Judas had betrayed Jesus at the Last Supper; he threw the 30 pieces of silver into the Temple to the potter and went out and hanged himself. (I am still trying to find out who the potter was, who held the position of potter, and was it a regular position in the Temple, and why did he own his own field?)
This passage raises some questions. Acts Chapter 1:16-20. Peter is speaking:
16 “Brothers, the Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke beforehand by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus. 17 For he was numbered among us and was allotted his share in this ministry.” 18 (Now this man acquired a field with the reward of his wickedness and falling headlong[a] he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out. 19 And it became known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem, so that the field was called in their own language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) 20 “For it is written in the Book of Psalms,
“‘May his camp become desolate,
and let there be no one to dwell in it’;
and
“‘Let another take his office.’”
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Matthew 27 tells the story of when Jesus was arrested:
27 When morning came, all the chief priests and the elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death. 2 And they bound him and led him away and delivered him over to Pilate the governor.
Judas Hangs Himself
3 Then when Judas, his betrayer, saw that Jesus was condemned, he changed his mind and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders, 4 saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” They said, “What is that to us? See to it yourself.” 5 And throwing down the pieces of silver into the temple, he departed, and he went and hanged himself. 6 But the chief priests, taking the pieces of silver, said, “It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since it is blood money.” 7 So they took counsel and bought with them the potter’s field as a burial place for strangers. 8 Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day. 9 Then was fulfilled what had been spoken by the prophet Jeremiah, saying, “And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him on whom a price had been set by some of the sons of Israel, 10 and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord directed me.”
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[The passage in Jeremiah 32:6-9:
6 Jeremiah said, “The word of the Lord came to me: 7 Behold, Hanamel the son of Shallum your uncle will come to you and say, ‘Buy my field that is at Anathoth, for the right of redemption by purchase is yours.’ 8 Then Hanamel my cousin came to me in the court of the guard, in accordance with the word of the Lord, and said to me, ‘Buy my field that is at Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, for the right of possession and redemption is yours; buy it for yourself.’ Then I knew that this was the word of the Lord.
9 “And I bought the field at Anathoth from Hanamel my cousin, and weighed out the money to him, seventeen shekels of silver.
This talks about the right of redemption and possession of a plot of land The Right of Inheritance.]
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Zechariah 11:12-13 Is a prophecy:
2 Then I said to them, “If it seems good to you, give me my wages; but if not, keep them.” And they weighed out as my wages thirty pieces of silver. 13 Then the Lord said to me, “Throw it to the potter”—the lordly price at which I was priced by them. So I took the thirty pieces of silver and threw them into the house of the Lord, to the potter.
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It was as if the word POTTER kept jumping out at me. What was the significance?
After some digging, I found out a few things.
A potter in those days, may have worked at a Temple, fashioning water jugs, cups, and other vessels.
A potter’s field was an area signified for digging up the red soil which was used to make the pottery. It would be no good for farming, since the good soil was taken away. Also, sometimes old pieces of pottery, no longer of use or broken, would be thrown in the field. Once it was used up, it was used to bury strangers or criminals. This land would be outside of Jerusalem.
Thirty pieces of silver was the price of a slave in ancient Egypt. It was a very small price to pay for a piece of land, and land inside of Jerusalem would have cost more.
So after Judas died, he actually purchased a graveyard, which was his Right of Inheritance. The wages of sin are death. He inherited a field that was not worth anything, where the goodness of the soil had been stripped out, and broken fragments of old pots and jugs that were useless were thrown. He was buried along with them, in the land he inherited by his actions.
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SueAnn Porter 