Matthew 26:6-16

SECOND SECTION

THE ANOINTING AT BETHANY

26:6–16

(Mark 14:3-11; Luke 22:3-6; John 12:1-8)

6Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper [four days previous, on Saturday], 7There came unto him a woman having an alabaster box of very precious ointment, and poured it on his head, as he sat at meat [reclined at table, ἀνακειμένου] 8But when his [the]21 disciples saw it, they had indignation [were indignant, or displeased, ἠγανάκτησᾱν, saying, To what purpose is this waste? 9For this ointment22 might have been sold for much, and given to the poor. 10When Jesus understood it, he [And Jesus knowing it, γνοὺς δὲ ὁ ’Ιησ.] said unto them, Why trouble ye the woman? for she hath wrought a good work upon me. 11For ye have the poor [the poor ye have, τοὺς πτωχοὺς ἒχετε always with you; but me ye have not always. 12For in that she hath poured [in pouring, βαλοῦσα] this ointment on my body, she did it for my burial 13[for my embalmment, or to prepare for my burial, πρὸς τὸ ἐνταφιάσαι με]. Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached in the whole world, there shall also this, that this woman hath done [this also that she hath done, καὶ ὁ ἐποίησεν αὕτη], be told for a memorial of her. 14Then one of the twelve, called Judas Iscariot, 15went unto the chief priests, And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for [promised him]23 thirty pieces16[shekels] of silver.24 And from that time he sought opportunity to betray him.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Matthew 26:6. Now, when Jesus was in Bethany, or lit.: And Jesus being in B.—On the Saturday before [six days before the Passover nee John 12:1]. Meyer, indeed, thinks that to remove this abode of Jesus at Bethany before the note of time, Matthew 26:2, is a device of the Harmonists, from which the τότε of Matthew 26:14 should have deterred them. Certainly that would be true if this τότε were found in Matthew 26:6. But the τότε in Matthew 26:14 manifestly refers to the previous anointing. A similar retrogression to an earlier event may be found in Matthew 14:3; as an anticipation in Matthew 27:7, where Meyer himself is obliged to give up the external succession.25

Of Simon the leper.—Probably Jesus had healed this Simon of his leprosy. He dwelt in Bethany. It is natural to suppose that he had made Jesus a feast in gratitude. According to a tradition in Nicephor. Hist. Eccl. i .27, he was the father of Lazarus; according to others, he was the husband of Martha, or Martha his widow. All this is very uncertain; but it is not an arbitrary supposition, that he was in some way related to the family of Lazarus.

Matthew 26:7. There came to Him a woman.—“This anointing, which Mark also (Matthew 14:3) relates, is not that recorded in Luke 7:36 sqq.; it is so essentially distinguished from the latter in time, place, circumstances, person, as also in its whole historical and ethical connections and bearings, that we are not warranted even by the peculiarity of the event to assume different aspects of one transaction (against Chrysostom, Grotius, Schleiermacher, Strauss, Weisse, Ewald). See Calov. Bibl. Illustr. But it is not different from that which is recorded in John 12:1 (against Origen, Chrysostom, Euth. Zigabenus, Osiander, Lightfoot, Wolf, etc.).” Meyer. Similarly de Wette; who, however, gives some supposed deviations in the two accounts. 1. According to John, the anointing took place six days before the Passover; according to Matthew, two days. This has been set aside. 2. According to Matthew and Mark, the meal was in the house of Simon; according to John, in the house of Lazarus. But the expression, “they made Him a feast,” is not necessarily to be referred to the family of Lazarus; certainly not to be limited to them. It is possible that all the believers in Bethany gave Him this feast.; and the fact that Lazarus was among the guests to the Lord’s honor, that Martha waited upon Him, and Mary anointed Him, conclude nothing against the place being Simon’s house; especially as we know nothing of the near connection between the family of Lazarus and Simon. [Both families may have occupied the same house, especially if they were related, according to the ancient tradition; or, Simon may have been the owner, Lazarus the tenant, of the house.—P. S.] 3. According to Matthew and Mark, Jesus was anointed on the head; according to John, on the feet. But according to Matthew 26:12, the body of Jesus generally was anointed. The connection shows why John makes prominent the anointing of the feet. 4. In the Synoptists, the disciples express their displeasure; in John, Judas Iscariot. But Matthew, Matthew 26:14, intimates that Judas was the instigator of the murmuring, and carried the mass of the disciples with him. And for John, the glance at the traitor was the main point. According to Augustine and others, Judas might have made the remark, and the rest harmlessly consented. Meyer supposes that the original account, as given by John, had been disturbed in the Synoptists through blending it with that of Luke 7:0; and that hence the name of Simon, the host, was obtained. An arbitrary assumption; since the name of Simon was very common, and the related features might have been repeated very naturally through their inner significance.

