 26:15 - 26:15
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15. κἀγώ. Here the form of the sentence is probably an example of colloquial simplicity, but the use of καὶ where in classical Greek the sentences would be joined by a consecutive (ὥστε) or final (ἵνα, ὅπως) particle, is a mark of Hebrew influence. Such sentences are connected by coordinate particles, and the relation between them is left to inference from the context.
ἔστησαν αὐτῷ τριάκοντα ἀργύρια. ‘Weighed out for him thirty pieces of silver.’ For this use of ἵστημι, cp. μὴ στήσῃς αὐτοῖς ταύτην τὴν ἁμαρτίαν, Act 7:60, and στατήρ, which, like its equivalent ‘shekel,’ originally meant ‘a weight.’
τριάκοντα ἀργύρια. ‘Thirty silver shekels.’ St Matthew alone names the sum, which = 120 denarii. The shekel is sometimes reckoned at three shillings, but for the real equivalent in English money see note on Mat 26:7. Thirty shekels was the price of a slave (Exo 21:32); a fact which gives force to our Lord’s words, ch. Mat 20:28, and to the passage there cited from Php 2:7-8.