Judas Iscariot

The name Judas Iscariot is a corruption of Judas of Kerioth. Kerioth was a small town a few miles south of Hebron. Judas was the only one of the Apostles who was not a Galilean, but a Judean. His father’s name was Simon (John 13:2).
Judas first met Y’Shua when He was preaching through Judea, though his call to become a disciple may have been received at the Sea of Tiberius, as is recorded in Matt. 4:18-24. From the time of his call to the Passover Week, we have no specific references to Judas which describe any activities of himself alone. He seemed trustworthy; the disciples freely elected him treasurer of their band. They astounded when the revelation of his treachery was made.
It was almost a year before His crucifixion when Y’Shua said that Judas was a devil (Jn. 6:70). However long Judas may have deceived the disciples, he did not deceive Y’Shua. About the time of the Passover Week we begin to read more of his sinister character. At the anointing of Y’Shua by Miriam Judas asked, “Why was not this ointment sold for 300 shillings and given to the poor?” This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein. (Jn. 12:5-6).
Y’Shua also mentioned Judas’ coming defection when He said, “He that eats bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me.” (Jn. 13:18. This is a quotation from the OT referring to a reference in the book o Psalms. It seemed by these veiled references that Y’Shua was giving Judas as much opportunity as he could to repent, as if to inform him that He knew all along that Judas was going to betray Him, but still was announcing that the door of mercy was open.
Why did Judas become a disciple? Some suggest that he was sincere for a while, but then saw that Y’Shua was not going to fulfill His destiny as a political deliverer and therefore sought to get out, currying favor with the priest, as well as earning what pitiful funds he could a the price of his betrayal. It is significant that Judas alone among the disciples was of southern extraction; and the differences in temperament and social outlook, together with the petty prejudices to which these generally give rise, may explain in part though they do not justify, his after treachery – the lack of inner sympathy which existed between Judas and the rest of the Apostles. He undoubtedly possessed certain business ability, and was therefore appointed keeper of the purse. But his heart could not have been clean, even from the first, as he administered even his primary charge dishonestly.
Perhaps the most significant thing that can be said of Judas was that in feeling sorrow for his crime of betrayal, he did not seek to atone for his sin to the One whom he had wronged, but went to his accomplices in crime, the priests, and there sought to set himself aright. And because those whom he had served in his selfishness failed him at the end, he went out and hanged himself. His life is a lesson which points vividly to the pitfalls of our spiritual pilgrimage.
After the betrayal, Mark, Luke and John are silent as regards to Judas and the accounts given in Matthew and Acts of his remorse and death vary in detail. According to Matthew, the actual condemnation of Y’Shua awakened Judas’ sense of guilt, and becoming still more despondent at his repulse by the chief priest and elders, ‘he cast down the pieces of silver into the sanctuary, and departed; and he went away and hanged himself.’ With the money the chief priests purchased the potter’s field, afterward called the field of blood, and in this way was fulfilled the prophecy of Zechariah (11:12-14) ascribed by Matthew to Jeremiah (Matt. 27:2-10). The account given in Acts 1:16-20 is much shorter. It mentions neither Judas; repentance nor the chief priests, but simply states that Judas obtained a field with the reward of his iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out. The author of Acts finds in this the fulfillment of the prophecy in Palms 69:25. The Vulgate rendering, ‘When he had hanged himself, he burst asunder, suggests a means of reconciling the two accounts.
From Judas fettered greed and disappointed ambition sprang jealousy and spite and hatred. It was the hatred, not of a strong, but of an essentially weak man. Instead of making an open breach with his L-rd, he remained ostensibly one of His followers; and this continued contact with a goodness to whi8ch he would not yield (Mk. 14:10), and his brooding over the rebukes of his Master, gave ready entrance for satan into his soul. But if he knew the good and did not do it (Jn. 13:17), so also he was weak in the carrying out of his nefarious designs. It was this hesitancy, rather than a fiendish cunning, which induced him to remain till the last moment in the upper room, and which prompted the remark of Y’Shua ‘What thou doest, do quickly’ (Jn. 13:27). Of a piece with this weak-mindedness was his attempt to cast the blame upon the chief priests and elders (Matt. 17:3-4). He sought to set himself right, not with the innocent Y’Shua whom he had betrayed, but with the accomplices in his crime; and because that world which his selfishness had made his god failed him at the last, he went and hanged himself. It was the tragic end of one who espoused a great cause in the spirit of speculation and selfish ambition, and who weighed not the dread consequences to which those impure motive might lead him.
There is little material about Judas in any of the common apocryphal sources. A current guidebook on Jerusalem states: “Haceldama (Field of Blood) is a name given to the so called ‘potter’s field’ that was bought with the 30 pieces of silver that Judas had earned for betraying Y’Shua. Judas, repenting of his deed, flung the money at the feet of the priests who were unwilling to accept it because it was ‘blood money.’ After Judas had killed himself the money was used to buy a field to serve as a burial place for strangers.”