Matthew 27:9

Matthew 27:9. Then was fulfilled. The action of the Sanhedrin undesignedly fulfilled prophecy.

Jeremiah the prophet. No such words can be found in the book of Jeremiah, but something very similar occurs in Zechariah 11:12. Explanations: (1) Zechariah was changed into Jeremiah. Of this there is no positive proof of any weight, and there is no motive for the change. (2) The book of Jeremiah, being actually arranged by the Jews as the first of all the prophets, gave its name to the whole body of their writings. This is the simplest view. (3) The discrepancy was purposed; to show the unity of prophecy. Altogether unsatisfactory. (4) A mistake of memory. This is out of the question. Matthew's other citations from Zechariah have no name prefixed (chap. Matthew 21:5; Matthew 26:31), but he must have known the name of the prophet. (5) The most improbable theories are, that the passage occurred in some work of Jeremiah which has been lost, or was an oral statement, or expunged by the Jews. (6) Lange refers the words ‘as the Lord appointed me,' to Jeremiah 32:8. But that passage is very obscure. The view is more ingenious than satisfactory. We regard the whole as a free adaptation from Zechariah 11:13. Here the prophet's labors are valued at thirty pieces of silver which he is bidden to cast to the potter in the house of the Lord. If we accept the words: ‘a goodly price that I was prized at of them,' as spoken to the prophet, the reference to the Messiah is undoubted. The word ‘them ‘is then expanded into the clause of the text: whom they priced on the part of the sons of Israel, referring to the contemptuous estimate (the price of a slave) put upon the Messiah by the representatives of the children of Israel, as in the case of the prophet. Others prefer to render it: ‘bought from the children of Israel,' finding a reference to the selling of Joseph, taking Judas as the representative of the nation. But the Greek means ‘priced;' Joseph was sold for twenty pieces of silver; the priests represented the nation.