Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon and the infamous apostle who betrayed Jesus. The Bible provides little direct information about the family and background of Judas. Both he and his father were called Iscariot. (Lu 6:16; Joh 6:71) This term has commonly been understood to indicate that they were from the Judean town of Kerioth-hezron. If this is so, then Judas was the only Judean among the 12 apostles, the rest being Galileans.
The Bible does not discuss in detail the motives for his corrupt course, but an incident that occurred on Nisan 9, 33 C.E., five days before Jesus? death, sheds light on the matter. At Bethany in the house of Simon the leper, Mary, Lazarus? sister, anointed Jesus with perfumed oil worth 300 denarii, about a year?s wages for a laborer. (Mt 20:2) Judas strongly objected that the oil could have been sold and the money ?given to the poor people.? Evidently other apostles merely assented to what seemed to be a valid point, but Jesus rebuked them. Judas? real reason for objecting was that he cared for the money box and he ?was a thief . . . and used to carry off the monies? put in the box. So Judas was a greedy, practicing thief.?Joh 12:2-7; Mt 26:6-12; Mr 14:3-8.
Betrayal Price. Judas was undoubtedly stung by Jesus? rebuke about the use of money. At this time ?Satan entered into Judas,? likely in the sense that the traitorous apostle gave himself in to the will of the Devil, allowing himself to be a tool to carry out Satan?s design to stop Christ. A few days later, on Nisan 12, Judas went to the chief priests and temple captains to see how much they would pay him to betray Jesus, again showing his avarice. (Mt 26:14-16; Mr 14:10, 11; Lu 22:3-6; Joh 13:2) The chief priests had that day met together with ?the older men of the people,? the influential men of the Sanhedrin. (Mt 26:3) The temple captains may have been brought in because of their influence and to lend legal flavor to any planned arrest of Jesus.
Thirty pieces of silver ($66, if shekels) was the price offered. (Mt 26:14, 15) The sum fixed by the religious leaders appears designed to show their contempt of Jesus, viewing him as of little value. According to Exodus 21:32, the price of a slave was 30 shekels. Consequently, in offering just 30 pieces of silver for Jesus, the religious leaders made him out to be of little value.
How did Judas die?
According to Matthew 27:5, Judas hanged himself. But Acts 1:18 says, ?pitching head foremost he noisily burst in his midst and all his intestines were poured out.? Matthew seems to deal with the mode of the attempted suicide, while Acts describes the result. Combining the two accounts, it appears that Judas tried to hang himself over some cliff, but the rope or tree limb broke so that he plunged down and burst open on the rocks below. The topography around Jerusalem makes such an event conceivable.