A woman.—John calls her Mary, the well-known, whose noble character he had drawn before in Matthew 11:0; see also Luke 10:39.

Having an alabaster-box.—More precise statement in John 12:3. Anointing with oil was a primitive custom of consecration, Genesis 28:18. It was then used for the ritual consecration of priests, Leviticus 8:12; of kings, 1 Samuel 10:1; Matthew 16:13; occasionally also of prophets, 1 Kings 19:16. By anointing was the Old Testament David marked out as the Mashiach, as also his sons; and especially the ideal David, the Saviour, Psalms 2:2. But the anointing was interpreted of the fulness of the Spirit, Isaiah 11:2; Isaiah 61:0; Hebrews 1:9, after Psalms 45:7-8. The anointing of the head was also a distinction which was conferred upon the guest of honor, Luke 7:46,—not only among the Jews, but generally in the East and among the ancients: Plato, De Republ. 3 See Grotius in Matt. p. 501. In connection with the anointing of the head, was the washing of the feet with water. Thus it was an elevation of the custom to the highest point of honor, when the head and the feet were alike anointed with oil. Thus the anointing of the feet in Luke 7:0 was not simply dictated by the woman’s prostration and humility: Jesus was on His journey, and the anointing of the feet was therefore primarily mentioned. And in John’s account also, the fact that Jesus came as a traveller to Bethany will account for his giving special prominence to the anointing of the feet. But Matthew leaves this circumstance unnoticed. De Wette: “A whole pound of ointment (she had so much, according to John), poured out at once upon the head, would have been improper; probably it was easier for Mary to approach His feet than His head.” Friedlieb supposes that the litra (pound) here mentioned, was the ancient and genuine litra of the Sicilian-Greek system, about 7/20 of a Cologne pound. We learn from Mark, Matthew 26:3, that she broke the alabaster-flask at the top, in order to pour out the ointment. “The ointment of nard was highly esteemed in antiquity as a precious aromatic, and a costly luxury, Plinius, 12:26. It was brought chiefly from Asia Minor in little alabaster flasks; and the best were to be had in Tarsus. Yet the plant grew in Southern India.” See Winer, sub Narde. The best was very high in price.

Matthew 26:8. They became indignant.—According to John, Judas expressed this displeasure; according to Mark, some of them were indignant within themselves; according to Matthew, the body of the disciples. Matthew is wont to generalize; but his words here mean only, that the disciples collectively were led astray by the hypocritical word of Judas: symptoms of murmuring appeared in many.

To what purpose is this waste?—’Α πώλεια, wasting. The active meaning must be held fast. It marks the supposed useless squandering of a costly possession. Meyer, however, takes the sense passively: loss.

Matthew 26:9. Sold for much.—Pliny says that a pound of this ointment cost more than four hundred denarii. [A denáry, or “penny” in the English Version, is about 15 American cents. See note, p. 352.] Mark mentions that three hundred was the amount specified by the murmuring disciples: about equal to 65 2/3 Prussian dollars [about §45].

And given to the poor.—The money realized from the sale of the ointment. John gives the explanation, that Judas had the bag (as manager of the common exchequer), and was a thief in the management of it. The money, he takes for granted, should have gone into his bag. Under the present circumstances, with a mind darkened by desperation as to the cause of Christ, which he had begun now to renounce, he might perhaps have “deserted with the bag.”

Matthew 26:10. But when Jesus saw it—That is, the secret ungracious murmuring; for none durst speak aloud save Judas.

Why trouble ye the woman, τί κόπους παρέχετε τῇ γυναικι,—inflict not upon her any burden or disquietude by confusing her conscience, by disturbing her love, or by disparaging her noble act of sacrifice.

