Matthew 27:1–10

The unplanned council at the start of the night had already decided that Jesus must die. That was the council where they brought Him before Caiaphas. So the scribes and the Pharisees held a formal council very early in the morning to pronounce His definite sentence. Then they lead Him away to Pilate.

It seems that the actual trial and condemnation of our Lord happened during the night. Jewish oral law forbade that. They did not pronounce the formal sentence until the morning. The religion of the flesh is always known for straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel. They had no scruple about staining their hands with the blood of the Innocent. But John tells us they would not go into Pilate's judgment hall. Going in might defile them and keep them from eating the Passover.

Notice that the priests are the ones driving this evil. "When morning came" — they rise early to carry out their plan. And note, it says "all the chief priests," and so on. This shows the utter ruin and blindness of the nation. Here was a most startling fact, and a crucial one for a Jew to grasp. A Jew knew that God Himself set up and ordered the priesthood. Yet the men who should have been the sure guides of the people were their misleaders in the greatest of all sins... Taking counsel and planning to destroy their Messiah! And these were the men who had the best light of any nation!

The elders took a prominent part in the condemnation of the Lord. Matthew 26:59 mentions them as distinct from the Sanhedrin. But "All the elders" in Matthew 27:1 would include the Sanhedrin.

He has shown that every step taken in the trial and condemnation of the Lord Jesus was illegal. The haste of the entire proceedings completely violated Hebrew law. Trials, even in money matters, had to be held in the daytime. Trials for life also had to take place during the day. And if the verdict was condemnation, the sentence had to wait until the second day. They condemned the Lord Jesus and declared Him worthy of death. They did it before the darkness of the very night of His arrest was over... Further, the law of the Jews was: "Our law condemns no one to death upon his own confession."

But the Jews did not have the power to put anyone to death. So they needed the Roman governor for this purpose... Crucifixion was not a Jewish penalty: they might hang the dead upon a tree, but not the living. The Lord, who gave up His own life, had declared that He was to be delivered to the Gentiles to be crucified.

Whatever part the Gentiles take in it, God takes care to point out that the Jews were not only the instigators but the open prosecutors in the awful deed.

The morning has arrived. The natural heart of sinful man has reached its full development. It takes counsel to destroy the only perfect thing the world had ever seen. But it must look like a praiseworthy and just action. More than that, it must look as if they had no motive except regard for what was due to God and man. It must look like a righteous deed, to put a blasphemer to death.

This shows the utter ruin and blindness of the nation. It was a startling fact, and a key one for a Jew to grasp. Every Jew knew that God Himself set up the priesthood and ordered it. Yet the men who ought to have been the nation's sure guides led the people into the greatest of all sins... And these were the men who had the best light of any nation! ... Whatever part the Gentiles take in it, God takes care to point out that the Jews were not only the instigators but the open prosecutors in the awful deed.

They have condemned a guiltless man. Now they try to give their wicked actions the look of legality, and they hand Him over, bound, into Pilate's custody.

Only think of the blessed Lord being bound! They had bound Him before, but it seems they had untied it; now they bind Him again. When they bound Samson, how easily he snapped the ropes! How much easier for our blessed Lord to do so! But no; the hour had come, and He was going to the cross to secure eternal salvation for you and me.

John records twice that He was bound: the Word made flesh, the Creator of worlds, bound with cords! They hoped in this way to hold Him fast. Their cords did not hold Him, but others did that their eyes could not see.

They condemned Jesus as guilty of death. They shamed Him and spat on Him. Then, when morning came, they bound Him, led Him away, and delivered Him over to Pilate the governor (Matt. 27:1-2). Here was the fulfilment of the prophecy of Isaiah 53:7: "He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter... so he opened not his mouth."

But the Jews had no power to carry out a death sentence, so they needed the Roman governor for this... Crucifixion was not a Jewish penalty: they might hang the dead upon a tree, but not the living. The Lord, who yielded up His own life, had declared that He was to be delivered to the Gentiles to be crucified.

