Judas Iscariot

Life and work

Judas Iscariot was one of the twelve men Jesus chose as his closest followers, listed among the apostles in all three Synoptic Gospels, typically last and identified as "the one who betrayed him" (Matthew 10:4). His surname "Iscariot" most likely indicates he was "a man of Kerioth," a town in Judea, which would make him the only one of the twelve not from Galilee, though the origin of the name is debated.

Within the group, Judas served as treasurer, keeping the money bag for the apostles' shared funds (John 13:29). John's Gospel is sharply critical of him in this role, claiming that Judas objected to an expensive perfume being used to anoint Jesus's feet not out of genuine concern for the poor but because he was a thief who used to help himself to what was put into the money bag (John 12:4-6).

According to the Synoptic Gospels, Judas went to the chief priests and agreed to betray Jesus to them in exchange for thirty pieces of silver, with Luke and John specifying that Satan entered him before he made the arrangement (Matthew 26:14-16; Luke 22:3-6). At the Last Supper, Jesus announced that one of the twelve would betray him, plunging the group into distress and mutual suspicion, and in John's account Jesus identifies Judas directly by handing him a piece of bread before sending him out into the night (John 13:21-30).

Judas led an armed group sent by the chief priests to Gethsemane, identifying Jesus to them with a kiss — a signal prearranged so the arresting party would know whom to seize in the dark (Matthew 26:47-50). Matthew's Gospel records that Judas, seized with remorse once he saw Jesus condemned, tried to return the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests, who refused to take it back since it was blood money; he then threw the coins into the temple and went out and hanged himself, and the priests used the money to buy a potter's field to bury foreigners in, known afterward as the "Field of Blood" (Matthew 27:3-10).

The book of Acts gives a different account of Judas's death and the field's origin: Peter tells the gathered believers that Judas himself bought a field with his reward for the wickedness, and that he fell headlong there, his body bursting open — with the field becoming known as "the Field of Blood" because of this, rather than because it was purchased with blood money (Acts 1:16-19). The eleven remaining apostles subsequently chose a replacement, Matthias, to restore their number to twelve (Acts 1:21-26).

Dating

The betrayer's death is recorded twice with details that take some careful harmonizing: Matthew 27:5 says he hanged himself, while Acts 1:18 describes him falling headlong with his body bursting open. Most evangelical readers harmonize these as a single event — a hanging in which the rope or branch gave way — rather than two competing accounts, though the exact mechanics remain a fair subject of study.

Questions and debates

Matthew's account of Judas hanging himself (Matthew 27:3-10) and Acts' account of him falling and his body bursting open in a field he purchased (Acts 1:18-19) differ both in the manner of death and in how the "Field of Blood" got its name. Interpreters have proposed various harmonizations — for instance, that the rope broke or the body decomposed and fell after a hanging — but the two texts as written emphasize different details and cannot be simply layered together without some interpretive assumption, making this one of the most frequently discussed internal inconsistencies in the New Testament.

Judas's motive for the betrayal is not fully explained in the Gospels beyond greed (implied by John) and satanic influence (stated by Luke and John), which has left both ancient and modern readers to speculate about additional factors, from disillusionment with Jesus's refusal to lead a political revolt to simple opportunism.

Extra-biblical evidence

No contemporary extra-biblical historical source mentions Judas Iscariot. Later apocryphal texts, such as the 2nd-century Gospel of Judas (rediscovered in the 20th century), offer a radically different, sympathetic portrayal of him, but these are Gnostic religious writings from more than a century after the events, not historical records.

Scripture references

• Matthew 10:4 — Listed among the twelve apostles
• John 12:4-6 — Objects to costly perfume; described as a thief
• Matthew 26:14-16 — Agrees to betray Jesus for thirty pieces of silver
• John 13:21-30 — Identified as the betrayer at the Last Supper
• Matthew 26:47-50 — Betrays Jesus with a kiss in Gethsemane
• Matthew 27:3-10 — Remorse and death by hanging
• Acts 1:16-19 — Alternate account of his death and the Field of Blood

Further reading

• Encyclopaedia Britannica: Judas Iscariot

Reflect

Judas walked beside Jesus for years while drifting from him inside — where do your outer life and inner life not match?