What is the meaning of Matthew 27:6? The chief priests • These are the same religious leaders who had already “plotted to arrest Jesus covertly and kill Him” (Matthew 26:3–4). • Their position placed them at the very heart of Israel’s worship life (Exodus 28:1), yet they were now managing the aftermath of their own conspiracy. • John 19:15 shows their tragic drift: “We have no king but Caesar!”—a stark contrast to their priestly calling to honor God above all. picked up the pieces of silver • Judas had thrown the thirty coins into the temple after confessing, “I have betrayed innocent blood” (Matthew 27:3–5). • Thirty shekels fulfilled Zechariah 11:13, where the prophet sarcastically calls the same amount “the handsome price at which they valued Me.” • Exodus 21:32 notes that thirty shekels was the compensation for a slave—highlighting how cheaply the priests and Judas valued Jesus. and said, • Their immediate discussion exposes a legalistic mindset: they deliberate procedure while ignoring personal guilt (compare Luke 11:39–42, where Jesus rebukes them for outward purity with inward corruption). • Acts 4:5–7 later shows the same group interrogating the apostles—proof that their hardness of heart continued even after the resurrection. “It is unlawful to put this into the treasury,” • Deuteronomy 23:18 forbids bringing tainted money into “the house of the LORD your God,” a law the priests now invoke. • Ironically, they scrupulously guard the temple coffers while violating the far weightier matter of justice (see Matthew 23:23). • Their statement admits that temple funds were meant for holy purposes; they intuitively know blood money defiles God’s house. “since it is blood money.” • By their own words they concede the coins are tied to innocent blood (compare Deuteronomy 27:25: “Cursed is he who accepts a bribe to kill an innocent person”). • Yet they refuse repentance; instead, they will buy the potter’s field (Matthew 27:7), unwittingly fulfilling more prophecy. • Acts 1:18–19 echoes the outcome: the field becomes known as Akeldama, “Field of Blood,” standing as a lasting memorial to their guilt. summary Matthew 27:6 spotlights a tragic hypocrisy. The chief priests, guardians of God’s law, acknowledge that Judas’s thirty coins are defiled by blood but ignore their own role in shedding that blood. Their legal precision cannot erase moral failure. The verse therefore exposes the emptiness of outward religion divorced from a repentant heart and, at the same time, confirms Scripture’s reliability through precise fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy. |
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