There was a spiritual reason governing all here. The curse of the law was to fall on Him, and the public, open sign of that curse was hanging on a tree (Deut. 21:23). But if the Jews had inflicted this penalty themselves, it would have gone beyond death and changed its meaning. In the hands of the Gentiles alone would crucifixion answer to its end.

Man had to condemn Jesus in every capacity, religious and civil. The Jews, under the name of religion, carried the chief guilt. They stirred up the civil authorities and, by moral pressure, forced them to act against their own conscience... It was not only by one, but by every class of men. We shall find that the people were like the priests, and the governed like the governor. Down to the lowest of them, all joined in insulting the Son of God.

Judas first delivered the Lord up to the leaders of Israel. Israel's leaders then delivered Him up to Pilate. Pilate delivered Jesus up to the will of the mob who cried for Him to be crucified. Finally, when the Lord Jesus was upon the cross, God "did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all" (Rom. 8:32).

It looks as if he had expected the Lord to escape His enemies and walk away from them, as He had done before. But now he saw Him condemned and submitting to their hands, and remorse and horror at what he had done swept over him.

He had known the Lord in great danger before. Once the people took up stones to throw at Him, and Judas saw Him hide Himself, walk through the middle of them, and go on His way. He knew how Jesus could walk on the sea. He could overcome every obstacle in nature. So why not the raging storm of human passion and violence? But Judas was deceived, whatever his calculations may have been. He gave in to greed. He bargained for the blood of Jesus. To his horror, he found it only too true.

Repentance is the judgment of my sin that I have in the light of love, and grace known. Remorse is produced by viewing the sin in the light only of its probable results. Repentance begets hope, remorse leads only to despair. Repentance leads the soul back to God, remorse drives it to deeper sin, and further into Satan's hands.

There is a mourning that ends in despair. Judas' mourning was like that: he saw his sin, he was sorry, he said Christ was in the right, he gave the money back. Judas, who is in hell, did more than many nowadays.

He shrieks out even in their ears the confession of his sin in having betrayed the innocent blood. But there it ends: "innocent blood." He does not say holy or righteous, still less "the Holy and the Righteous One." The glory of the Son of God has no part in it. It neither heals him nor even wounds him. There is no turning to Him whom he had kept company with so long — no sense of anyone he can turn to. There is, in short, no faith, and therefore no repentance.

Sadly, confessing sin without trusting God for His grace is worthless. It produces nothing good.

Thirty pieces of silver was the price of a slave who had been killed. If the ox gores a slave, male or female, the owner shall give to their master thirty shekels of silver (Exodus 21:32). Oh, what unfathomable love! The Lord from heaven became like a slave. The love He looked for He did not find.

He was only farther from Jesus in heart because he was nearer to Him outwardly. Some people have the greatest outward privileges while the truth of God does not rule their souls. They are the most guilty of all.

Many a person sells Jesus in practice, if not literally. If God is calling sinners to know His Son and His grace, it is an awful thing to reject Him. That is selling Jesus for some object in this world which we either want to gain or love too much to part with. In Judas this came out in its worst form. But eternal ruin is not limited to Judas, the son of perdition.

Clearly Judas did not expect such an end for Jesus. He had known the Lord in great danger before. He had seen Him hide Himself when the people picked up stones to throw at Him, go through the middle of them, and pass on His way. He knew how Jesus could walk on the sea and overcome every obstacle in nature. So why not the raging storm of human passion and violence? But Judas was deceived, whatever his calculations may have been. He gave in to greed. He bargained for the blood of Jesus. To his horror, he found it was all too true.

He seems to have thought He would escape as before. But this made his sin worse, for he knew that power was there. Money governed his heart, and by it Satan led him into the horrible sin. Yet Satan could not shield him once the sin was done. What was money to a man in despair? The fruit and witness of sin is no comfort to the one who is lost by it.

A word often used in the Old Testament as the opposite of those showing wickedness. It occurs only twice in the New Testament. Judas uses it about the Lord, who could truly be called "guiltless." Pilate uses it about himself. Matthew 27:4, 24.

