Matthew 27 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: The Final Hours: Trial, Execution and Burial – #2 Matthew 27:3-10 – Judas Hangs Himself

Matthew 27:3-10 – Judas Hangs Himself

MT27:3 Then Judas his betrayer, having seen that the judgment went against Jesus, felt remorse[1] and tried to return the thirty pieces of silver[2] [Zechariah 11:12, 13] to the religious hierarchy and Jewish elders. MT27:4 He told them, “I have sinned by betraying righteous blood.”[3] But those leaders said, “How does this involve us?[4] You take care of that problem.” MT27:5 After throwing the silver pieces into the Sanctuary,[5] Judas left and went and hanged himself.[6] MT27:6 However, having picked up the silver coins, the religious hierarchy said: “It is not lawful[7] to cast the silver coins into the temple-treasury since it is blood-money.” MT27:7 After they took counsel they bought with the silver coins the Field of the Potter for the burial of unknown strangers.[8] MT27:8 To this day[9] this field is called ‘Field of Blood.’[10] MT27:9 Thus what was spoken by the prophet Jeremiah[11] was fulfilled: “And they took the thirty pieces of silver as how they put a price upon or estimated the value of one from among the sons of Israel. MT27:10 And they gave the silver money for the potter’s field just as YHWH ordered me.” [Zechariah 11:12]

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[1] Felt remorse: Or, KJV: repented; RHM: smitten with remorse; TAY: deeply regretted.

[2] Thirty pieces of silver: This was the price of a slave (Exodus 21:32).

[3] Righteous blood: Or, KJV: innocent blood.

[4] How does this involve us: Or, RIEU: Why should we care; MOF: it is your affair, not ours.

[5] Sanctuary: The Greek is NAON or the Divine Habitat. There is disagreement on this exact location. Some, like Thayer’s, believe this to be the Holy Place, or first compartment behind huge doors. It is possible that where Judas met with the Jewish priests and elders was within offices around the Temple. He could well have thrown the coins under the front doors or even an open door to the Temple proper. Research the word NAOS for details.

[6] Hanged himself: Some suggest this was from a tree over a cliff which proceeded to break casting Judas’ body down to the ground where it burst open. Compare Acts 1:18.

[7] It is not lawful: The hypocrisy is unthinkable that they would consider what was legal or lawful to do with blood-money that they had paid for the betrayal of Jesus. A similar hypocrisy is shown in removing the body of Jesus before the Sabbath for it was not lawful to leave a body hanging on the Sabbath!

[8] Unknown strangers: Or, RIEU: foreigners; WEY: people not belonging to the city.

[9] To this day: This would seem to prove Matthew was composed before the complete destruction of Jerusalem.

[10] Field of Blood: Or, NEB: Blood Acre.

[11] The prophet Jeremiah: The quote is actually from Zechariah 11:12. There are three explanations why Matthew credits Jeremiah with the quote: a) Jeremiah led off the section of the Prophets; b) one ancient text uses “Zechariah” in a margin (Sy^h) and Sy^p,s omits “Jeremiah”; and, c) it is possible and suggested by some that Jesus has formed a conflate (a compound paraphrase) of Zechariah 11:12 and Jeremiah 18:2, 3 and thus the reference to Jeremiah as the prophetic source. For notes on Zechariah 11:12 when used as a “proof text” regarding the Trinity research Zechariah 11:12 in Nazarene Commentary.

 

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Preceding

Matthew 26 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: The Last days of Jesus Christ #13 Matthew 26:59-68 – False Witnesses and the Charge of Blasphemy

Matthew 26 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: The Last days of Jesus Christ #14 Matthew 26:69-75 – Peter’s Denial

Matthew 27 – The Final Hours: Trial, Execution and Burial – Bible Students Intro

Matthew 27 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: The Final Hours: Trial, Execution and Burial – #1 Matthew 27:1-2 – Priests Hand Jesus Over to Pilate

 

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When Judas Iscariot, the traitor, learned that Jesus had been condemned to die, he repented & took the thirty silver coins back to the chief priests & the elders (214). “I have sinned by betraying an innocent man to death!” cried Judas. One of the chief priests dismissed him, saying: “That’s not our problem.” The looks on their faces told Judas that all the Jewish religious leaders were agreed. In anguish & frustration, Judas threw the coins down on the temple floor & left the temple. Overwhelmed with grief, Judas went outside the city & hanged himself.

