The Devil’s Fangs For Hire – 30 Pieces Of Silver (Judas Iscariot) Part 1 Series

THE DEVIL’S FANGS FOR HIRE – 30 PIECES OF SILVER (JUDAS ISCARIOT) PART 1

CHARACTERS OF JOHN’S GOSPEL - - JUDAS ISCARIOT – PART 1 of 2

INTRODUCTION: The conflict with God’s will to use the evil man.

A betrayer was prophesied in the Old Testament, so is Judas really to blame for the action he took? Here is the Old Testament prophecy regarding that - Zechariah 11:12-13 “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 the LORD said to me, “Throw it to the potter, that magnificent 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 the LORD.”

A betrayer was in the will of God as prophesied, so was not Judas helping God’s will? It is said Judas pushed Jesus to establish the kingdom, so he was trying to help the will of God. The expected kingdom is to be established in Israel but did Judas think he could help that along? Does he deserve the bad name he has? After all, how many men do you know have the first name Judas?

In this message we are going to consider another character in John’s gospel today but you don’t hear much of this man in messages. I think that could be because people don’t like talking about it, or they don’t know what to say, but we will. This man is called in the gospels, Judas Iscariot.

[A]. HIS NAME. We will look at his name. Judas is derived from yad and means "to throw or stretch out the hand" and is the base root in the name Yehudah. If you were standing before something magnificent for the first time you might throw your hands out and say, "Wow, will you look at that". This is the Hebraic understanding of "praise" and the name Yehudah. Some say his name means “praise”. The name Iscariot has received many interpretations more of less conjectural. The most probable is from Ish Kerioth, i.e. "man of Kerioth," a town in the tribe of Judah. Do you know his father’s name? (We will come back to that question at the end.)

[B]. HIS CALL. We have the record of the call by Jesus of a number of the disciples – Peter, James, John, Nathaniel, Matthew, for example but there is no record of the call of Judas, but be very clear about this, Jesus did call him into His group of 12 and did that very specifically. The Lord spent all night in prayer before calling His disciples. It would be wicked to suggest even that Jesus made a mistake in calling Judas.

[C]. HIS POSITION. He was the treasurer for the group. How was he chosen for that position? We don’t know if it was by the Lord’s appointment, or by the disciples’ choice, or if it was realised he was most suitable such as having some qualifications. The band of disciples did have support, and offerings were given to them which went into the treasurer’s bag. Luke speaks of a loyal band of women who accompanied them and ministered to them. It is so essential to the gospel that there are those who stand behind the speakers and teachers and the evangelists and missionaries and those who minister the word. It is biblical to do so.

John gives this incident in 12 v 3-6: “Mary therefore took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume, but one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot who was intending to betray Him said, “Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and given to poor people?” Now he said this, not because he was concerned about the poor, but because he was a thief, and as he had the money box, he used to pilfer what was put into it.”

The fact Judas mentioned the poor may mean that the disciples could have supported the poor from time to time. However we must note two things here. John wrote “who was intending to betray him,” and that was written in hindsight after the gospel events. Never at any time did anyone suspect Judas as we shall see in this examination later. The way the expression reads means he was waiting for a window of opportunity. The second matter John raises relates to the character of Judas. John declared that Judas had no concern for the poor; that he was a thief; and used to help himself to the funds in the bag. Regarding that word Strong’s says, “properly, a case i.e. a casket or purse”. Of course, none of that was known at the time, only in retrospect.