13 Yahweh said to me, "Throw it to the potter, the handsome price that I was valued at by them!" I took the thirty pieces of silver, and threw them to the potter, in the house of Yahweh.
*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.
And the Lord said unto me, Cast it - As a thing vile and rejected, as torn flesh was to be cast to dogs Exodus 22:31, or a corpse was cast unburied Isaiah 14:19; Isaiah 34:3; Jeremiah 14:16; Jeremiah 22:19; Jeremiah 26:23; Jeremiah 36:30, or the dead body of Absalom was cast into the pit 2-Samuel 18:17, or the dust of the idolaltars into the brook Kedron by Josiah 2-Kings 23:12, or the idols to the moles and the bats (Isaiah 2:20, add Ezekiel 20:8); or Judah and Israel from the face of God 2-Kings 13:23; 2-Kings 17:20; 24:21; Jeremiah 52:3 into a strange land (Deuteronomy 29:27, (28 English); Coniah and his seed, a vessel in which is no pleasure, Jeremiah 22:28, into a land which they knew not; or the rebels against God, said, "let us cast away their cards from us" Psalm 2:3; or wickedness was cast into the Ephah Zac 5:1-11 :18; once it is added, "for loathing" Ezekiel 16:5.
Unto the potter - The words exactly correspond with the event, that the "thirty pieces of silver" were "cast" or flung away o; that their ultimate destination was the potter, whose field was bought with them; but that they were not cast directly to him, (which were a contemptuous act, such as would not be used whether for a gift or a purchase), but were cast to him "in the house of the Lord." They were "flung away" by the remorse of Judas, and, in God's Providence, came to the potter. Whether any portion of this was a direct symbolic action of the prophet, or whether it was a prophetic vision, in which Zechariah himself was an actor, and saw himself in the character which he described, doing what he relates, cannot now be said certainly, since God has not told us. It seems to me more probable, that these actions belonged to the vision, because in other symbolic actions of the prophets, no other actors take part; and it is to the last degree unlikely, that Zechariah, at whose preaching. Zerubbabel and Joshua and all the people set themselves earnestly to rebuild the temple, should have had so worthless a price offered to him; and the casting a price, which God condemned, into the house of God, at the command of God, and so implying His acceptance of it, were inconsistent. It was fulfilled, in act consistently, in Judas' remorse; in that he "flung away the pieces of silver," which had stained his soul with innocent blood, "in the temple," perhaps remembering the words of Zechariah; perhaps wishing to give to pious uses, too late, money which was the price of his soul; whereas God, even through the chief priests, rejected it, and so it came to the potter, its ultimate destination in the Providence of God. Osorius: "He saith, "cast it unto the potter," that they might understand that they would be broken as a potter's vessel."
A goodly price, that I was prized at of them - Literally, "the magnificence of the value, at which I was valued of them!" The strong irony is carried on by the, "at which I was valued of them," as in the idiom, "thou wert precious in my sight" 1-Samuel 26:21; Psalm 72:14; 2-Kings 1:13-14; Isaiah 43:4. Precious the thought of God to David Psalm 139:17; precious the redemption of the soul of man Psalm 49:9; and precious was the Shepherd who came to them; precious was the value, whereat He was valued by them o. And yet He, who was so valued, was Almighty God. For so it stands: "Thus saith the Lord God, Cast it unto the potter, the goodly price that I was prized at of them." The name, "the potter," connects the prophecy with that former prophecy of Jeremiah Jeremiah 19:1-15, denouncing the judgment of God for the shedding of innocent blood, whereby they had defiled "the valley of the son of Hinnom, which was at the entry of the gate of the pottery, o, and which, through the vengeance of God there, should be called "the valley of slaughter" Jeremiah 19:6.
