Page:Lives of the apostles of Jesus Christ (1836).djvu/459

 he would probably have rejected entirely any proposition to seize Jesus by a military force, in open day, in the midst of the multitude, so as to create a troublesome and bloody tumult, by such an imprudent act. In the full consideration of all these difficulties, the Jewish dignitaries were sitting in conclave, contriving means to effect the settlement of their troubles, by the complete removal of him who was unquestionably the cause of all. At once their anxious deliberations were happily interrupted by the entrance of the trusted steward of the company of Jesus, who changed all their doubts and distant hopes into absolute certainty, by offering, for a reasonable consideration, to give up Jesus into their hands, a prisoner, without any disturbance or riot. How much delay and debate there was about terms, it would be hard to say; but after all, the bargain made, does not seem to have been greatly to the credit of the liberality of the Sanhedrim, or the sharpness of Judas. Thirty of the largest pieces of silver then coined, would make but a poor price for such an extraordinary service, even making all allowance for a scarcity of money in those times. And taking into account the wealth and rank of those concerned, as well as the importance of the object, it is fair to pronounce them a very mean set of fellows. But Judas especially seems to forfeit almost all right to the character given him of acuteness in money matters; and it is only by supposing him to be quite carried out of his usual prudence, by his woful abandonment to crime, that so poor a bargain can be made consistent with the otherwise reasonable view of his character.

Thirty pieces of silver.—The value of these pieces is seemingly as vaguely expressed in the original as in the translation; but a reference to Hebrew usages throws some light on the question of definition. The common Hebrew coin thus expressed was the shekel,—equivalent to the Greek didrachmon, and worth about sixteen cents. In Hebrew the expression, thirty "shekels of silver," was not always written out in full; but the name of the coin being omitted, the expression was always equally definite, because no other coin was ever left thus to be implied. Just so in English, the phrase, "a million of money," is perfectly well understood here, to mean "a million of dollars;" while in England, the current coin of that country would make the expression mean so many pounds. In the same manner, to say, in this country, that any thing or any man is worth "thousands," always conveys, with perfect definiteness, the idea of "dollars;" and in every other country the same expression would imply a particular coin. Thirty pieces of silver, each of which was worth sixteen cents, would amount only to four dollars and eighty cents, which are just one pound sterling. A small price for the great Jewish Sanhedrim to pay for the ruin of their most dangerous foe! Yet for this little sum, the Savior of the world was bought and sold!

Having thus settled this business, the cheaply-purchased traitor returned to the unsuspecting fellowship of the apostles, mingling with them, as he supposed, without the slightest suspicion on the