Related articles

1. Read the New Testament in a year, one chapter a day, five days a week
2. Broken Beyond Repair
3. Sold out
4. Matthew 27
5. Judgment For Judas

Matthew 16:13-20 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Building a Hades-Proof Congregation

Matthew 16:13-20 – Building a Hades-Proof Congregation

|| Mark 8:27-30; Luke 9:18-21

MT16:13 Upon arriving in the area of Caesarea Philippi[1] Jesus asked his disciples, “Whom do people say[2] the Son of Humankind is?” MT16:14 The disciples answered, “Some: John the Baptist;[3] others: Elijah;[4] still others: Jeremiah[5] or one of the prophets.” MT16:15 Jesus asked them, “But, you [disciples], who do you think me to be?”[6] MT16:16 Simon Peter responded, “You are the Messiah,[7] the Son of The Living God!”[8] MT16:17 Jesus replied to Peter: “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-jonah,[9] because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you,[10] rather it was my heavenly Father. MT16:18 And so I tell you: You are Peter[11] and upon this rock[12] I will build my Church[13] and the gates of Hades[14] will never triumph[15] over it! MT16:19 I will give you[16] [Peter] the keys of the Realm[17] of Heaven. What ever you [Peter] bind on earth[18] will be bound[19] in heaven, and whatever you release[20] upon earth will be released in heaven.” MT16:20 Then Jesus gave the disciples a rebuke[21] so that they would tell no one that he was the Messiah.[22]

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[1] Caesarea Philippi: After 70 AD, General Titus held gladiatorial shows here. He used captured Jews as victims [The Jewish War, VII, 23, 24 (ii, 1)]. The name was changed (after 70 AD) to its older name Paneas. In Arabic this became Banyas. The use of Caesar Philippi would argue the Gospel of Matthew would have had to be written before 70 AD. See the book The Jesus Papyrus. Josephus describes a deep cave filled with still water that is the spring source of the Jordan river. It was turned into royal gardens.

[2] Whom do people say: What is the talk or gossip among the crowds? The time has approached for Jesus to begin to declare himself more clearly to his disciples.

[3] John the Baptist: Compare Matthew 14:2 and Luke 9:7. Herod thought John so great he may well return from the dead.

[4] Elijah: Jesus is to explain this later. Compare Malachi 4:5.

[5] Jeremiah: Some Jews thought Jeremiah had taken the Ark of the Covenant and hid it on Mount Nebo. Tradition had it before Messiah appeared Jeremiah would return with the Ark (See 2 Maccabees 2:1-12; 2 Esdras 2:18).

[6] Who do you think me to be: After more than a year or two of association with Jesus he asks for their opinion as to his identity. Peter speaks for the apostles.

[7] You are the Messiah: Or, the Christ, that is, The Christened (Anointed) One. Likely the original in Hebrew would have been Ma·shi’ach. This designation is drawn from Psalm 2:1, Isaiah 61:1, and Daniel 9:26.

[8] The Son of The Living God: Nowhere does Peter suspect that Jesus was God Himself. Everywhere he is the “Son of The God” – the same conclusion reached by John 20:31. Peter writes later about a further confirmation of the Sonship of Christ (2 Peter 1:17). The idea of God’s Son is drawn largely from Psalm 2:6, 7 and Psalm 89:26 (Compare 2 Samuel 7:14).

[9] Simon Bar-jonah: Or, Son of Jonah. The “Bar” in place of “Ben” hints to an Aramaic original. Peter’s full name in Aramaic. “Simon” is related to the Hebrew root “hear” or “listen.”

[10] Reveal this to you: The Greek for “reveal” is APECALYPSEN. This could have been revealed to Peter by understanding, for example, Psalm 2:1, 7 (a text he later quotes in Acts 4:24f) where the Christ is also the Son of God. Additionally, he had been eyewitness to the miracles of Jesus.

[11] You are Peter: The Greek is the masculine “Rock.” Or, NEB: Peter, the Rock; TCNT: Peter, a rock.

[12] This rock: Or, TCNT: Your name is Peter, a rock, and upon this Rock I will build my Church; WMS: your name from now on is to be Peter, Rock, and on a massive rock like this I will build my Church; MON: you are Petros (a rock), and on this petra (rock) I will build my church. The Greek has PETRA here, the feminine of Petros. Some view this as Peter (Barclay), other’s Christ (Augustine). The Catholic view is that the Church would be built upon the rock Peter. Some Protestants make much of the masculine and feminine differences of the two words (PETROS, PETRA). However, the context seems directed at Peter in these verses; and, the facts in Acts indicate Peter’s prominence in presenting the Evangel to first the Jews, then the Samaritans, and, finally, the Non-Jews (Galatians 2:7).

[13] I will build my Church: The Greek ECCLESIA is recognizable throughout Europe as the word for a “church.” Some render it “congregation” or “assembly.” The word means EK(=out)KALEO(=call). The old Scottish word “church” is from KIRK an Anglicization of the Greek KYRIOS (Lord).