The price of this innocent Blood, by the shedding of which the iniquities of their fathers were filled up, should rest on that same place, for whose sake God said, "I will break this people and this city, as one breaketh a potter's vessel, that cannot be made whole again" Jeremiah 19:11. So then Matthew may have quoted this prophecy as Jeremiah's, to signify how the woes, denounced on the sins committed in this same place, should be brought upon it through this last crowning sin, and "all the righteous blood which had been shed, should come upon that generation" o
None of the other cases of mixed quotation come up to this. Mark quotes two prophecies, of Malachi and of Isaiah as Isaiah's Mark 1:2-3. Matthew blends in one, words of Isaiah Isaiah 62:1 and Zechariah Zac 9:9 as "the prophet" Matthew 21:4-5. Our Lord unites Isaiah 56:7, and Jeremiah 7:11, with the words," It is written."
Of earlier fathers "Tertullian" simply quotes the prophecy as Jeremiah's (adv. Marc. iv. 40). "Origen" says, "Jeremiah is not said to have prophesied this anywhere in his books, either what are read in the Churches, or reported (referuntur) among the Jews. I suspect that it is an error of writing, or that it is some secret writing of Jeremiah wherein it is written." (in Matt. p. 916.) "Euscbius" says, "Consider since this, is not in the prophet Jeremiah, whether we must think that it was removed from it by some wickedness, or whether it was a clericai error of those who made the copies of the Gospels carelessly." Dem. Ev. x. p. 481).
And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter - Jehovah calls the price of his prophet his own price; and commands that it should not be accepted, but given to a potter, to foreshadow the transaction related Matthew 27:7.
"Earthen vessels were used in the temple; and we may suppose that some Levites were employed within the sacred precincts to furnish them. To these, the humblest of his ministers in the temple, God commands that the degrading price should be cast." This is the substance of the notes on these two verses, given by Abp. Newcome.
We may look at it in another light, Give me my price! הבו שכרי habu sichri, bring my price, or give him any price; that is, Give the money to Judas which you have agreed to give him; for he can neither betray me nor you crucify me, but my own permission. But if not, forbear; take time to consider this bloody business, and in time forbear. For though I permit you to do it, yet remember that the permission does not necessitate you to do it; and the salvation of the world may be effected without this treachery and murder.
See my notes on this place, Matthew 27:9, where I have examined the evidence for the reading of "Zechariah the prophet," instead of "Jeremiah."
And the LORD said to me, Cast it to the (q) potter: a glorious price that I was valued at by them. And I took the thirty [pieces] of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD.
(q) Showing that it was too little to pay his wages with, which could hardly suffice to make a few tiles to cover the temple.
And the Lord said unto me,.... The Prophet Zechariah, in a visionary way representing the sanhedrim of the Jews, the chief priests, scribes, and elders:
Cast it unto the potter; for the purchase of his field, in order to make a burying ground of it for strangers:
a goodly price that I was prised at of them; this is sarcastically said; meaning that it was a very poor price; and showed that they had no notion of the worth and value of Christ, the Pearl of great price:
and I took the thirty pieces of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord; it is a question with some what these pieces of silver were; they are commonly understood of silver shekels. So the Targum, in Genesis 20:16 renders pieces of silver by shekels of silver; and Eusebius (m) calls these here thirty staters, the same with shekels; which, if common shekels, reckoned at one shilling and three pence, made but thirty seven shillings and sixpence; and if shekels of the sanctuary, which at most were but two shillings and sixpence, thirty of these would make but three pounds fifteen shillings; and therefore may be truly called, ironically speaking, "a goodly price"; being no more than the price of a servant, as before observed: but Drusius objects to this, seeing a potter's field was bought with this money; and asks, who can believe that a field near so populous a city as Jerusalem could be bought for thirty shekels? and observes, from R. Elias Levita (n), that it is a rule with their doctors, that all silver mentioned in the law signifies shekels; in the prophets, pounds; and in the Hagiographa, talents: this is said, but not proved: to understand these of pounds, indeed, would make the price considerable, and sufficient for the purchase of a large field; for a silver maneh or pound with the Jews was of the value of sixty