Yea, mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat
of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me.--Psalm xli. 9.
And I said unto them, if ye think good, give me my price; and
if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price, thirty pieces of
silver. And the Lord said unto me, cast it unto the potter: a
goodly price that I was prized at of them. And I took the thirty
pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the House of
the Lord.--Zechariah xi. 12, 13.
Surely every one acquainted with the history of Jesus, as connected
with that of Judas, must acknowledge these remarkable verses to be
prophetical of the traitorous conduct of that betrayer of Christ.
They describe the base deeds of one of his followers. It was his own
familiar friend, which did eat of his bread, that lifted up his heel
against him. It was not an open enemy that did him this dishonour;
it was one with whom, for near three years and a half, he had daily
intercourse; during which period he had constant opportunities of
witnessing the miracles of Jesus. He heard his divine discourses, he
saw him display his power, and, in common with the other disciples,
did he receive the kindest treatment from his Master, to whose
person Judas publicly professed himself faithfully attached: yea,
"he was numbered with the apostles, and obtained a part in their
ministry;" but such was his hypocrisy, that the disciples were not
conscious of his real character. To his care they intrusted the
slender stock of money--Judas kept the bag. Though under the mask
of friendship he artfully concealed his perfidious spirit from the
eye of man, yet he could not deceive his Lord and Master. Jesus well
knew, amongst the twelve whom he had chosen to be his apostles, one
was a devil.[65] He knew this serpent, fostered in his bosom, would
betray him. Yet we behold the meek and lowly Jesus condescending to
wash those feet which were so shortly to run on an errand of the
basest ingratitude. Judas was unmoved by this act of unparalleled
humility; no kindness could soften his heart, by sin made hard as
adamant; for it appears he instantly arose and, though night (a
time best suited for such deeds of darkness), went to the Chief
Priests, and said unto them, if ye think good, give me my price;
so they weighed him thirty pieces of silver. For that paltry sum
did this perfidious monster sell his Lord and Master, and engage
to deliver him into the hands of his bitterest enemies; and then,
to conceal his base and treacherous conduct, he mingled with his
Master's family, and even dared to partake with them, not only of
the paschal feast, but of the Lord's Supper, which was instituted
immediately after the celebration of the feast of the passover. So
callous was the wretch to every feeling of remorse and pity, that
he could, unmoved and unrelentingly, even receive from the hands
of the innocent victim of his treachery, the symbols of the Lord's
bruised body, and blood-shedding. When Jesus mildly declared that
one of them would betray him, the faithful disciples, filled with
astonishment and grief at the bare intimation of such an act of
perfidy, each eagerly exclaimed, "Lord, is it I? is it I?" The
hardened Judas could join in the cry, and with all the effrontery
of a child of satan, appeal for a confirmation of his innocence;
but Jesus knew his treachery, though hid beneath the garb of
friendship. Alas, wretched Judas! how little didst thou enjoy thy
ill-gotten wealth! Thou hadst scarcely grasped the price of blood,
ere thou didst cast it from thee; before even the victim of thy
treachery was crucified, thou didst cut short thy race on earth, and
madly rush on the thick bosses of Jehovah's buckler; thou didst
terminate thy wretched course of sin here, to enter on thine awful
state of everlasting wo. Matthew the Evangelist informs us that
Judas hung himself, but in the Acts of the Apostles we read, that
he fell head-long, and all his bowels gushed out. These seeming
contradictions are easily reconciled, if we suppose, which is not
improbable, that he fell from the place whence he hung himself;
and thus a double mark of infamy was affixed to his body. What a
remarkable fulfilment of prophecy, in the purchase of Aceldama, that
potter's field of blood. Indeed, these verses of Zechariah look more
like the descriptions of a contemporary, than the predictions of one
who lived at least five hundred and eighty years before the events
narrated actually took place.
[65] John vi. 70.
By the Mosaic law, if a servant was goaded by an ox, the owner
of the ox was to pay the master of that servant thirty pieces of
silver:[66] and for that trifling sum it was the blessed Jesus was
basely sold; he, whose price is far above rubies, and to whom all
the good things thou canst desire are not to be compared. But,
while we detest the treachery of Judas, let us be careful that
we do not commit the like act. Let us not salute Jesus with the
kiss of profession, while we are secretly in league with his worst
enemy, sin: which, of old, nailed Jesus to the cross. No wounds are
considered by him so severe, as those wherewith he is wounded in the
house of his friends.[67]
[66] Exodus xxi. 34.
[67] Psalm lv. 12.