Pieces Of Silver

One of the Twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What are you willing to give me if I hand him over to you?” They paid him thirty pieces of silver, and from that time on he looked for an opportunity to hand him over.

On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples approached Jesus and said, “Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover?” He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, ‘The teacher says, My appointed time draws near; in your house I shall celebrate the Passover with my disciples.”‘“ The disciples then did as Jesus had ordered, and prepared the Passover.

When it was evening, he reclined at table with the Twelve. And while they were eating, he said, “Amen, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” Deeply distressed at this, they began to say to him one after another, “Surely it is not I, Lord?” He said in reply, “He who has dipped his hand into the dish with me is the one who will betray me. The Son of Man indeed goes, as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed. It would be better for that man if he had never been born.” Then Judas, his betrayer, said in reply, “Surely it is not I, Rabbi?” He answered, “You have said so.” (Matthew 26:14-25)

Why 30 pieces of silver? Was it to fulfill a prophecy or used as part of Gospel writers’ stories about Jesus their Christ?  I suspect the latter.  Many Christians would disagree with me and say the former.  Prophecy fulfilled would be their conclusion.   That beggars my imagination.

In Hebrew culture, 30 pieces of silver was the exact price and compensation paid to the master of a slave if and when his slave was gored by an ox (Exodus 21:32). There is another place that specifically mentions 30 pieces of silver.  It’s found in Zechariah and appears to have been used by Matthew (above).

A “prophetic reference” is found in the thirty pieces of silver given to Zechariah after his work as a shepherd. He went to those he worked for and asked them to pay him what they thought he was worth. They gave him 30 pieces of silver, which he sarcastically calls a “handsome price” because it was such a small amount (Zechariah 11:13)—the price paid for a slave’s accidental death. The employers meant to insult Zechariah with this amount of money. 

Returning the insult, God tells Zechariah to “throw it to the potter,” and Zechariah tossed the money into the house of the Lord to be given to the potter. [Note: The King James Bible states in 11:13: “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 30 pieces of silver and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD.”  Chapter 18 of Jeremiah mentions “The Potter’s Vessel” with the Potter being the Lord with nations – such as Israel – being the “clay” fashioned by the Potter’s “hands” to be built up or destroyed.]  I don’t know why the shift from “cast them to the potter in the house” to the New American Bible’s “…flinging the money into the temple.” Quite curious.

When Judas Iscariot bargained with the leaders of Israel to betray the Lord Jesus, he asked, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?” They counted out for Judas “thirty pieces of silver” (Matthew 26:15). That’s all they considered Jesus to be worth – the price of a slave.

Later, Judas was overcome with guilt for betraying Jesus.  According to Matthew, Judas threw the 30 silver coins into the temple (Matthew 27:3–5). The Jewish leaders used the thirty pieces of silver to buy a field from a potter, once again referencing Zechariah.  It was in that field that Judas hanged himself.

Whether potter or temple, the end result is the same.  Matthew drew on the prophets for his compelling story about Jesus and his betrayal by Judas.

Deacon David Pierce