The very man who handed the Saviour over to His enemies had to confess His innocence. God so ordained it; and this is very striking.

He shouts out even in their ears the confession of his sin in having betrayed the innocent blood. But there it ends: "innocent blood" — not holy or righteous, and still less "the Holy and the Righteous One." The glory of the Son of God has no part in it. That glory neither heals him nor even wounds him. There is no turning to Him whom he had been with so long — no sense of anyone he can turn to. There is, in short, no faith, and therefore no repentance.

Repentance is judging my own sin in the light of the love and grace I have come to know. Remorse comes from viewing the sin only in the light of its likely results. Repentance gives birth to hope, remorse leads only to despair. Repentance leads the soul back to God. Remorse drives it into deeper sin and further into Satan's hands. Judas, who did not know what grace was, went out and hanged himself in remorse over his terrible wickedness. Peter, who did know what grace was, went out and wept bitterly.

"What is that to us? See to it yourself" (v. 4). What a testimony to their degraded condition! It was no question with them whether He was innocent or not. They had Him in their hands and were determined not to let Him go.

The very name Judas has become a byword for wickedness, but Annas and Caiaphas were worse than he. Verse 4 shows this. Judas betrayed innocent blood and they condemned it. He at least had some feeling of remorse for what he had done — enough to drive him to destroy himself. They had no feeling whatever.

Many a person sells Jesus in effect, if not literally. Let every soul watch that his sin is not in some way like that of Judas. If God is calling sinners to know His Son and His grace, it is an awful thing to reject Him. To reject Him is to sell Jesus for something in this world that we want to gain, or love too much to give up.

Clearly it is the awful agony of remorse that awakes now in Judas, and not repentance. He cannot keep the money he has gained. Even for the chief priests, the blood-stain will not come off it. He shrieks out in their own ears the confession of his sin in betraying the innocent blood. But there it ends: "innocent blood." Not holy, not righteous, and far less "the Holy and the Righteous One." The glory of the Son of God has no part in it. It neither heals him nor even strikes him. There is no turning to Him with whom he had spent so long, no sense of anyone he can turn to. There is, in short, no faith, and therefore no repentance.

Here is the difference between repentance and remorse. Repentance is the judgment of my sin that I have in the light of love, and grace known. Remorse comes from looking at the sin only in the light of its likely results. Repentance begets hope, remorse leads only to despair. Repentance leads the soul back to God, remorse drives it to deeper sin, and further into Satan's hands. Judas did not know what grace was. In remorse over his utter wickedness, he went out and hanged himself. Peter did know what grace was. He knew then, better than ever, how much the Lord loved him, and he went out and wept bitterly.

The word used here means the sanctuary itself, not the temple buildings as a whole. What brought Judas in there? We can hardly suppose he was a priest. If he was not, his connection with the priests must have been very close for him to be let in where only priests might come. … He may have only thrown the money into it. But if he did go in, it shows the desperation of the betrayer, now feeling the bitterest remorse as he thought of his condemned Master, with the surest dread of God's wrath.

Money governed his heart. By it Satan led him into this horrible sin. But Satan could not shield him once the sin was done. What was money to a man in despair? He goes to those who ought to have led him in the right way. They were his heartless partners in the wickedness. He throws down the money in despair. Sin once committed lies on the conscience. All is dark in the trail behind it. And if the love of God is not there to hold on to, nothing remains but despair — dark, black despair.

He went and hanged himself, and probably fell from the tree, so that his bowels gushed out. It was an awful end to a sinful course. The Lord called him the "son of perdition."

Messiah, who was the embodiment of all beauty, was priced at thirty pieces of silver. Judas fixed the price and got the silver. In his remorse, before he took his own life, he threw the money down in the temple. That fulfilled the words "in the house of the Lord." The chief priests took the silver and used it to buy the potter's field. That fulfilled the words "I … cast them to the potter."

