“The coin fell on my hollow hand.
I could not bear it, although it was light,
and I let it fall. It was all in vain.
The other said: "There are still twenty nine."
Matthew XXVII:9 by Jorge Luis Borges
The phrase "30 pieces of silver" is a familiar idiom that describes what happens when somebody ‘sells out’.
It is identified with the betrayal of Jesus by Judas, the story that leads to today’s Easter Sunday story of resurrection, yet It originates in today’s chapter of the prophet Zechariah, as he imagines the furious future in which the nation’s Shepards betray and fail to lead their people. In some ways it is also about what happens when money makes the life of faith a dirty business.
Robert Alter, the biblical scholar to whom we often turn to for the nuance of translations, wrote this op-ed last week in response to the new $60 Bible now on sale to help a presidential candidate gain support and funds: What's with the Trump Bible?
Like other motifs from Zechariah’s 6th century BCE future visions - the image of the thirty coins became important hundreds of years later as the Gospels describe the money that led both Jesus and his disciple Judas to their deaths.
The links between our daily chapter and the calendar, yet again, are intriguing ---perhaps there’s something profound for us to learn about what these ancient idioms and symbols have to offer our personal and public realities, reckoning - and growth?
There’s layered political baggage to this expression as well. In the late 19th century "thirty pieces” was an antisemitic phrase used throughout France during the Dreyfus affair, as the French-Jewish Captain Alfred Dreyfus was accused of selling military secrets to Germany. As antisemitic rage surges again worldwide - how does this expression matter?
Zechariah returns to the familiar motif, used by other prophets before him, of the national leaders as shepherds who yet again fail to protect their flock. The specifics of this vision are future-focused and the failure is harsh. In response, the Shepherd of Shepherds takes over, and YHWH uses two sticks, or shepherds’ staffs, one named ‘Bliss’ and the second named ‘Unity’ to demonstrate the extent of the failure - by breaking them. When another leader - possibly the prophet - is instructed to take the mantle of the shepherd, he too does a terrible job taking care of the folks, and yet demands a fee:
וָאֹמַ֣ר אֲלֵיהֶ֗ם אִם־ט֧וֹב בְּעֵינֵיכֶ֛ם הָב֥וּ שְׂכָרִ֖י וְאִם־לֹ֣א ׀ חֲדָ֑לוּ וַיִּשְׁקְל֥וּ אֶת־שְׂכָרִ֖י שְׁלֹשִׁ֥ים כָּֽסֶף׃
וַיֹּ֨אמֶר יְהֹוָ֜ה אֵלַ֗י הַשְׁלִיכֵ֙הוּ֙ אֶל־הַיּוֹצֵ֔ר אֶ֣דֶר הַיְקָ֔ר אֲשֶׁ֥ר יָקַ֖רְתִּי מֵעֲלֵיהֶ֑ם וָֽאֶקְחָה֙ שְׁלֹשִׁ֣ים הַכֶּ֔סֶף וָֽאַשְׁלִ֥יךְ אֹת֛וֹ בֵּ֥ית יְהֹוָ֖ה אֶל־הַיּוֹצֵֽר׃
“Then I said to them, “If you are satisfied, pay me my wages; if not, don’t. So they weighed out my wages, thirty shekels of silver— the noble sum that I was worth in their estimation. YHWH said to me, “Deposit it in the treasury.” And I took the thirty shekels and deposited it in the treasury in the House of YHWH.”
Zechariah 11:12-13
There are several ambiguities about what’s going on here, and these have occupied many biblical scholars over the ages. But the basic premise is that the fee of thirty coins, discarded by the failed leader, becomes public property, possibly as a form of repentance to be used for greater good in the temple’s treasury.
Thirty shekels appear earlier in biblical lore. In Exodus 21:32, 30 pieces of silver was the compensation price for a slave who was hurt. Is Zechariah mocking the future failed leaders? How will this play out in the Gospels?
According to the gospels, with slight variations, Judas, son of Simon, a man from Kerayot - Iscariot - names his terms for betraying Jesus to the heads of the priests in Jerusalem "Whatever you shall give me, and I shall deliver him unto you" and the priests offer him 30 shekels of silver. This language echoes the words of Zechariah. But as opposed to God’s command for the shepherd to ‘fling the sum into the treasury', in protest, Judas, who betrayed his teacher with a kiss, "repented and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and the elders. He said, 'I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.' He goes on to hang himself and the money goes towards the purchase of the potter’s field - where foreigners would be buried.
The story of the thirty coins may end there but over the ages the imagination ran wild with these coins’ origins.
Scholars discovered several texts, some in Syriac, going back many centuries, in which this story goes back to the bible’s beginning. The Judas apocryphon (The Legend of the Thirty Pieces of Silver) suggests that
“These pieces were made by Terah, the father of Abraham. Abraham gave them to his son Isaac. And Isaac bought a village with them. The master of it brought them to Pharaoh. And Pharaoh sent them to Solomon, the son of David, for the temple he was building. And Solomon took the pieces and placed them round the door of the altar.”
It goes on from there to describe how Nebuchadnezzar brought these coins with him to Babylon along with the captive Judeans and how it went on to the Persians, until somehow ending up back in the priests’ hands who use it to betray Jesus.
Why go to all this trouble to imagine the history of this blood money? Perhaps the storytellers, like the prophets and the protesters understand that this timeless story is not just about blood money or betrayal, failed leaders or flawed friendships -- there’s more here to explore when it comes to our need for atonement, as individuals and as nations, when it comes to the unholy alliance between power and money, between our aspirational and realistic choices and truths. Perhaps there is more to this story waiting to be told, redeemed, as currency changes and meaning is made, again and again. Perhaps there’s more here to transform old hate to new love.
And where are those coins now? Here too there are many legends and traditions. The potters’ field, likely in the valley right outside today’s Old City of Jerusalem, on the edge between east and west. has been a Greek Orthodox monastery for hundreds of years.
The Judas apocryphon describes the coins still hidden in the temple’s foundations, inside a well, along with the staff of Moses the Prophet.
One day in the future, all will be resurrected --retrieved to be used as redemptive tools by real leaders, loyal shepards, who will walk the talk of prophets and fulfill all the promises of better days, right here on earth. One day we know our holy books and visions will not be blood money and cynical lies but sacred, helpful, honest truths.
On this day that’s holy to so many who believe in the rising of hope beyond the greed of empire - we end with aspiration, grateful for the mythic imagination that takes terrible tragedies and gives us tokens of anticipation for repair, and for hope.
From Prophets to Poets - Ready for the Pslams?!
Dear Below the Bible Belt Readers,
We’ve been following the words of prophets for many, many months, giving us both consolation and tough truths that echo in this troubled time — but now we come to a threshold of transition - prophecy replaced by poetry, and later on by rabbinic tradition. This historical shift is reflected in the Hebrew Bible’s choice of book sequence, as we part with all the prophets and begin to read the Psalms.
What does this mean to us today and why do I call them THE PSLAMS?
Join me on 4/4/24 for our monthly Zoom conversation Below the Bible Belt - as we wrap up the journey with the prophets, and prepare for the third and final section of the Hebrew Bible.
April 4, 2024, 5pm ET
Here’s the link to the next Below the Bible Belt Zoom Live Conversation:
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We pray for healing and peace, prophetic wisdom and activism, along with poetry to help us through these days.
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