SEV Biblia, Chapter 11:13
Y me dijo el SEŃOR: Echalo al tesorero, hermoso precio con que me han apreciado. Y tomé las treinta piezas de plata, y las eché en la Casa del SEŃOR al tesorero.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Zechariah 11:13
Verse 13. And the Lord said unto me, Cast it unto the potter] Jehovah calls the price of his prophet his own price; and commands that it should not be accepted, but given to a potter, to foreshadow the transaction related Matt. xxvii. 7. "Earthen vessels were used in the temple; and we may suppose that some Levites were employed within the sacred precincts to furnish them. To these, the humblest of his ministers in the temple, God commands that the degrading price should be cast." This is the substance of the notes on these two verses, given by Abp. Newcome.
We may look at it in another light, Give me my price! yrkŤ wbh habu sichri, bring my price, or give him any price; that is, Give the money to Judas which you have agreed to give him; for he can neither betray me nor you crucify me, but my own permission. But if not, forbear; take time to consider this bloody business, and in time forbear. For though I permit you to do it, yet remember that the permission does not necessitate you to do it; and the salvation of the world may be effected without this treachery and murder. See my notes on this place, Matt. xxvii. 9, where I have examined the evidence for the reading of "Zechariah the prophet," instead of "Jeremiah.
John Gill's Bible Commentary
Ver. 13. And the Lord said unto me , etc.] The Prophet Zechariah, in a visionary way representing the sanhedrim of the Jews, the chief priests, scribes, and elders: Cast it unto the potter ; for the purchase of his field, in order to make a burying ground of it for strangers: a goodly price that I was prised at of them ; this is sarcastically said; meaning that it was a very poor price; and showed that they had no notion of the worth and value of Christ, the Pearl of great price: and I took the thirty [pieces] of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the Lord ; it is a question with some what these pieces of silver were; they are commonly understood of silver shekels. So the Targum, in ( Genesis 20:16 45:22) renders pieces of silver by shekels of silver; and Eusebius calls these here thirty staters, the same with shekels; which, if common shekels, reckoned at one shilling and three pence, made but thirty seven shillings and sixpence; and if shekels of the sanctuary, which at most were but two shillings and sixpence, thirty of these would make but three pounds fifteen shillings; and therefore may be truly called, ironically speaking, “a goodly price”; being no more than the price of a servant, as before observed: but Drusius objects to this, seeing a potter’s field was bought with this money; and asks, who can believe that a field near so populous a city as Jerusalem could be bought for thirty shekels? and observes, from R. Elias Levita f254 , that it is a rule with their doctors, that all silver mentioned in the law signifies shekels; in the prophets, pounds; and in the Hagiographa, talents: this is said, but not proved: to understand these of pounds, indeed, would make the price considerable, and sufficient for the purchase of a large field; for a silver maneh or pound with the Jews was of the value of sixty shekels, ( Ezekiel 45:12) and thirty of these make two hundred and seventy pounds; but then this would not in an ironical way be called “a goodly price”: and as to the objection about the purchase of a field with such a sum of money as thirty shekels amount to, it may be observed, what Grotius seems rightly to conjecture, that this was a field the potter had dug up, and had made the most of it, and so was good for nothing but for such an use, for which it was bought, to bury strangers in. It is also a difficulty to fix it certainly to whom this money was ordered to be given, and was given. It is here said “to the potter”; but Jarchi and Kimchi observe, that some of their interpreters render it the “treasurer”; a and y being sometimes changed for one another; thus, the Targum paraphrases it, “under the hand of the treasurer;” and so others f255 ; and indeed the money was given to the chief priests and elders, some of whom might be in that office, ( Matthew 27:3,6) though there is no need of such an alteration of the word, since the money Judas took for betraying Christ, and cast into the temple to the priests, they took up, and gave it to the potter for the field they bought of him with it; and, in the evangelist, the phrase by way of explanation is rendered, “for the potter’s field”, and may be here properly enough translated, “for the potter”; as the particle la is sometimes used f256 ; that is, to be given to him for purchase money f257 : and whereas the money is said to be cast, or given to him, “in the house of the Lord”, i.e. in the temple, it appears a fact, in the accomplishment of this prophecy, that it was cast into the temple, ( Matthew 27:5) and was took up by the priests; who, in all probability, sent for the potter thither, and agreed with him for his field, and paid him his money there; for there is no reason to believe that he had a workhouse for his business in the temple; though it may be he had one near it; (see Jeremiah 18:1,2) and worked for the service of it, since earthen vessels were used in temple service f258 . The accomplishment of all this is in ( Matthew 27:7-10).
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 4-14 - Christ came into this world for judgment to the Jewish church an nation, which were wretchedly corrupt and degenerate. Those have their minds wofully blinded, who do ill, and justify themselves in it; but God will not hold those guiltless who hold themselves so. How can we go to God to beg a blessing on unlawful methods of getting wealth, or to return thanks for success in them? There was a general decay of religion among them, and they regarded it not. The Good Shepherd woul feed his flock, but his attention would chiefly be directed to the poor. As an emblem, the prophet seems to have taken two staves; Beauty denoted the privileges of the Jewish nation, in their nationa covenant; the other he called Bands, denoting the harmony whic hitherto united them as the flock of God. But they chose to cleave to false teachers. The carnal mind and the friendship of the world ar enmity to God; and God hates all the workers of iniquity: it is easy to foresee what this will end in. The prophet demanded wages, or a reward and received thirty pieces of silver. By Divine direction he cast it to the potter, as in disdain for the smallness of the sum. This shadowe forth the bargain of Judas to betray Christ, and the final method of applying it. Nothing ruins a people so certainly, as weakening the brotherhood among them. This follows the dissolving of the covenan between God and them: when sin abounds, love waxes cold, and civi contests follow. No wonder if those fall out among themselves, who have provoked God to fall out with them. Wilful contempt of Christ is the great cause of men's ruin. And if professors rightly valued Christ they would not contend about little matters.
Original Hebrew
ויאמר 559 יהוה 3069 אלי 413 השׁליכהו 7993 אל 413 היוצר 3335 אדר 145 היקר 3366 אשׁר 834 יקרתי 3365 מעליהם 5921 ואקחה 3947 שׁלשׁים 7970 הכסף 3701 ואשׁליך 7993 אתו 853 בית 1004 יהוה 3069 אל 413 היוצר׃ 3335
