And I said unto them, If ye think good, give [me] my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty [pieces] of silver.
Ver. 12. If ye think good, give me my price] Pay me for my pains, lay me down my shepherd's wages. Is not the labourer worthy of his hire? Shall I be forced to say of you, as my servant David of Nabal, that unthankful churl, "Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow had in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained unto him: and he hath requited me evil for good," 1 Samuel 25:21. If God will be David's shepherd, David will dwell in God's house to all perpetuity, Psalms 23:1; Psalms 23:6. If the Lord deal bountifully with him, he will sit down and bethink himself what to render unto the Lord for all his benefits, Psalms 116:7; Psalms 116:12. A Christian counts all that he can do for God, by way of retribution, but a little of that much he could beteem him; and thinks nothing more unbeseeming himself than to receive the grace of God in vain. His two mites of thankfulness and obedience he daily presents; and then cries out, as the poor Grecian did to the emperor, If I had a better present thou shouldst be sure of it (Eι πλεον ειχον πλεον εδιδουν). But ingratitude is a grave, which receives all the bodies (the benefits) that are put into it; but will render none up again without a miracle. Hence that passionate expostulation, Deuteronomy 32:6 "Do ye thus requite the Lord, O ye foolish people and unwise?" Sic etiam stomachose loquitur Deus hoe loeo, saith Calvin upon this text: i.e. So likewise doth the Lord here in high displeasure and with great animosity or stomach, bespeak his people, Give me my wages howsoever; or, if not, forbear till I fetch it, till I recover it; you shall be sure to pay then, not the debt only, but the charges likewise; I will be paid both for my pains and patience too. In the mean space I need you not, nor care for your wages; for I am no hireling, &c.
So they weighed for my price thirty pieces of silver] That is, thirty shekels, or shillings. The price of a slain servant's life, Exodus 21:32. This they weighed, as the manner of paying money then was, Gen 23:16 Jeremiah 32:9. But they heaved their hands very high, it seems, when they valued the Lord Christ at so vile a rate. See Matthew 26:15. See Trapp on " Mat 26:15 "