For she hath wrought a good work.—Literally, a beautiful work, marking its moral propriety and grace. Meyer: “The disciples turned away from the moral quality to the expediency of the question.” Rather, they measured moral quality by practical utility, Judas doing so as a mere hypocrite. But Jesus estimated moral quality according to the principle of believing and active love from which the act sprang.

Matthew 26:11. Me ye have not always.—Not simply a “sorrowful litotes,” to signify His speedy departure through death; but also intended to impress the unexampled significance of the occasion. Only once in the whole course of history could this particular act of reverence occur, which, humanly speaking, cheered and animated the Lord before His passion. This hour was a fleeting, heavenly opportunity which could never return; while the care of the poor would be a daily duty to humanity down to the end of time. But, at the same time, there is a general reference to the contrast between festal offerings and every day offerings. Only on certain special occasions may Christ be anointed; but we may always do good to the poor.

Matthew 26:12. She hath poured out this ointment.—She poured it all out, as desirous to offer the last drop. And she thereby expressed an unconscious presentiment which the Lord now interprets.

She did it for My burial [lit.: to prepare Me for burial, to embalm Me.]—She hath anointed and embalmed for solemn burial My body, as if it were already a corpse. The Lord gives this significance to the occasion, on account of the prophecy of his death contained in the traitor’s temper: He would intimate all to Judas, and at the same time humble the disciples. The woman was not, in her act, conscious of all this inducement; but she had some presentiment which made her act as if she thought, We have come to the end; hereafter there will be no need of anointing.

Matthew 26:13. This gospel.—The tidings of salvation, with special reference to the death of Jesus.

Shall be told for a memorial of her.—Promise of a permanent justification and distinction for this eminent woman, which has been in the most glowing manner fulfilled. [Even now, while we write or read these lines, we fulfil the Saviour’s prophecy. Alford well observes on this, the only case in which our Lord has made such a promise: “We cannot but be struck with the majesty of this prophetic announcement: introduced with the peculiar and weighty ὰμὴν λέγω ὑμῖν,—conveying, by implication, the whole mystery of the εὐαγγέλιον which should go forth from His death as its source,—looking forward to the end of time, when it shall have been preached in the whole world,—and specifying the fact that this deed should be recorded wherever it is preached.” He sees in this announcement a distinct prophetic recognition of the existence of written gospel records by means of which alone the deed related could be universally proclaimed.—P. S.]

Matthew 26:14. Then one of the twelve went.—Now did the secret of the murmuring of the disciples disclose itself, as if an old sore in the sacred circle had broken open. The woman with her ointment has hastened the healing crisis. As the obduracy of the Jews was developed at the great feasts when Jesus visited them, so the hardening of Judas was completed at the feasts where Jesus was the centre.—Τότε. Meyer, unsatisfactorily, says: “After this meal; but not because he was aggrieved by Jesus’ saying, which, in its tenderness of sorrow, was not calculated to wound him.” The answer of the Lord approved the act of the woman, punished the complaint of Judas, sealed and confirmed the prospect of His death: all this was enough for the exasperated confusion of Judas’ mind. He now began to dally with the thought of treachery (compare Schiller’s Wallenstein), when he went over the Mount of Olives (probably the same evening) to Jerusalem, and asked a question of the enemies of Jesus which should clear up matters. But after the paschal supper the thought began to dally with him; for Satan entered into his soul (John 13:27). Meyer, de Wette, and Strauss, are unable to see this progress in the development of evil, and hence find here contradictions. Meyer thinks that Luke 22:3 more particularly is in conflict with John upon this point; though John 6:70, compared with John 13:0, has more the semblance of contradiction. But it must be remembered that the expression “Satan entered into him,” may be used in a larger and in a more limited sense.

Matthew 26:15. But they promised [or: secured] to him.—Meyer: “They weighed out to him, after the old custom. There had been in the land a coined shekel since the time of Simeon (143 B. C.); but weighing seems to have still been customary in the temple treasury. At any rate, we are not authorized to make έ̔στησαν signify simply: they paid ... The explanation of others, ‘they made secure to him., or promised’ (Theophylact, Grotius, al.), is contradicted by Matthew 27:3, where τὰ points to the shekels as received already, as also by the prophecy of this fact in Zechariah 11:12.” But Meyer overlooks the fact, that Judas, after the Passover, went again to the high priests, and that then, according to John, the matter was finally decided. They hardly gave him the money before that.

