Golden Nuggets - 2

Golden Nuggets - 2

"Then one of the Twelve—the one called Judas Iscariot—went to the chief priests and asked, 'What are you willing to give me if I deliver him over to you?'  So they counted out for him thirty pieces of silver.  From then on Judas watched for an opportunity to hand him over."  (Matthew 26:14-16, NIV)

"When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. 'I have sinned,' he said, 'for I have betrayed innocent blood.'
'What is that to us?' they replied.  'That’s your responsibility.'

So Judas threw the money into the temple and left.  Then he went away and hanged himself.
The chief priests picked up the coins and said, 'It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money.'  So they decided to use the money to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners.  That is why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day."  (Matthew 27:3-8, NIV)

This unbelievably ugly incident has often been misunderstood.  Please consider exactly what these verses state.

"So Judas threw the money into the temple and left."  It is often taught that Judas threw the 30 pieces of silver into the large temple enclosure where men worshiped and the Priests were active in prayers and other obligations.

However that is not accurate.  The original Greek used two different words in describing the Temple: ἱερόν (hi-e-ron) and ναός (na-os) Thayer's Greek Lexicon defines ἱερόν as "the whole temple, the entire consecrated enclosure;" Whereas ναός comes from a word meaning to dwell.  Thayer defines ναός "used of the sacred edifice or sanctuary itself...the Holy of Holies."

Scripture clearly explains "Holy of Holies" to be the dwelling place of God's presence and the Cherubim beside the Ark of the Covenant with the Mercy Seat above.  Into the Holy of Holies the High Priest was commanded to only enter one day of the year and could not do so any other day for any reason whatsoever.  It was the holiest day in Israel’s year... the day of Atonement.  No one else could ever enter this dwelling place of God's presence.

These two words must be distinguished from each other.

Nuggets

Where did Judas throw the silver coins?
He did not throw them into the ἱερόν (the whole temple structure)
He threw them into the ναός (the Holy of Holies).

It is frequently hypothesized: "That's not possible as Judas could not enter the Holy of Holies."  I strongly disagree. The Scripture says he did cast the coins into the presence of God.  And the Holy Spirit inspired Matthew to write ναός.

Be careful in explaining away Scripture.  It is evident that Judas was experiencing the worst moments of his life.  He first attempted to return the coins to the priests, but they refused.  Judas then threw them past the fine twisted linen with blue, purple and scarlet colors 4-inch* veil into the presence of God.  Some say How?

Judas shortly was going to hang himself and in that horrid devastating emotion he ran past the criminally arrogant Priests and threw the coins into the Holy of Holies.

Judas left and hung himself.

Then the Priests forever sealed their doom by ignoring God's strict commandment.  They entered the Holy of Holies to snatch the coins.  Interestingly a few hours later that veil was ripped from the top to the bottom.  Only the Holy Spirit could do that. It was way too high for any person to do so.  This may have been the reason many priests witnessing this later came to Jesus.

* This is a Rabbi's estimate.

This Nugget anchors my soul to believe all of God's Inspired Word.

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