Mark 14:10

The Compact of Judas with the Chief Priests

10. And Judas Iscariot The words "to the burying" must have fallen like the death knell of all his Messianic hopes on the ears of Judas Iscariot, "the only southern Jew among the Twelve," and this, added to the consciousness that his Master had read the secret of his life (John 12:6), filled his soul with feelings of bitterest mortification and hostility. Three causes, if we may conjecture anything on a subject so full of mystery, would seem to have brought about his present state of mind, and precipitated the course which he now took: (1) avarice;(2) disappointment of his carnal hopes;(3) a withering of internal religion.

(i) Avarice. We may believe that his practical and administrative talents caused him to be made the almoner of the Apostles. This constituted at once his opportunity and his trial. He proved unfaithful to his trust, and used the common purse of the brotherhood for his own ends (John 12:6). The germs of avarice probably unfolded themselves very gradually, and in spite of many warnings from his Lord (Matthew 6:19-34; Matthew 13:22-23; Mark 10:25; Luke 16:11; John 6:70), but they gathered strength, and as he became entrusted with larger sums, he fell more deeply.

(ii) Disappointment of his carnal hopes Like all his brother Apostles, he had cherished gross and carnal views of the Messianic glory, his heart was set on the realization of a visible kingdom, with high places, pomp, and power. If some of the brotherhood were to sit on thrones (Matthew 19:28), might he not obtain some post, profitable if not splendid? But the issue of the Triumphal Entry, and the repeated allusions of his Master to His death and His burying, sounded the knell of all these temporal and earthly aspirations.

(iii) A withering of internal religion He had been for three years close to Goodness Incarnate, but the good seed within him had become choked with the thorns of greed and carnal longings. "The mildew of his soul had spread apace," and the discovery of his secret sin, and its rebuke by our Lord at Bethany, turned his attachment to his Master more and more into aversion. The presence of Goodness so close to him ceasing to attracthad begun to repel, and now in his hour of temptation, while he was angry at being suspected and rebuked, and possibly jealous of the favour shewn to others of the brotherhood, arose the question, prompted by none other than the Evil One (Luke 22:3), Why should he lose everything? Might he not see what was to be gained by taking the other side?(Matthew 26:15).

went unto the chief priests Full of such thoughts, in the darkness of the night he repaired from Bethany to Jerusalem, and being admitted into the council of the chief priests asked what they would give him for betraying his Master into their hands.