This is an excerpt from my book “40 Moments From Christ’s Final Days.” Click here to get it from Amazon using my affiliate link.
Find this moment in: Mt. 26:14-16, Mk. 14:10-11, Lk. 22:3-6
We haven’t heard much about Judas up to this point. We know he handled the group’s money and very likely volunteered for it because it meant he could steal from it. We know that he followed Jesus, but his greed blinded him to the miraculous things he saw and heard. Perhaps being rebuked twice by Jesus in less than a week was too much for him, or perhaps Judas decided he deserved the money that Jesus insisted on wasting. Whatever his motivations, we know Judas woke up the next day and acted on his greed.
Then one of the twelve, named Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What are you willing to give me to deliver Him to you?” And they weighed out thirty pieces of silver to him. And from then on he began looking for a good opportunity to betray Jesus. (Matthew 26:14-16)
Judas knew the priests hated Jesus. Perhaps he even felt bad for them after witnessing Him cut into their business in the temple and open things up for Gentiles. Even though Judas doesn’t have a plan, the priests give him thirty silver pieces. This amount is noteworthy and has both a temporary and eternal value.
We don’t know what currency this silver was in. Coming from the priests, it’s very likely that it was a silver shekel. This converted to around 120 denarii, or about four months of income for a laborer. Considering Judas missed two chances to skim money from a year of labor, this may have been more than he’d hoped to steal.
However, his compensation was no accident. We see a similar value in an Old Testament story that the priests should have been familiar with. Perhaps their choice was intentional, or perhaps it was ordained by God without them realizing it.
And I said to them, “If it is good in your sight, give me my wages; but if not, never mind!” So they weighed out thirty shekels of silver as my wages. Then Yahweh said to me, “Throw it to the potter, that valuable price at which I was valued by them.” So I took the thirty shekels of silver and threw them to the potter in the house of Yahweh. (Zechariah 11:12-13)
This moment between Judas and the priests is a callback to the prophet Zechariah. Despite serving God faithfully in Israel, the people had zero interest in what God said and just as much respect for God’s prophet. As both God and Zechariah wash their hands of these rebellious people, the prophet asks if they’re willing to pay him what Israel thinks he’s worth.
God’s response to this is dripping with sarcasm. The people offer thirty silver shekels, which He mockingly calls a “valuable price.” To understand the context of this silver for both Zechariah and Judas, we need to look back even further to see how Israel insulted God both times.
If the ox gores a male or female slave, the owner shall give his or her master thirty shekels of silver, and the ox shall be stoned. (Exodus 21:32)
In other words, the value of Jesus and the prophets was the same as replacing a slave. This wasn’t even the cost to buy a new slave, but to help cover part of the lost expenses. Thirty shekels was the lowest value placed on a human life. Through Judas and Zechariah, we see what Israel thought of their God.
Stop and think: Understanding the context of this exchange is insulting, even infuriating. They had God right there with them, yet they rejected Him because they liked their lives just as they were. How can you protect yourself from treating your priceless Savior with the same rejection as the rest of the world?
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