Why wasn't Judas Iscariot's, thirty pieces of silver, of value to him when he realized what he had done?

Question

Matthew 27:1-5

How is it that sin can look so good until it is committed?

Answer 1

Zechariah 11:12 I told them, "If you think it best, give me my pay; but if not, keep it." So they paid me thirty pieces of silver. 13 And the Lord said to me, "Throw it to the potter"--the handsome price (of a slave) at which they priced me! So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord to the potter.

Matthew 27:3 Then Judas, His betrayer, seeing that He had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, 4 saying, "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood." And they said, "What is that to us? You see to it!" 5 Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself. 6 But the chief priests took the silver pieces and said, "It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, because they are the price of blood." 7 And they consulted together and bought with them the potter's field, to bury strangers in. 8 Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. 9 Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Zechariah the prophet, saying, "And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the value of Him who was priced, whom they of the children of Israel priced, 10 and gave them for the potter's field, as the Lord directed me

Judas was fulfilling the "prophesy". We see here how Judas repented: not like Peter, who repented, believed, and was pardoned: no, he repented, despaired, and was ruined.
What induced him to repent? It was when he saw that he was condemned. Judas, it is probable, expected that either Christ would have made his escape out of their hands, or would so have pleaded his own cause at their bar as to have come off, and then Christ would have had the honour, the Jews the shame, and he the money, and no harm done.
Those who measure actions by the consequences of them rather than by the divine law, will find themselves mistaken in their measures.
The way of sin is down-hill; and if we cannot easily stop ourselves, much less can we stop others whom we have set a going in a sinful way.
Judas repented himself; that is, he was filled with grief, anguish, and indignation, at himself, when reflecting upon what he had done. When he was tempted to betray his Master, the thirty pieces of silver looked very fine and glittering, like the wine, when it is red, and gives its colour in the cup. But when the thing was done, and the money paid, the silver was become dross, it bit like a serpent, and stung like an adder. Now his conscience flew in his face; "What have I done! What a fool, what a wretch, am I, to sell my Master, and all my comfort and happiness in him, for such a trifle! All these abuses and indignities done him are chargeable upon me; it is owing to me, that he is bound and condemned, spit upon and buffeted. I little thought it would have come to this, when I made that wicked bargain; so foolish was I, and ignorant, and so like a beast.’’ Now he curses the bag he carried, the money he coveted, the priests he dealt with, and the day that he was born.
Sin will soon change its taste. Though it be rolled under the tongue as a sweet morsel, in the bowels it will be turned into the gall of asps
That which is ill gotten, will never do good to those that get it, Jer. 13:10; Job 20:15. If he had repented, and brought the money back before he had betrayed Christ, he might have done it with comfort, then he had agreed while yet in the way; but now it was too late, now he cannot do it without horror, wishing ten thousand times he had never meddled with it.
what is unjustly gotten, must not be kept; for that is a continuance in the sin by which it was got, and such an avowing of it as is not consistent with repentance. He brought it to those from whom he had it, to let them know that he repented his bargain.
To his own shame, he confesses that he had sinned, in betraying this blood. He does not lay the blame on any one else; does not say, "You have sinned, in hiring me to do it;’’ but takes it all to himself; "I have sinned, in doing it.’’ Thus far Judas went toward his repentance, yet it was not to salvation. He confessed, but not to God, did not go to him, and say, I have sinned, Father, against heaven. He confessed the betraying of innocent blood, but did not confess that wicked love of money, which was the root of this evil. There are those who betray Christ, and yet justify themselves in it, and so come short of Judas

Answer 2

When Judas betrayed the Lord, he did not know that it would result in Jesus' arrest and eventual death! He was the treasurer and loved money a bit too much! That was his main downfall, greed and the love of money.

Now, when he realized he had sold out the Savior, he tried to return that money...they would not accept it. Why? Because it was blood money!

Judas was overcome with guilt and perhaps, for the first time as he stole from the very purse of the Lord! He threw those pieces of silver as he could not bear what his actions had caused...the death of his beloved Rabbi, in his mind! So, he hung himself to rid himself of the grief and guilt he was feeling.

If you look at his actions, Judas did try to repent by returning the money! What thief have you met who has been willing to give you back your money/items? No, Judas' act was done to try and rid himself of the guilt! He was sorrowful, repentive and simply could not forgive himself for what he had done!