Many a person sells Jesus in practice, if not in fact. Let every soul make sure that his sin is not in some way like that of Judas. If God is calling sinners to know His Son, and the grace that comes by Him, it is an awful thing to reject Him. It is selling Jesus for something in this world that we either want to gain or love too much to give up. In Judas this came out in its worst form; but perdition is not confined to him who is the son of perdition.

People used the word "Corban" for an offering, above all as something dedicated to Jehovah. Later they used it in the same sense for the sacred treasure of the temple. The chief priests decided that Judas' pieces of silver could not be added to that holy store.

Notice here the dreadful way in which conscience can deceive itself. They had felt no scruple about giving the money for that blood. Yet the very same money with which they had bought Christ, they will not put into the treasury! What a picture of the human heart and of human consistency! They are exact about outward, ceremonial points, and unfeeling about moral corruption.

What a testimony to the blindness of conscience! How different scruples are from conscience! Good and evil touch the conscience, which in itself is the noblest of our powers. The scrupulous man is like a slave. He is afraid for himself. He busies himself with rules and fears to break them. The god that the scrupulous man serves is a god who watches over what affects him... It is a false, spiteful god, the god of a heart that does not know the true God, even when the heart names Him the Eternal.

Conscience would have told them that the guilt of bribing Judas to betray Jesus was theirs. But sin had long ago seared it, as a hot iron sears flesh. Now it was dead toward God, and cruel toward Judas without a trace of feeling. Religion without Christ only serves to cheat the soul.

The Jewish rulers had bought the blood of Jesus. But they admit that the money they paid is so defiled that they will not use it for the temple. They admit that the presence of the house is more to be feared than the presence of Him who dwelt in it.

The silver was back in the hands of the priests. It gave them the chance to crown their other sins with the highest hypocrisy. Keeping strictly to the letter of the law, they could not put it in the treasury, because it was the price of blood. But who made it such? Why, they themselves!

They are too exact and eager about the small outward details of religion, but they neglect its solid realities. They strain out the gnat and swallow the camel. So the chief priests bought Christ's blood for money without a scruple, yet would not put that money into the treasury, because it was the price of blood.

How those who had shown themselves so conscienceless are very religious! "It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since it is blood money" (v. 6). They never thought that their fussy exactness was fulfilling the word of God.

What a testimony to the blindness of conscience! How much scruples differ from conscience! The scrupulous man is like a slave. He is afraid for himself, taken up with rules, and afraid of breaking them. The god the scrupulous man serves is a god who watches over what affects him. It is a false, bitter god, the god of a heart that does not know the true God, even while the heart calls him the Eternal.

Conscience would have told them that the guilt of bribing Judas to betray Jesus was theirs, but it had long been seared as with a hot iron, and now was utterly dead toward God, as it shows itself heartlessly cruel toward Judas. Religion without Christ only serves as the means to cheat the soul.

The silver was now again in the hands of the priests and became the occasion for them to crown their other sins with supreme hypocrisy. With legal scrupulosity they could not put it in the treasury because it was the price of blood. But who made it such? Why, they themselves! So they fulfilled the scripture by buying the potter's field.

The expression does not refer to Jews from other countries, who in a religious sense were not strangers, nor to open pagans, who were left to themselves. It refers to Gentile converts, to whom a certain regard was due. Yet priestly exclusiveness would not let them rest in properly consecrated graves. So even in this act of cheap charity by a ruling council which killed the Lord of glory, the spirit of the Pharisees stayed true to itself. They judged the price of blood and the field of blood quite suitable for "strangers."

Having taken counsel, they buy a burying-ground for strangers. These were profane enough in their eyes for that, so long as they themselves were not defiled with such money. Yet it was the time of God's grace to the stranger, and judgment on Israel.

Messiah, who was the embodiment of all beauty, was priced at thirty pieces of silver. Judas fixed the price and got the silver. In his remorse, before he killed himself, he threw the money down in the temple. That fulfilled the words "in the house of the LORD." The chief priests then took the silver and used it to buy the potter's field, fulfilling the words "I... cast them to the potter."