Thirty pieces of silver.—Silver shekels. The shekel, שֶׁקֶל, σίκλος, one of the Hebrew weights from early times, and one that was most in use (“like our pound”). By the weight of the silver shekel all prices were regulated in commerce and barter, down to the time of coinage in Israel after the exile. Hence the silver shekel was the current medium in all transactions of the sanctuary. The shekel of the sanctuary and the royal shekel were probably somewhat heavier than the common shekel. The half-shekel was the personal tribute to the temple, two Attic drachmas (see Matthew 17:24). The value of the shekel has been estimated at about 25 Silbergroschen26 [a little over two English shillings, or 50 American cents]. Consequently 30 shekels amount to 25 [Prussian] dollars [between three and four pounds sterling, or about fifteen American dollars]. Gerlach counts 20, Lisco only 15 [Prussian] dollars. De Wette: About 42 florins.—Meyer: “Matthew alone specifies the thirty pieces of silver; and the triviality of this gain, as measured by the avarice of Judas, makes it probable that the unknown recompense of treason was fixed by evangelical tradition, according to Zechariah 11:12.” Here Meyer follows de Wette, who often follows in the track of Strauss. As if Satanic avarice and treason had any reasonable tax, or as if any sum of money could more easily explain and justify the betrayal of the person of Jesus! The most improbable sum is here the most probable. Thirty pieces of silver were, according to Exodus 21:32, the price of a slave.27 Hence, in Zechariah 11:12, the price at which the Shepherd of nations is valued, was thirty pieces of silver. The literal fulfilment of this word should not make the round sum suspicious. We should rather assume that the Sanhedrin designedly, and with cunning irony, chose the price of the slave in Exodus 21:0. If Judas demanded more from them, they would answer that they needed not his help, and that at most they would give him the ancient price of a slave.

Matthew 26:16. And from that time he sought opportunity.—This does not exclude a later and final decision. He was now the wretched and vascillating watcher of events, making his last act dependent on casual opportunity. Fritzsche: Ut eum tradere posset.

To betray him.—General Remarks on the Betrayal of Judas.—For the dualistic exaggeration of the moral importance of the man, see Daub: Judas Ischarioth. For the under-valuation of his significance, see Paulus, Goldhorn, Winer, Theile, Hase, etc. According to the latter view, it was his design to excite an insurrection of the people at the feast, and to constrain the tardy Messiah to base His kingdom upon popular power. In that case, the conduct of Judas would, judged by its motive, be rather that of a blinded enthusiast than of a supremely wicked man. Ewald rightly assumes that he had been mistaken in his Master; but the aims and motives which he further attributes to Judas as a consequence (that he felt it his duty to deliver Him to the Sanhedrin,—and that he wished to try the experiment and see what would follow next), are not very consistent with each other. The repentance of Judas and his suicide must be taken in connection with his betrayal; and then his state of mind will be determined to have been an ambition, excited by Satan, which sought its ends in the carnal kingdom to be set up by the Messiah, and which, therefore, when Christ’s determination and that of His enemies concurred to point to His death, was changed into a deep despondency and exasperation against his Master. In this frame of mind, the scene at Bethany presented to him only a wasteful company, in which all things were going to dissolution; and he felt himself personally aggrieved by the Lord’s rebuke, marking him out as an alien to His circle of disciples. Then he viewed the rulers of the people as invested with power: they had the government of the temple, and guarded its treasure—they had this world with them. It seemed to him worth his trouble to see what was to be gained on their side; thus there was the evening journey, an audience, a question—only at first, he might think, a question. In the high priest’s palace, the favor of the great perfectly intoxicated him; so that even the thirty pieces of silver, which the avarice of the priests offered to his avarice, was a tempting bait. At this point he may have thought that Jesus would in the hour of need save Himself by a miracle, and go through the midst of his enemies, as He had done more than once before (Luke 4:30; John 10:39); or that he would resort to a political kingdom in the sense of the tempter, Matthew 4:9. On the other hand, he may have flattered himself with the prospect of the greatest favors and gains from the Sanhedrin. Under his last exasperation at the paschal supper, the thought of treason became a passionate decision. He saw himself detected and unmasked: the man of hypocrisy was then lost; the treachery was accomplished. But, when Jesus did not save Himself, and the Council no longer cared for the traitor, the thirty pieces of silver lost all their magical glitter for him. On the one hand, the scorn of the world weighed on him as a burden; and, on the other hand, the dark mystery of the death of Jesus, the possible realization of His dread predictions, and the woe of the Master still ringing in his ears. His rancorous dejection was now turned into burning despair. How he still sought to save himself, the narrative of his exit tells us. In our view of his history, such an important character among the Apostles was certainly no weak, contracted, and unawakened man. He was a man of enthusiasm, but led away by appearances; therefore, when the first manifestation of Christ paled, he lost his faith, despaired of Christ, and perished. How he could ever have entered the company of the Apostles, see Com. on Matthew 10:0. The main motive of his gloomy course we may regard as a combination of covetousness and ambition carried to the verge of madness, and lost in the labyrinths of hypocrisy.28