Answer 3

There are differing biblical accounts of this. One says Judas used the pieces of silver to buy a field, in which he later hung himself.

Another says Judas scattered the pieces of silver on the floor of the temple, and dove headlong off a cliff such that his bowels spilled.

In the first account, the silver was of value, since he used it to purchase land. In the second account, the silver was of no value to him since he discarded it.

Answer 4

Human emotion (in this case, guilt) is a powerful thing. How would you feel if you realized that you'd betrayed a close friend for a sum of money, and said friend was now in the process of being horribly brutalized and was going to be painfully executed afterwards? That doesn't have anything at all to do with sin or the book of Matthew.

Answer 5

I like to think Judas Iscariot was confused. Frankly so am I.

Either Judas Iscariot was expecting the all-powerful Messiah to crush all who came against Him, or he was thinking Jesus wanted the sin less death sacrifice for our "sins of the faithful".

If I'm wrong, and Judas Iscariot sinned, perhaps God could forgive it.

I like to think Judas Iscariot repented of his sin and returned to God for forgiveness and renewal.

I like to think Judas Iscariot was chosen wisely by our Lord as one of the twelve.

19th century theologian George MacDonald, in a book of his sermons "Creation in Christ" said:
"I believe, that when he breathed his last breath he" ..."fled to the tender lap of Jesus".

But his suicide doesn't seem to fit with a repentant soul.

When I was a Roman Catholic boy i was taught the pope designated suicide as "the Un-pardonable sin", which would condem him to hell.

Perhaps he foolishly killed himself, just as he foolishly caused our Lord to be crucified.

This might explain why thirty pieces of silver, of value to him once, became valueless when he realized what he had done.

None of this is set in my mind. It's pure speculation, trying to make sense on a senseless suicide, more so than the refusing 30 pieces of silver.

I toyed with the idea of a murder disguised as suicide, but decided it was a suicide as described in the Bible.

Under what circumstances would a man falling head-long, and, striking the ground, suffer "bursting asunder in the midst"?

He hanged himself. If the branch broke, he would have dropped feet first.

Do people who hang them-selves "fall headlong, burst asunder in the midst, and all bowels gush out."???

When that branch broke, did Judas do a half-gainer to "fall head-long", and then was "burst asunder in the midst" (Acts 1:18)?

Self-murder was a very foolish, tragic choise, when you realize the betrayal had not defeated the Kingdom of God...it just set up Jesus' victory over death!

We don't know what went on in Judas Iscariot's mind. We only know that he committed suicide. I want to think that he didn't, but there is no way to defend that idea.

This all goes to show I am confused. There is an answer, even if I (or we) don't know it yet.

God alone knows the last breaths of a man. I think the weight of evidence is that Satan had entered Judas, and his last act was remorse and hopelessness, not repentant faith in the one He fatally betrayed.

He may only have repented of causing an innocent death, not betraying our Lord.

Scripture does not hint that Judas was redeemed. It would be evidence of God's love and mercy in a hopeless situation.

We cannot argue from silence, but Jesus said he was a son of hell, a betrayer (vs believer), and Acts says he went to his own place (does not sound like heaven).

Judas was not remembered as a saint or martyr. He was simply shown to be a 'devil' and replaced by a godly person in Acts.

Answer 6

You christics claim is always THE KINGDOM OF GOD ( all Jesus talked about))---You do realize it is a kingdom---Is it on where nothing natural exist --Or where superman lives -with no criptinite===If its real expect ORDER --RULE---RESPONSIBILITY-- and many things already ignored///??? If you think you want to live in a kingdom ---LOOK UPP FUTAL SYSTEM

Answer 7

Judas knew he did wrong and hanged himself.
Peter denied Jesus 3 times and repented.

Answer 8

there are two types of repentance
of ones self and one from the Holy Spirit

judas was sad he killed his friend, he knew the jews would kill him. so he gave the money back

godly repentance from the Holy Spirit leads to salvation


Judas wasn't interested in salvation, he loved money

Answer 9

Judas thought he was forcing Jesus to seize power and overthrow Roman rule, to start a rebellion. His "sin" if you must think of it that way, was in still not seeing what Jesus had come to do, and not getting that Jesus wasn't there to establish earthly power.

Answer 10

because he betrayed Innocent Blood. YESHUA was guilty
of nothing. the demon used judas and left him after the
betrayal, just as satan always does to them that follow
him.