Nothing in Jeremiah matches the words quoted, but there is something similar in Zechariah 11:12-13. Jeremiah is said to have spoken the words. So the reference may be to something he said, and not to what he wrote. Or, since the Jews of old placed Jeremiah at the head of the Book of the Prophets, "Jeremiah" may have served as a heading for the whole.

Since that time the Gentile world itself has become a potter's field in which to bury Jews scattered as strangers to the ends of the earth. The Jews themselves have in effect bought it with the price of the blood of Christ. God is the great Potter, and by this means He is doing His own work in His people. Israel is, in a figure, dead and buried during the present age, yet a national resurrection is still ahead.

They established by it a permanent memorial of their own sin, and of the blood which had been shed. Aceldama is all that remains in this world of the circumstances of this great sacrifice. The world is a field of blood, but it speaks better things than that of Abel.

The memory of their guilt is in this way kept alive to their own condemnation. And this is a picture of what the people had become — the chief priests as the pattern of what the nation was. That land remains a field of blood to this day — a field for burying strangers. With Israel cast out of their own land, it is left to others, if only to be buried there.

And notice here the awful way in which conscience can deceive itself. The chief priests took the silver pieces and said, "It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since it is blood money." Yet they had felt no hesitation about giving that money for that blood. The very same money they had bought Christ with, they will not put into the treasury! What a picture of man's heart and man's consistency! So precise about outward ceremonial points, so unfeeling about moral corruption!

Being so careful about the law, they could not put it in the treasury, because it was blood money. But who made it that? Why, they themselves! So they fulfilled the Scripture by buying the potter's field. Their act became public, and so the field got its name.

The word Aceldama, 'field of blood,' is Aramaic written out in Greek letters. Different manuscripts spell it differently. The field was bought with the money paid to Judas for betraying his Lord. In despair he could not keep it. In that sense he bought the field, Acts 1:18-19; but the chief priests were the ones who actually paid for it, Matt. 27:6-8; compare Zech. 11:12.

Eventually it was paid for a potter's field, as had been prophesied. Is there anything more desolate than a field a potter has finished with? Its clay is gone, and burnt cinders and other rubbish lie scattered over it. And what was the field used for? The saddest and most miserable use of all — though perhaps the most useful and necessary use in this world: "a burial place for strangers. Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day." True to character to the very end, even the blood-money of the great Martyr goes to buy a refuge and resting-place for the bodies of wretched foreigners.

Having taken counsel, they buy a burial ground for strangers. These were unholy enough in their eyes for that, as long as they themselves were not defiled by such money. Yet it was the time of God's grace to the stranger, and judgment on Israel. What is more, they set up by it a lasting memorial of their own sin, and of the blood which has been shed. Aceldama is all that remains in this world of the circumstances of this great sacrifice. The world is a field of blood, but it speaks better things than that of Abel.

You can see the irony of God's governmental judgment in the name. That land has been a field of blood and a burial place for strangers ever since that day. It will be so on a still larger scale, until the day when the Redeemer at last comes to Zion.

Thirty pieces of silver was the price of a slave who had been killed. If the ox gores a slave, male or female, the owner shall give to their master thirty shekels of silver (Exodus 21:32). Oh, what unfathomable love! The Lord from heaven became like a slave. He looked for love and did not find it. Love was refused to Him. Instead He was insulted, mocked, and treated like a miserable slave.

It was a sober business transaction, and in that lies its bitter contempt — it was undesigned. They thought Him a wicked man, but even so, not worth more than a few shekels' reward... We often see twenty times as much offered for the capture of some common criminal. This was a long time ago. Yes, but there are millions of people around us who would not give up even that much to have Christ now.

In Zechariah it is "I said to them," whereas in Matthew it is Judas who speaks to the chief priests, the representatives of the nation. This brings out a very interesting principle in the ways of God. It was Judas' sin that betrayed the Lord. But Jehovah used the sin of Judas to test the chief priests, to see what they thought Christ was worth. So He passes over the go-between and says, "I said to them, If you think good, give me my price."

