John 12:6

John 12:6. But this he said, not because he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and, having the bag, bare away what was put therein. Matthew mentions the murmuring on the part of some of the disciples: evidently, therefore, the plausible remonstrance of Judas led more honest and guileless minds than his to share in the wonder which his words expressed. John speaks of Judas only, as he alone reveals the real motive of the complaint. But though Matthew says nothing at this point of Judas or his covetousness, it is very significant that, immediately after relating the answer of Jesus, he tells us that Judas went to the rulers and said, ‘What will ye give me?' The somewhat remarkable word rendered ‘bag' is found twice only in the New Testament, here and in Matthew 13:29: in the Septuagint it occurs in 2 Chronicles 24 only (2 Chronicles 24:8; 2 Chronicles 24:10-11). The last quoted passages will show the meaning of the word more clearly: it was not a bag, but rather a small box or chest. As in the only passages of the Old Testament in which the word occurs it denotes a receptacle for offerings made to the temple, it is perhaps more than a coincidence that it is here chosen by John when he would speak of the small store of money possessed by Jesus (the True temple) and His disciples, money derived from the voluntary offerings of the few who had recognised His glory and consecrated their substance to the supply of His wants. Another word in this verse requires remark, that which in the Authorised Version appears as ‘bare,' but which we have rendered ‘bare away.' The former is the more common meaning of the word both in classical Greek and in the New Testament; but the latter (which often occurs in later Greek) is certainly intended by John in a later verse of the Gospel (chap. John 20:15, ‘if thou have borne him away'). It seems all but impossible that the word can have the neutral meaning here: partly because, after the mention of the.dishonesty of Judas, the statement that he carried that which was cast into the common chest would be a strange anti-climax; and partly because it would be difficult to see why John should write such a sentence as this, ‘and, having the bag, carried what was put therein.'