Matthew 27:5-10; The Deadly Fruit of Idolatry

Throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple…[Judas] went and hanged himself. (Matthew 27:5)

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money.” (Matthew 6:24)

“And I know the moment's near and there's nothing you can do.  Look through a faithless eye; are you afraid to die?  It scares …me; and the end is all I can see.” (Muse, “Thoughts of a Dying Atheist”)

A Christ-less disciple seeks a Christ-less repentance from Christ-less men in a Christ-less religion.   It is a tragedy but it is not a surprise that after throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, Judas departed and he went out and hanged himself (v. 5).    Judas was probably unsuccessful in his attempt to hang himself and either jumped to his death or he fell into a ravine after the rope broke, according to Acts 1:18.  

The chief priests during the trials of Jesus vacillated back and forth between obeying the Law and breaking it, whichever best served their evil schemes.   Here, taking the pieces of silver, suddenly they postured as righteous men and said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since it is blood money,”(v. 6).   They had no such qualms when they used treasury money to arrest Jesus (see 26:15) and to silence the guards who witnessed the resurrection (see 28:12).

So they took counsel and bought with them the potter's field as a burial place for strangers. Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day, (vv. 7-8).  The Ryrie Study Bible says the potter’s field is “where potters dug clay for making pottery vessels.  It may have been full of holes so as to make it easy to bury people there….” 

Matthew continues: Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him on whom a price had been set by some of the sons of Israel, and they gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord directed me,” (vv. 9-10).

Scholars have noted that Matthew attributes this quote to Jeremiah but it is actually a quote from Zechariah 11:13: “Then the Lord said to me, ‘Throw it to the potter’— the lordly price at which I was priced by them. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord, to the potter.”  Matthew also reaches into Jeremiah 19:1-3 and borrows for his quote but clearly Zechariah is the primary source.   What do we do with this difficulty?

Gleason Archer, in the book Inerrancy (p. 63, edited by Norm Geisler) offers this explanation: “In such cases, where more than one Old Testament author is quoted, the general practice of New Testament writers was to refer only to the one who was more famous.”   Archer also cites Mark 1:2-3 where this same pattern can be found.  Both Malachi 1:3 and Isaiah 40:3 are quoted there but Isaiah, the more well-known of the two, is the source mentioned. 

Many scholars believe that Judas’ motive for betraying Jesus was his love of money.  He was stealing money from the disciples and complained the loudest when Mary poured costly perfume on the Lord (see John 12:3-6).   Judas was forced to choose between two masters.  He chose the love of money over the love of Christ.  Judas’ life negatively illustrates Romans 8:6: “To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.”   Satan exploited the Christ-less Judas.   He tried also to exploit Peter but he ran into a Rock.  Satan demanded to sift Peter “like wheat” (Luke 22:31). And Peter did fall.  But his fall was not permanent; he turned again and strengthened his brothers.

Rembrandt's painting of Judas returning the thirty pieces of silver. 

Much of our spiritual journey as believers is about confronting the idols in our lives.  An idol, simply put, is anything that rivals our love for God.  My most stubborn idols can be the love of family, the pursuit of leisure, and the protection of my fragile ego.  Maybe these idols seem innocuous compared to the love of money.  But all idols can be deadly and allow Satan a foothold if they flourish unchecked.  What are the idols in your life?  Like Josiah did with the idols of Asherim and Baal in 2 Chronicles 34:3-4 may we tear down our idols and guard diligently the treasure we have in Jesus.