Judas Iscariot

He is one of the twelve, and the lists mark him as the one who betrayed Jesus (Matthew 10:4). "Iscariot" is often read as "man of Kerioth," a town, and sometimes in other ways. The text does not define it. His father's name is Simon Iscariot in John (John 6:71).

He keeps the money box. John says he used to take what was put into it (John 12:6). He objects to the anointing at Bethany. He goes to the chief priests and agrees on silver. At the meal Jesus marks him. He leaves. It is night. He comes to the garden with a crowd and a signal.

Luke says Satan entered him when he went to the priests (Luke 22:3). John says Satan entered him when he took the morsel (John 13:27). Those are two moments in one betrayal, or a difference in how the night is told. This lesson does not build a doctrine of either sentence. It notes that both books say he was handed over to what he had chosen.

Matthew tells the morning. Remorse. The silver returned. "I have sinned by betraying innocent blood." The priests will not take it back as a gift. He throws it down and goes and hangs himself. They buy the potter's field (Matthew 27:3-10).

Acts tells it to the hundred and twenty before Matthias is chosen. Judas acquired a field with the reward. Falling headlong, he burst open, and it became known to everyone in Jerusalem as the Field of Blood (Acts 1:18-19). Peter says this fulfilled what was written.

Both reports are Scripture. Matthew's field is bought by the priests. Acts can be read as Judas acquiring it. Matthew says he hanged himself. Acts says he fell and burst open. Readers have joined those in more than one way: a hanging, and a body that falls, or two ways of speaking about one cursed end. This lesson will not add a scene the books do not have in order to make the join feel smooth. The field's name is in both. The end is in both. He is replaced (Acts 1:20-26).

He wrote nothing in the New Testament.