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. In the midst of the company of disciples at Bethany, we see, represented in a living type, the contrast between Christianity and Antichristianity—an exhibition of the manner in which the one wrestles with the other, and the one is brought by the other to its ripe perfection. The lurking treachery of Judas, and the death threatening the Lord, were the dark spirit which raised the soul of the woman to a sublime, solemn, and joyous feeling of self-sacrificing love. And this noble disposition, with the anointing, the odor of which filled the whole house, became the bitterest and most decisive offence to the soul of the traitor. The fundamental characteristics of this reciprocal influence are drawn in 2 Thessalonians 2:0.

2. For the last time, Judas by his hypocrisy drew a large part of the disciples into the snare of his evil spirit. This circumstance, and the fact that he had the bag, throw some light upon his relations to the disciples generally. He was a man of fleeting enthusiasm, of deceitful appearances, of alluring promises, among the Apostles; his power of demoniacal eloquence misled most of the company, and ensnared them into sympathy. For the sake of the greater number of the Apostles, the Lord was constrained to tolerate this adversary, until he excluded himself by a spiritual judgment and an act of self-reprobation. Hence the moment of his departure was to the Lord one of the highest significance. (See John 13:31; Leben Jes, ii. 3. p. 1328.)

3. The justification of festal offerings of love, in opposition to sacrifices for the proper necessities of the poor, is strictly connected with the contrast already pointed out. Judas knew nothing of Christ in the poor, when he took offence at the anointing of Christ. To his glance the world appeared (for the sentiment was assumed) to be sinking into infinite necessity and pauperism, because the ideal of worldly abundance and pleasure had demoniacally enkindled his avarice. Mary, on the contrary, poured out lavishly her store, because in her pure self-denial she let the world go, and found her peace and her blessedness in the kingdom of love and of the Spirit.

4. John looked deeper into the heart of Judas than the other disciples. Nevertheless, the woman went to a significant extent in advance of the disciples in the way of the New Covenant. She is a symbol of the quicker development of the female spiritual life. (Eve, the Virgin Mary.) Its perfect development and consummation, on the other hand, belongs to the man. The believing woman is here justified by the mouth of the Lord.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