shekels, Ezekiel 45:12 and thirty of these make two hundred and seventy pounds; but then this would not in an ironical way be called "a goodly price": and as to the objection about the purchase of a field with such a sum of money as thirty shekels amount to, it may be observed, what Grotius seems rightly to conjecture, that this was a field the potter had dug up, and had made the most of it, and so was good for nothing but for such an use, for which it was bought, to bury strangers in. It is also a difficulty to fix it certainly to whom this money was ordered to be given, and was given. It is here said "to the potter"; but Jarchi and Kimchi observe, that some of their interpreters render it the "treasurer"; and being sometimes changed for one another; thus, the Targum paraphrases it,
"under the hand of the treasurer;''
and so others (o); and indeed the money was given to the chief priests and elders, some of whom might be in that office, Matthew 27:3 though there is no need of such an alteration of the word, since the money Judas took for betraying Christ, and cast into the temple to the priests, they took up, and gave it to the potter for the field they bought of him with it; and, in the evangelist, the phrase by way of explanation is rendered, "for the potter's field", and may be here properly enough translated, "for the potter"; as the particle is sometimes used (p); that is, to be given to him for purchase money (q): and whereas the money is said to be cast, or given to him, "in the house of the Lord", i.e. in the temple, it appears a fact, in the accomplishment of this prophecy, that it was cast into the temple, Matthew 27:5 and was took up by the priests; who, in all probability, sent for the potter thither, and agreed with him for his field, and paid him his money there; for there is no reason to believe that he had a workhouse for his business in the temple; though it may be he had one near it; see Jeremiah 18:1 and worked for the service of it, since earthen vessels were used in temple service (r). The accomplishment of all this is in Matthew 27:7.
(m) Demonstr. Evangel. l. 10. p. 479. (n) In Tishbi, p. 130. (o) "Ad thesaurarium", Pagninus, Vatablus. (p) Vid. Nold. Ebr. Part. Concord. p. 63. (q) "pro figulo", Cocceius; "conferendos in figulum", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "ut detur ad figulum", Burkius. (r) Vid. Misn. Parah, c. 5. sect. 1.
Cast it unto the potter--proverbial: Throw it to the temple potter, the most suitable person to whom to cast the despicable sum, plying his trade as he did in the polluted valley (2-Kings 23:10) of Hinnom, because it furnished him with the most suitable clay. This same valley, and the potter's shop, were made the scene of symbolic actions by Jeremiah (Jeremiah. 18:1-19:15) when prophesying of this very period of Jewish history. Zechariah connects his prophecy here with the older one of Jeremiah: showing the further application of the same divine threat against his unfaithful people in their destruction under Rome, as before in that under Nebuchadnezzar. Hence Matthew 27:9, in English Version, and in the oldest authorities, quotes Zechariah's words as Jeremiah's, the latter being the original author from whom Zechariah derived the groundwork of the prophecy. Compare the parallel case of Mark 1:2-3 in the oldest manuscripts (though not in English Version), quoting Malachi's words as those of "Isaiah," the original source of the prophecy. Compare my Introduction to Zechariah. The "potter" is significant of God's absolute power over the clay framed by His own hands (Isaiah 45:9; Jeremiah 18:6; Romans 9:20-21).
in the house of the Lord--The thirty pieces are thrown down in the temple, as the house of Jehovah, the fit place for the money of Jehovah-Messiah being deposited, in the treasury, and the very place accordingly where Judas "cast them down." The thirty pieces were cast "to the potter," because it was to him they were "appointed by the Lord" ultimately to go, as a worthless price (compare Matthew 27:6-7, Matthew 27:10). For "I took," "I threw," here Matthew has "they took," "they gave them"; because their (the Jews' and Judas') act was all His "appointment" (which Matthew also expresses), and therefore is here attributed to Him (compare Acts 2:23; Acts 4:28). It is curious that some old translators translate, for "to the potter," "to the treasury" (so MAURER), agreeing with Matthew 27:6. But English Version agrees better with Hebrew and Matthew 27:10.
The Lord - God the Father. Cast it - As being so little, it would hardly purchase any thing but what was the cheapest among them. A goodly price - God upbraids the shepherds of his people, who prized the great Shepherd no higher. Cast them to the potter - Or rather, cast them into the house of the Lord for the potter; all which the Jewish rulers acted over.
*More commentary available at chapter level.