And said unto them, What will ye give me, and I will deliver him unto you? And they covenanted with him for thirty pieces of silver.
Ver. 15. What will ye give me] Take beed and beware of covetousness, saith our Saviour, Luke 12:15; for it is "the root of all evil," saith Paul,1 Timothy 6:10 : a breach of the whole decalogue, as some divines have demonstrated and universal experience hath confirmed. These sordida poscinummia, as one calleth them, are still found everywhere: a such as will sell their souls to the devil with Ahab, not for seven years' enjoyment of the Popedom, as some have done, but for a few paltry shillings, as Judas here did, or some other piddling profit. This our Saviour calleth the "mammon of iniquity," which is the next odious name to the devil himself. Δεινος και παντολμος της φιλοχρηματιας ερως. Isid. Pelus.Luke 16:9 .
For thirty pieces of silver] "A goodly price," as the prophet in scorn and detestation calleth it. It was a known set price for the basest slave, Exodus 21:32; Joel 3:3; Joel 3:6. For so small a sum sold this traitor so sweet a Master, as had not only admitted him into his company, but committed the bag to him, and let him want for nothing. Quid non mortalia pectora cogis, Auri sacra fames? (Virgil.) Look well to it. For as there were many Marys in one Caesar, so are there many Judases in the best. Let patrons especially look to it: for many of them are worse than Judas. He sold the head, they the members; he the sheep, they the shepherd: he but the body, they the souls, as that scarlet strumpet,Revelation 18:13 .
a See Mr Dike's Caveat for the Covetous.