The house of Bethany a type of the Church: 1. The Church of the Spirit darkened by the Church of hypocrisy; 2. the Church of hypocrisy condemned by the Church of the Spirit.—The self-sacrificing woman and the covetous apostle in the company of the disciples.—The self-seeking heart in the Church turns balsam into poison: 1. It turns a joyous feast into an hour of temptation; 2. the purest offering of love into an offence; 3. the sacred justification of fidelity into a motive for exasperation; 4. the most gracious warnings against destruction into a doom of death.—Even among the Lord’s own company, the heart that is truly devoted to the Saviour must be prepared for the bitterest trials.—Judas the type of a fiendish spirit, which has in all times sent traitors abroad in the Church.—How he with a double mind looked always askance: 1. At the goods of this world; 2. at the favor of the great; 3. at the fellowship of the priestly order; 4. at the reward of treachery.—The little treasury of the disciples in its significant relation to the future.—Covetousness in the garment of hypocrisy.—Covetousness and ambition develop and perfect each other.—Christ and His poor.—The attempt to relieve poverty at the expense of Christ is to increase it.—The spirit of love to Christ can alone regulate the use and expenditure of earthly goods.—The pious presentiment of a loving heart thinks beyond and above its own clear consciousness. The imperishable remembrance of believers bound up with the eternal praise of the Lord.—The gospel makes all its children in two senses immortal.—“Then went one of the twelve” (Matthew 26:14); or the fearful fall: 1. An image of the sinner’s life; and, 2. a warning for every Christian.—“What will ye give me?” (Matthew 26:15.) The commercial spirit in its light and its dark side: 1. Abraham’s intercession for Sodom; his purchase of a sepulchre; the pearl of great price, etc. 2. The treachery of Judas; Simony in the Church, etc.—Christ could be sold only for the price of a slave, thirty pieces of silver: for 1. the highest price would in relation to Him be a mere mockery; 2. the lowest price for which He is surrendered up is enough for perfect treachery.—Many of His disciples are looking only for a good opportunity of betraying Him.—The beginning of the passion: Christ, like Joseph, sold by His brethren.—The apostate Christian a seducer of the enemies of Christ.—The dark mixture of sense, of calculation, and insanity in the death-path of the backslider.—The house of Bethany and the palace of the high-priest.—Christ the everlasting Defender of true Christendom against all the assaults of hypocrisy.

Starke:—God often employs weak instruments for the accomplishment of His hidden purposes, who surpass the men in Christ.—Canstein: He who heartily loves Christ, will gladly give up all to His service.—Quesnel: Riches are of no value, unless they are helpful to Christ and His people.—Canstein: Many perform acts out of love to Christ on which the world puts an evil construction.—He that touches one who loves Jesus, touches the apple of His eye, Zechariah 2:8.—What is given to Christ is well laid out.—An act must be estimated according to its source in the heart.—That there shall always be poor, is God’s ordinance; but that there should always be beggars, might be prevented by good human ordinances.—Quesnel: In the actions of God’s children there are often secrets which they themselves do not understand.—.The memory of the just is blessed for ever, Psalms 112:3; Psalms 112:6.—Their name is as ointment poured out, Ecclesiastes 7:1.—Fellow-Christian, be not disquieted when your own companions, relatives, and dependants, to whom you have done nothing but good, give you an evil return; console yourself with Christ.—Hedinger. O cursed avarice, which still sells Christ, religion, fidelity, and faith!—How evil are often the uses of gold!—Luther: There is no greater enemy to man, after the devil, than a niggard, Proverbs 15:27.—He who sets out in sin will easily go on; for the opportunity to perfection is never wanting.

Gerlach:—Love to Christ urged this woman.—Her whole heart was thrown into this act.—He who loves Jesus does not love a mere man or creature, but the true God, and eternal life.—Whoso thus inwardly loves Jesus, seeing Him present, must love Him always, when no longer seen, in His brethren, the poor.—No man among you, He says, would blame it, if so much were spent upon My burial and embalming; why do you blame her now, since I shall really die in a few days?

Heubner:—The last token of honor which Christ received before His death.—The sufferings of His last hour were softened to Him by these proofs of love. And so God often orders it with ourselves.—The inwardness and tenderness of which woman is susceptible in her love.—It was love to the Saviour of her soul.—It was reverential love, set upon the Son of God.—Sacrifice is the nature and nourishment of love.—In the service and love of Christ all things are dignified and made holy.—This anointing had a symbolical meaning. It was the figure of that full stream of love which poured from her heart on Jesus; the type of the inexhaustible streams of love which will proceed from the redeemed upon Jesus throughout eternity.—Application of the anointing to the missionary cause.—Jesus was manifestly moved deeply in His heart by her act. Of Himself, and the dishonor done to Him, He says nothing. It grieves Him that the woman was so badly treated. To grieve a noble soul in the performance of a glorious act, is a heavy offence.—In hurting Christlike souls, we injure Christ Himself. We should always hasten to manifest all love and sympathy toward the living. It is vain to wish them back when they are gone.—The final and highest honor done to goodness.—Christ assures her of everlasting remembrance in requital of this brief dishonor, and thereby gives her a pledge of her eternal honor in His heavenly kingdom.—What Christ determines to keep in lasting credit will be truly immortalized.—The command of John 11:57 might have occasioned in Judas the thought which he expressed.—Pitiable the Satan’s wages.

