.
.The Disciple Who Betrayed Jesus
Judas Iscariot
Judas Iscariot was the disciple who
betrayed Jesus.
According to the gospels, he led a group of armed men to a garden
where Jesus was praying and identified him with a kiss.
After a brief scuffle, Jesus was seized and taken to the Jewish religious
leaders.
They put him through a long interrogation, then turned him over to
the Romans and pressured the Roman governor Pontius Pilate into ordering his
crucifixion.
The Jewish leaders paid Judas a bribe
for his help. Matthew 26:15 says that it was "thirty pieces of silver," possibly referring to a silver
coin known as a Tyrian shekel.
But Judas didn't get any benefit from the money, because he died
shortly after the betrayal.
The New Testament contains two accounts of how he died.
Matthew 27:3-5 says that he felt so much remorse over what he had
done that he returned the bribe money and then hanged himself.
And Acts 1:18 says: "with the reward he got for his
wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open
and all his intestines spilled out."
Because these accounts appear to differ, there is some uncertainty
about how he actually died.
Note: Another idea
about how Judas died can be found in the non-biblical Gospel of Judas
(discussed below). It says that Judas had a vision in which the other eleven
disciples stone him to death after they find out about the betrayal. It isn't
clear where this shocking idea came from, but it probably isn't what really
happened, since the bible most likely would have reported it too.
Because Judas was a common name in ancient Palestine, the gospel
writers usually added the surname Iscariot to make it clear who they were
talking about.
John 6:71 calls him "Judas Iscariot the son of Simon."
He was put in charge of the disciples' money, keeping it in a
special box and making purchases for the group as needed. John 12:6 says that
he sometimes stole money from the box for his personal use.
Matthew
26:14-16 suggests that Judas betrayed Jesus out of simple greed for the bribe
money, whereas Luke 22:3 and John 13:27 say that the Devil entered into him and
made him do it.
But
some biblical scholars have put forward another theory. They say that Judas
wanted Jesus to lead a revolt against the Romans and got angry when it became
clear that no revolt was planned.
Jesus
was fully aware of the coming betrayal. He talked about it several times, and
though he never mentioned Judas by name, he did identify him indirectly.
This
fore-knowledge has led some people to argue that the betrayal wasn't an act of
free will, but was imposed on Judas as part of a divine plan for the atonement
between God and humankind.
But
most theologians believe that Judas did act in free will and should be punished
for it.
And in Matthew 26:24, Jesus says "woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better
for him if he had not been born."
The
medieval writer Dante Alighieri apparently agreed, because in his Inferno he
condemned Judas to the lowest circle of Hell, doomed to be chewed for eternity
in the teeth of Satan.
Yet
some people still argue that Judas shouldn't be blamed.
Several
scholars have suggested that he was merely the negotiator in a secret
prearranged surrender, and that his later portrayal as a traitor is a
historical distortion.
Variations
on this idea were put forward in the book The Passover Plot by
Hugh J. Schonfield, and also in the controversial film The Last
Temptation of Christ.
This
idea surfaced again with the discovery of an ancient copy of a previously lost
Gospel of Judas.
This
book appears to depict Judas as the most trusted of all the disciples.
It
also says that Jesus told him about the necessity for a betrayal and asked him
to take the blame for it.
But
the only existing copy of this gospel is badly damaged, and much guesswork is
involved in determining the correct translations of some key passages.
As a
result, questions have arisen as to how it really depicts Judas.
In
any case, because it probably wasn't written until the second century, most
scholars doubt that it is a trustworthy source of information.
Another
unorthodox view of Judas can be found in a fraudulent book called the Gospel of
Barnabas.
This
book makes the preposterous claim that Judas, not Jesus, was the person who
died on the cross.
It
alleges that this happened because Judas was miraculously transformed to look
like Jesus shortly after the betrayal and was accidentally crucified in his
place. Of course this entire story is an obvious fabrication.
The
origin of the surname Iscariot is uncertain. According to one theory, the name
means "man of Kerioth," and
refers to a town or area in ancient Judea.
If
correct, this would suggest that Judas came from southern Palestine, whereas
the other disciples were probably Galileans from the north.
According
to another theory, the name Iscariot comes from the Latin word "sicarius," meaning "dagger-man,"
The
Sicarii were a group of rebel assassins who were resisting the Roman occupation
of the country.
Thus
Judas might have originally been a member of this group. (The released prisoner
Barabbas also may have belonged to this group.)
Perhaps
the best-known artistic depiction of Judas is The Kiss of Judas by
Giotto di Bondone, c.1306, a fresco in the Scrovegni Chapel in Padua.
Another
well-known depiction can be found in Leonardo da Vinci's The Last
Supper. Here the artist shows Judas as somewhat smaller and darker than the
other disciples, and he appears to be clutching a bag which may contain the
bribe money.
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