The Trial of Judas
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, saying, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood." But they said, "What is that to us? See to that yourself!" And he threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary and departed; and he went away and hanged himself. Matt. 27:3-5, NASB.
The most unique thing about Judas' trial is that he passed judgment on himself. It is impossible for us to understand all that had gone through his twisted thinking prior to this time, but one thing is at last clear to him. He now understood the horror of what he had done. When he tried to return the money, the priests merely mocked him. Such are the friends of sin. They had used him for their purposes and then scorned him in his hour of need.
At that point Judas "threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary". There are two important words in that sentence whose full meaning most translations, which state that he "threw down the money in the temple," fail to reflect.
The first is the word for Temple. It is not the general word for Temple (hieron), but the one for the actual Temple sanctuary. To get to it Judas had to pass through the Court of the Gentiles, the Court of the Women, and the Court of Israel. Beyond that he could not enter. He had come to the barrier that shut him out of the Court of the Priests. As a result, he had to yell his conversation with the priests.
That brings us to the second word of significance, usually translated as "threw down." The word also means "threw," "hurled," and "flung," a rendering demanded here by the Temple geography. He "hurled" the money at the mocking priests and went out to hang himself.
Such was the end of a man whose maneuverings had gone wrong. He had meant to force the reticent Jesus into displaying His power as the Messiah/King, but all he had accomplished was driving Christ to the cross. Judas' life was shattered.
Two lessons stand out from this experience. A first lesson is that we often come to hate those things that we have gained from sin. The object of sinning in some cases becomes disgusting and revolting. So it was with Judas and with Amnon's conquest of his sister Tamar (2 Sam. 13:1-19).
A second lesson is that we cannot turn back the clock. All of us have times that we wish we could live over so that we could do things differently. But such is an impossibility. We and others must deal with the results of our actions. With that hard fact in mind, we need to be careful how we live each day.
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, saying, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood." But they said, "What is that to us? See to that yourself!" And he threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary and departed; and he went away and hanged himself. Matt. 27:3-5, NASB.
The most unique thing about Judas' trial is that he passed judgment on himself. It is impossible for us to understand all that had gone through his twisted thinking prior to this time, but one thing is at last clear to him. He now understood the horror of what he had done. When he tried to return the money, the priests merely mocked him. Such are the friends of sin. They had used him for their purposes and then scorned him in his hour of need.
At that point Judas "threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary". There are two important words in that sentence whose full meaning most translations, which state that he "threw down the money in the temple," fail to reflect.
The first is the word for Temple. It is not the general word for Temple (hieron), but the one for the actual Temple sanctuary. To get to it Judas had to pass through the Court of the Gentiles, the Court of the Women, and the Court of Israel. Beyond that he could not enter. He had come to the barrier that shut him out of the Court of the Priests. As a result, he had to yell his conversation with the priests.
That brings us to the second word of significance, usually translated as "threw down." The word also means "threw," "hurled," and "flung," a rendering demanded here by the Temple geography. He "hurled" the money at the mocking priests and went out to hang himself.
Such was the end of a man whose maneuverings had gone wrong. He had meant to force the reticent Jesus into displaying His power as the Messiah/King, but all he had accomplished was driving Christ to the cross. Judas' life was shattered.
Two lessons stand out from this experience. A first lesson is that we often come to hate those things that we have gained from sin. The object of sinning in some cases becomes disgusting and revolting. So it was with Judas and with Amnon's conquest of his sister Tamar (2 Sam. 13:1-19).
A second lesson is that we cannot turn back the clock. All of us have times that we wish we could live over so that we could do things differently. But such is an impossibility. We and others must deal with the results of our actions. With that hard fact in mind, we need to be careful how we live each day.
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