[14] The gates of Hades: Research the word HADES for details. Or, KJV: hell; GDSP: powers of death; LAM: doors of Sheol. Compare 1 Corinthians 15:50-55.

[15] Never triumph: Or, KJV: no prevail; GDSP: not subdue; WMS: never overthrow; WEY: no triumph over.

[16] I will give you: The Greek “you” is singular and refers to Peter. Note the immediate context is the rock upon which Jesus will build his Church.

[17] The keys of the Realm: Not the keys of heaven as in the mistaken traditional picture. Rather, it refers to the door into the Church, or the realm of profession. Some take these keys as three in number and reference their use in Acts chapters 2, 8, and 10 – the Jews, Samaritans, and Non-Jews as the first members of the church or kingdom of Christ (Colossians 1:13).

[18] What ever you [Peter] bind on earth: An example of this is seen in the cases of the lying materialists Ananias and Sapphira (Acts chapter 5).

[19] Bound: Or, KJV: bind; RIEU: forbid; MOF: prohibit.

[20] Release: Or, KJV: loose; RIEU: allow; MOF: permit; TCNT: allow. Compare John 20:23 and Matthew 18:18.

[21] A rebuke: Or, KJV: strictly charged; KNX: strictly forbade; BECK: warned; NEB: strict orders. It is not a mere suggestion. Another rebuke, even more stern, is about to happen.

[22] Tell no one that he was the Messiah: Though the disciples understand the fundamental truth that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of God they still do not comprehend other prophetic truths which will now be explained. The Nazarene wanted people to arrive at their own conclusions without a public proclamation. The disciples were not yet ready to explain all that being the Messiah meant as the account goes on to demonstrate in Peter’s case. Jesus gives this warning several times (Matthew 8:4; Mark 7:36; 8:30; 9:9; Luke 5:14; 8:56; 9:21)..

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Preceding

Matthew 16 Asking for signs from heaven

Matthew 16 Calvin’s view

Matthew 16 Spurgeon’s view

Matthew 16:1-4 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: The Signs of the Times

Matthew 16:5-12 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Watch Out for the Leaven of False Teaching

Matthew 2:16-18 – Slaughter of the Innocents

Matthew 13:44 – The Nazarene’s Commentary: Parable of the Treasure

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Additional reading

1. A rich history of ancient and Biblical Jordan to explore
2. Self inflicted misery #4 To whom to listen
3. Self inflicted misery #5 A prophet without a hedge around him
4. Jesus begotten Son of God #3 Messiah or Anointed one
5. Jesus begotten Son of God #16 Prophet to be heard
6. The saviour Jesus his human side
7. Marriage of Jesus 8 Wife of Yahweh
8. Memorizing wonderfully 31 Son of David and God’s Kingdom
9. Servant of his Father
10. Anointing of Christ as Prophetic Rehearsal of the Burial rites
11. United people under Christ
12. Congregate, to gather, to meet
13. Congregation – Congregatie
14. Meeting – Vergadering
15. Democratic principles for the church of today
16. Intentions of an Ecclesia

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Related

1. A sheep or not a sheep?
2. Do You love Me?
3. Ministry of Congregating
4. All you, people
5. In the Congregation
6. Church?
7. Bearing Witness
8. DNA in a Congregation
9. The Beauty of “The Church”
10. Counting the cost: Mark 14
11. Study | Church Beginnings
12. 1A. Called To Be a Disciple
13. 3. Confessed Jesus To Be the Christ
14. Fact vs Fiction: Who was the Apostle Peter?
15. Simon Called Peter
16. Study | On This Rock
17. Jesus Commissions Peter
18. Peter the First Pope?
19. Simon Peter and Pope Peter the same?
20. The ‘Simon Peter’ Paradox
21. Simon Peter is Cool
22. 1B. Appointed To Be an Apostle
23. Michael Kok: Hinderance to Petrine Authorship of 1 Peter
24. The Calling and Ministry of Peter – A Night of Worship/Illustrated Sermon
25. Study | Experiencing Glory

Matthew 2:16-18 – Slaughter of the Innocents

Matthew 2:16-18 – Slaughter of the Innocents

MT2:16 Now Herod, realizing he had been out-smarted[1] by the magi was greatly enraged. He sent off [soldiers] into Bethlehem, and in the surrounding districts, and had all the boys from two years and under – by reason of the time carefully ascertained from the magi – slaughtered.[2] MT2:17 And so was fulfilled the thing spoken by the prophet Jeremiah,[3] saying: MT2:18 “A voice was heard in Ramah – much weeping and wailing – Rachel weeping for her children and she was unwilling to be comforted because her children were no more.” [Jeremiah 31:15]

21^st Century Version of the Christian Scriptures [NCMM] or Nazarene Commentary 2000© by Mark Heber Miller

[1] Out-smarted: Or, KJV: mocked; TCT: trifled with; LAM: tricked.

