Lk. 22:3 Then Satan entered Judas, surnamed Iscariot, who was numbered among the twelve.
Mt. 26:14 Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests.
Mk. 14:10 Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Him to them.
Lk. 22:4 So he went his way and conferred with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray Him to them.
Mt. 26:15 And said, “What are you willing to give me if I deliver Him to you?” And they counted out to him thirty pieces of silver.
Mk. 14:11a So when they heard it, they were glad, and promised to give him money.
Lk. 22:5 And they were glad, and agreed to give him money.
Violation No. 2: Judas was bribed with thirty pieces of silver.
The Law stated that there was to be no proceedings conducted by ecclesiastical authorities which was affected by a bribe. With this second violation, the whole thing should have come to a screeching halt and not gone any further. Giving Judas a bribe should have stopped the whole thing right then. Both the Hebrew Scriptures and the Mishnah have laws forbidding the taking or giving of bribes. “You shall not pervert justice; you shall not show partiality, nor take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.” “If anyone takes payment to act as a judge to give legal decisions, his judgments are void; if he accepts payment to give evidence, his testimony is void.”
Sources: Deut. 16:19; M:Bechoroth 4:6
The Tyrian shekel is mentioned at least twice in the New Testament. The first time it is mentioned is in Matthew 17:24-27 where the Temple tax collector asked Peter if he and his Master paid the Temple tax. Peter replied in the affirmative. The Lord Yeshua, seeing a teaching opportunity on Biblical greatness, demonstrated humility by paying the Temple tax for Himself and Peter with a shekel from a fish’s mouth. This is the second mention when Judas betrayed Yeshua for thirty pieces of silver, most likely Tyrian shekels from the Temple treasury.
The reference to the thirty pieces of silver was the value placed on a dead slave based on Exodus 21:32. Seeing that he got it from the chief priest meant that it was paid out of the Temple treasure which was to be used for the purchase of a sacrifice. While this was obviously not their intent, that is exactly what they did. They did purchase the final sacrifice for sin. In Jewish history that thirty pieces of silver became a price of contempt, and it is used as such in Zechariah 11:12 where Zechariah is asked to play the role of the Messiah and to feed the sheep. After a period of feeding the sheep he presents himself to the leaders and he says, “If you think my labors are worthy, then pay me. But if you think they are not worthy, then don’t pay me anything.” The Zechariah says that they weighed his value at thirty pieces of silver, and I would have been better that they voted to give him nothing. Because thirty pieces of silver was a price of contempt.
Sources: Exod. 21:32; Zech. 11:12
Mt. 26:16 So from that time on he sought opportunity to betray Him.
Mk. 14:11b So he sought how he might conveniently betray Him.
Lk. 22:6 Then he promised and sought opportunity to betray Him to them in the absence of the multitude.
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