277
What did he do with the money?
Matthew: “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.... And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed” ([xxvii, 3–5]).
Peter: “Now this man [Judas] purchased a field with the reward of iniquity” ([Acts i, 18]).
278
The purchase of the potter’s field was in fulfillment of what prophecy?
Matthew: “That which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, ... and gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord appointed me” ([xxvii, 9, 10]).
This was not spoken by Jeremiah, but by Zechariah. “And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prized at of them. And I took the thirty pieces of silver and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord” ([xi, 13]).
It is evident that the account of the betrayal was inspired, not by a historical fact, but by a desire to “fulfill” a Messianic prophecy. Zechariah did not predict an event, but his words did suggest a fiction. This is the more probable from the fact that Matthew is the only Evangelist who mentions the thirty pieces of silver.