[2] Slaughtered: Or, WEY: massacred; BER: murder all the boy babies.

[3] Jeremiah: At Jeremiah 31:15. The prophetic context is the restoration of Israel after the Babylonian captivity. The Nazarene is later to quote Isaiah 61:1-3 which has a similar application giving it a second or spiritual application to his ministry.

Slaughter of the Innocents (detail) – between 1308 and 1311, Duccio (1260–1318) , tempera on wood, Museo dell’Opera metropolitana del Duomo

 

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Preceding articles:

Matthew 2:1-6 – Astrologers and Priests in a Satanic Plot

Matthew 2:7-12 – Pawns of Herod, the Magi Find the ‘Child’

Nazarene Commentary Luke 2:8-14 – Angels and Shepherds in the Night

Nazarene Commentary Luke 2:15-20 – Shepherds Find the Infant Christ

Matthew 2:13-15 – Escaping the Slaughter by a Flight to Egypt

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Related articles

• Murder of the Innocents (Repost – 2014) (unsettledchristianity.com)
  Herod was furious when he realized that the wise men had outwitted him. He sent soldiers to kill all the boys in and around Bethlehem who were two years old and under, based on the wise men’s report of the star’s first appearance. Herod’s brutal action fulfilled what God had spoken through the prophet Jeremiah: “A cry was heard in Ramah– weeping and great mourning. Rachel weeps for her children, refusing to be comforted, for they are dead.” (Mat 2:16-18 NLT
• Matthew 02:01-23, “Responses to the Newborn King” (ezracommentary.wordpress.com)
  The Bible calls Him King of kings and Lord of lords. He is not nominated or appointed. He is not elected and he cannot be voted out of office. His kingship does not depend on your vote. He does not become king by some parliamentary procedure, and he cannot be removed from office by a motion of no-confidence. Jesus was born King. It is his nature to rule. Look at the prophecy of Micah again in v. 5-6,
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  Herod was a man who, because of jealousy, had killed his favorite wife. He had killed two of his own sons. Herod would accept no rivals. He would attempt to kill the newborn King.

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  King Herod would not hesitate to do away with a child who was born King of the Jews. So when Herod was troubled, everyone was troubled. Someone has aptly said that Herod was more interested in saving his throne than in saving his soul!

• Period plausibility and the gospel narratives (timescolumns.typepad.com)
  One of Matthew’s abiding messages is that Christ is the new Moses. Among much else, this accounts for the parallels between the infant Jesus and the Old Testament law-giver, who also evaded a slaughter of male Jewish babies when he was hidden in the bulrushes.
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  Jesus “is acting like the God who chose Israel in the first place. In the Old Testament God had chosen his cluster of slaves to be a people; and Jesus, in choosing his fishermen, tax collectors and prostitutes, repeats and re-embodies this moment of choice: he claims a creative liberty for himself that belongs strictly to God”. So here, on a Christian understanding, is a human life so shot through with the purposes of God that early believers could speak of it as God’s nature projected onto the screen of history. As the author of the Letter to the Colossians put it within a few decades of the crucifixion, in Christ, “all the fullness of God was embodied”.
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  Herod, when he saw that he had been tricked by the wise men, became furious, and he sent and killed all the male children in Bethlehem and in all that region who were two years old or under, according to the time that he had ascertained from the wise men.
• Prophecy Fulfilled: Flight Into Egypt (born2bfree.wordpress.com)
  Nevertheless the dimness shall not be such as was in her vexation, when at the first he lightly afflicted the land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, and afterward did more grievously afflict her by the way of the sea, beyond Jordan, in Galilee of the nations.  The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined.
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  Judges 13:5 is many times referenced in relation to Matthew 2:23.  The similarity can be recognized when we see how, at the time referenced in Judges 13, because of their sins against Him, God had allowed the children of Israel to be brought into bondage to the Philistines.  Then, He raised up a deliverer in the man Samson, to deliver Israel from the Philistines.
• Hosea Say What? (christianreformedink.wordpress.com)
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  For those of us raised in middle America, this genocide was completely left out of our Christmas understanding. Our visions of the nativity were shaped by the lovely crèche displays in parks, church lawns, and on many coffee tables. And while I still love those tableaus very much, I am convinced they are an almost total re-write of the story.

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  I think if this had informed our understanding of the birth of Christ, it would have better prepared us for our own lives, and the events unfolding in the world today. I think far fewer of us would be so… puzzled by the way things are going. I think we would better understand the words of the grown-up Jesus when He said,

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