Matthew 27:1 says, When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death: As morning dawned, all the chief priests and elders took counsel against Jesus. These were the religious leaders of that day, and they were united against Jesus. No matter what religious leaders may say today, even if they are united, if they are against Jesus and what He did on the cross, which is to provide the only way to salvation, then they are wrong. Verse two adds, And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor. They bound Jesus, thinking that they were in control of the situation. The only way that they were able to bind Jesus was because He allowed them to. By our lack of belief in Jesus today, He in effect allows us to bind Him. After binding Jesus, they took Him to Pilate, the governmental leader. Some people look to the government today to attempt to bind the gospel of Christ. Verse three declares, Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, Judas saw what was happening to Jesus and repented for what he had done, attempting to return the money he had betrayed Jesus for. I believe this tells us that his intent was never honorable, and he could not undo what he had done simply by returning the money. I am not sure if he repented to God or just repented, or changed his mind, about what he did. I do know that if he truly repented and put his faith in Jesus that he would have found forgiveness. Verse four adds, Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that. Judas said to the religious leaders that he had sinned and shed innocent blood. This does not necessarily say that Judas now believed that Jesus was the Messiah, but that he did believe that Jesus was innocent of what He was being charged with. They asked Judas how this concerned them. They had what they wanted are were not concerned with Judas or whether he thought Jesus was innocent or not, so they did not take the money back. Verse five declares, And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself. Judas took the pieces of silver and threw it at their feet and went out an hanged himself. I personally believe that had Judas really repented and asked God for forgiveness that he would have then gone to see what was going to happen to Jesus and would have stood with the other disciples afterward. Feeling sorry about what we have done without asking God for forgiveness is not enough. Verse six adds, And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood. Though the religious leaders had given Judas the money, even after he threw it at their feet, would not keep it, because they said it was blood money. I believe that if they felt that what they did was God's will that they would have had no problem taking the money back. Verse seven states, And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in. The chief priests took counsel and decided to buy a potter's field to bury the dead by using the thirty pieces of silver. This was appropriate I believe, since the religious leaders themselves were spiritually dead. Verse eight says, Wherefore that field was called, The field of blood, unto this day. This potter's field was called the field of blood. Though it was probably not their intention, it was bought with money that led to Jesus shedding His blood on the cross. Verse nine adds, Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value; Verse ten concludes, And gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord appointed me. I am sure that the religious leaders did not do this so that they could bring about the fulfillment of a prophesy about Christ, since they did not accept Jesus as the Messiah, but they fulfilled the prophesy anyway.
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