And yet it was the act of Israel through its leaders. It was all theirs, though they would have liked to make it all Judas': the valuing, the selling and the buying.

Nothing in Jeremiah matches the words quoted, but there is something similar in Zechariah 11:12-13. The text says Jeremiah spoke the words. So the reference may be to something he said, and not to what he wrote. Another explanation is this. The Jews of old placed Jeremiah at the start of the Book of the Prophets, with Ezekiel, Isaiah and the twelve shorter prophets following. So 'Jeremiah' may have been a heading for the whole collection. Zechariah is quoted in the New Testament, but he is never named there.

R. Isaac Chizzuk Emuna, a Jewish scholar, attacked Matthew's credit with determination, yet he raised no objection to the use of Jeremiah's name instead of Zechariah's here. It is almost incredible that he could have overlooked so obvious an oddity if he had thought it a fault. The fair conclusion seems to be that this learned Jew knew such a way of quoting was even more Jewish in style — and so more fitting in Matthew — than naming the exact prophet.

Had they not in fact bought for themselves, in every land into which they were to be scattered, "a burial place for strangers"? Strangers they have indeed been ever since. How often their graves have been in a "field of blood" — and in a "potter's field" too, as the quotation here declares. Not just the field on the slope of the valley of Hinnom, but the field of the great Potter of Jeremiah 18.

That meant nothing to religious leaders. They had no scruples about betrayal, bribing false witnesses and murder. Yet they could still be religious about how the money was handled. As the price of blood it was not fit for the treasury, so it could buy a field to bury strangers in. And so they were fulfilling prophecy.

Notice again that the Lord passes over all the human means by which this prediction was carried out. In the Gospel we find that Judas cast the pieces of silver down in the temple, and that the chief priests bought the potter's field with them. Both alike were only instruments in the Lord's hands, even while they acted on the promptings of their own evil hearts, and so both actions are tied here to the prophet's words.

If a believing woman showed what she thought Jesus was worth — so wasteful, in the eyes of unbelief that weighs everything by usefulness — what was His value in the eyes of the bribing priests and of the betrayer? … A slave's price was enough for the despised Lord of all!

It was a plain business deal, and that is where its bitter contempt lies: the insult was not even meant. They thought Him a wicked man. But even so, not worth more than a few shekels' reward… We often see twenty times as much offered for the capture of some common criminal. This was a long time ago. Yes, but there are millions of people around us who would not give up even that much to have Christ now.

The difficulty comes from the Jewish way of citing Scripture. The claim that Matthew did not know the plain fact that the passage he used is in Zechariah is absurd even on human grounds. The writer of this Gospel uses the Old Testament with great depth and accuracy all the way through. He cannot reasonably be charged with a blunder that would shame an intelligent Sunday-school pupil.

Notice that Matthew 27 does not say it was written by Jeremiah; it says it was spoken by Jeremiah. Is there anything in Jeremiah that can be linked with this prophecy? In Jeremiah we do find a similar action by the prophet, matching Zechariah 11:13… His name appears in Matthew's Gospel to point out that Jeremiah also spoke of the same event: the rejection of the true Shepherd.

They bought a burying-ground for strangers. In their eyes strangers were unclean enough for that, as long as they themselves were not defiled by such money. Yet it was the time of God's grace to the stranger, and judgment on Israel. What is more, by doing this they set up a lasting memorial of their own sin, and of the blood that has been shed… The world is a field of blood, but it speaks better things than that of Abel.

Here Jeremiah's prophecy is said to be fulfilled. It speaks not only of Judas, but of Israel valuing their Messiah at thirty pieces of silver. But in exchange they have received for themselves the potter's field, the field of blood! This was by the appointment of Jehovah, in sovereign, righteous government.

They had indeed cast this money to the potter, and ever since they have been like a vessel spoiled on the wheel, waiting to be re-moulded. This is the meaning of their discipline through all the long years since.