“Then I said to them, ‘If it is agreeable to you, give me my wages; and if not, refrain.’ So they weighed out for my wages thirty pieces of silver. And the LORD said to me, ‘Throw it to the potter’—that princely price they set on me. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the LORD for the potter.” Zech. 11:12,13
By God’s direction the prophet demanded wages. He was basically asking, “What am I worth to you?” Zechariah probably didn’t understand the meaning or significance of what happened next. He received 30 pieces of silver.
Likewise, Judas approached the Jewish leaders and asked what they were willing to pay him to betray Jesus to them. He was also asking, “What is He worth to you?” You’d think they’d be willing to pay anything to be rid of Him, that they’d say, “Name your price.” But they gave what had been foreordained, unknowingly fulfilling Scripture.
“Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests and said, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you?” And they counted out to him thirty pieces of silver. So from that time he sought opportunity to betray Him.” Matt. 26:14-16
So this Scripture was fulfilled when Judas betrayed Jesus for the “princely sum” of 30 pieces of silver. This was the price to be paid for a slave who died. (Ex. 21:32) It showed how little they thought of Jesus. In disdain for the paltry sum, God directed it to be thrown into the temple and used for the potter.
“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, saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.”
And they said, “What is that to us? You see to it! Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself.” Matt. 27:3-5
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.” And they consulted together and bought with them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in. Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day.
Then was fulfilled what was spoken by Jeremiah 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, and gave them for the potter’s field, as the LORD directed me.” Matt. 27:6-10
When he was remorseful, he returned it to the temple. They recognized it as blood money and could not use it in “good conscience” so instead it was used to purchase the Potter’s field to bury strangers in.
God always promises to fulfill His word. Zechariah didn’t know why he was told to ask for wages, or to throw it into the temple for the potter. Judas didn’t know the significance of the amount he was paid to betray Jesus. The Jewish leaders didn’t realize they were fulfilling Scripture when they offered this sum, or when Judas threw it onto the temple floor, or when they found a “noble” use for the blood money. Yet it was just another Scripture fulfilled in the life of Jesus that should have made the Jews, both then and now, realize Jesus was the Messiah.
Tag Archives: Blood money
The Scarlet Thread 