Online Resource Library
Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadBob Utley You Can Understand the Bible - Matthew 27:3 - 27:10
(Show All Books | Show All Chapters)
This Chapter Verse Commentaries:
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Mat_27:3-10
3Then when Judas who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been condemned, he felt remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, 4saying, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood." But they said, "What is that to us? See to that yourself!" 5And he threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary and departed; and he went away and hanged himself. 6The chief priests took the pieces of silver and said, "It is not lawful to put them into the temple treasury, since it is the price of blood." 7And they conferred together and with the money bought the Potter's Field as a burial place for strangers. 8For this reason that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. 9Then that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: "And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of the one whose price had been set by the sons of Israel; 10and they gave them for the Potter's Field, as the Lord directed me."
Mat_27:3 "Then when Judas who had betrayed Him, saw that He had been condemned" This phrase involves an ambiguous pronoun antecedent, He. The Williams and Phillips translations of the NT assume that it refers to Judas, but all the other modern translations refer this pronoun to Jesus. Notice the capital "He" in NASB. NIV, TEV, JB, and NRSV even insert the name "Jesus" for the pronoun.
▣ "he felt remorse" There were two words in Greek which translate "repentance." The one used here was not the normal word used in Mat_3:2, which meant "a change of mind and actions." Here the word meant " sorrow afterwards" but with the implication of no real change (cf. Mat_21:29; 2Co_7:8). The best context in the NT to compare the connotations of these terms is 2Co_7:8-10. See hyperlink at Mat_3:2.
▣ "thirty pieces" This is an allusion to Zec_11:12. This was the price of a gored slave (cf. Mat_26:15; Exo_21:32).
Mat_27:4 "innocent blood" There is a Greek manuscript variant at this point. All of the English translations which are compared in this commentary have "innocent." However, the ancient uncial manuscript B originally had "innocent," but a later copyist put "righteous" from Mat_23:35. This was followed by the Vulgate and the Diatessaron. The Septuagint uses both adjectives to describe the noun "blood" ; " innocent" appears fourteen times and "righteous" appears four times in the LXX. UBS4 gives "innocent" a "B" rating (almost certain).
Mat_27:5 "into the Temple sanctuary" This Greek word usually referred to the Central Shrine made up of the Holy Place and Holy of Holies as separate from the complete Temple area (cf. Joh_2:9).
▣ "hanged himself" This was not a theological proof-text about suicide bringing damnation. There are several suicides mentioned in the OT: Jdg_9:54; Jdg_16:30; 1Sa_31:4-5; 2Sa_17:23; 1Ki_16:18. Nothing negative is ever said about these acts. It was Judas'lack of true repentance that sealed his lostness, not his taking his own life.
The account of Judas'death in Act_1:18 does not contradict Matthew's account but supplements it. Apparently Judas hanged himself over a cliff and later the rope broke and his body fell and broke open.
hyperlink
Mat_27:6 "it is the price of blood" They had no qualms about giving the money for Jesus' betrayal, but they felt uncomfortable taking it back! What irony!
Mat_27:7 "they. . . bought the Potter's Field" This was possibly a clay quarry which had been depleted and, therefore was of little value. It may have been an allusion to Jeremiah 18-19. From Jerome's time (4th century a.d.) it was said to have been in the valley of Hinnom near Jerusalem.
Mat_27:8 "Field of Blood" This translates the Aramaic term Hakeldama, found in Act_1:19. Jerome's Vulgate puts the Aramaic term in this verse.
Mat_27:9 "spoken through Jeremiah the prophet" This is a direct quote from Zec_11:12-13. Jeremiah Mat_19:11 also speaks of a potter and Jer_32:7-9 mentions the buying of a field. This has caused commentators great problems.
1. Augustine, Beza, Luther, and Keil said Matthew quoted the name Jeremiah in error
2. The Peshitta, a 5th century a.d. Syriac translation and the Diatessaron just removed the prophet's name from the text
3. Origen and Eusebius said a copyist caused the problem
4. Jerome and Ewald said it is a quote from an apocryphal writing ascribed to Jeremiah
5. Mede said Jeremiah wrote Zechariah, chapters 9-11
6. Lightfoot and Scofield said Jeremiah was listed first in the Hebrew division of the canon known as "the prophets" and, therefore, his name stands for that section of the canon
7. Hengstenberg said that Zechariah quoted Jeremiah
8. Calvin said an error has crept into the text
9. F. F. Bruce and a JB footnote said it was a composite quote from Zechariah and Jeremiah
I think #6 is the best explanation.