JUDAS, THE TRAITOR.

MATT. XXVII. 3, 4.

“Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again [brought back] the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying: I have sinned, in that I have betrayed the innocent blood.”

Note.—The confession of the despairing traitor—Ἥμαρτον παραδοὺς αἷμα ἀθῶον—may be more concisely and pointedly translated, “I sinned in betraying innocent blood.” In connection with the testimony of Pilate, and that of the Sanhedrin, which could prefer no other 261charge against Jesus than that he had called himself the Messiah, this confession amounts to a complete vindication of the innocence of Jesus. If Judas, from three years’ familiar intercourse, had known any thing in the least degree affecting the moral purity of his Master, he would have eagerly availed himself of it for his self-justification, and peace of conscience. Compare the comments in Lange’s “Matthew,” Am. ed., p. 501 ff.