Braune:—Here a table is spread for Him in the presence of His enemies, and His head is anointed with oil, Psalms 23:5.

Footnotes:

Matthew 26:8; Matthew 26:8.—The for His; αὐτοῦ being omitted here and Matthew 26:45 by the best authorities.

Matthew 26:9; Matthew 26:9.—A., B., D., L., and other MSS, omit τὸ μύρον, ointment. [So also Cod. Sinait. which reads simply τοῦτο.]

Matthew 26:15; Matthew 26:15—[Dr. Lange translates ἔστησαν αὐτῷ: sie setzten ihm aus, i.e., they appointed or fixed upon that price for him they secured or promised him. So Vulgata, Jerome (in loc.), Theophylact, Luther. E. V., Grotius, Elsner, Fritzsche, Alford, etc. The other translation is: they weighed out to him. So Euthym., Beza, Wahl (appendo, zuwägen, darwägen. Matthew 26:15), Bretschneider, Kuinoel, de Wette, Ewald, Meyer (see quotation in the Exeg. Notes), Robinson, T. J. Conant, Wordsworth, etc. Comp. the Lexica, sub ἵστημι; Wetstein in loc.; Winer, B. R. W. B., sub Geld; and Valekenner ad Eurip. Fragm. p. 288: “Qui lances œquato sustinebat examine, cujuscunque rei pondus ad libram œstimaturus, dicebatur eximie ἱστᾳν etiam veteribus, Herodoto ii. p 135, 89, Platoni De Republ. x. p. 602. D... Interpres Jobi xxxvi. 6 ἱστᾷ με ἐν ζυγῷ δικαίῳ.” Compare, however, Dr. Lange’s objection to Meyer’s explanation in the Exeg. Notes. To this may be added that the συνεθεντο of Luke and the ἐπηγγειλατο of Mark are rather in favor of the first translation.—P. S.]

Matthew 26:15; Matthew 26:15.—[Dr. Lange inserts here shekels of silver. The τριάκοντα were probably sacred shekels, which were heavier than the common shekels, and hence paid by weight.—P. S.]

[25][Wordsworth: “An instance of recapitulation. This incident took place before our Lord’s betrayal, but St. Matthew introduces it here to mark the contrast between Mary and Judas Iscariot. Judas murmured against her (John 12:4), because she had bestowed on our Lord the offering of this precious ointment which might have been sold for 300 pence (Mark 14:5), and he sells his Master for thirty pieces of silver or 60 pence.” But in this case Matthew would have expressly mentioned Judas instead of the disciples generally in Matthew 26:8.—P. S.]

[26][Not: dollars, as the Edinb. transl. has it, which omits the other estimate; for it takes thirty Silbergroschen to equal one Prussian dollar.—P. S.]

[27][Joseph was sold by his brothers for twenty pieces of silver, Genesis 36:28. Jerome on Matthew 26:15 says: “Joseph non, ut multi putant, juxta Septuaainta interpretes, viginti aureis venditus est, sed juxta Hebraicam veritatem viginti argenteis; neque enim pretiosior poterat esse servus, quam Dominus.” But Jerome did not see, nor any of the fathers, that thirty pieces of silver was the regular price for the life of a slave, which explains this sum in our case as a deliberate insult of the Sanhedrin to our Lord who died the death of a slave and a malefactor, that He might redeem us from the slavery and eternal misery of sin. Origen compares the 30 pieces of silver with the 36 (rather 33) years of the Saviour’s life. Augustine allegorizes in another way about the number.—P. S.]

[28][Comp. Alford’s estimate of the character and motives of Judas, in Com. on Matthew 26:14-16 (p. 247, 4th ed.) which agrees with that of Neander (Leben Jesu, p. 688) also Ewald, Meyer, Olshausen, and Ebrard.—P. S.]