the prophet and the Jews. The prophet, as God's agent and representative among them, demanded. What value they set upon his labours ? They de- spising both him and the Deity from whom he had received his commission, weighed for his price thirty pieces of silver : upon which, God, indignant at such an insult, ordered him to cast them away to a poor potter, who was at that time working in the templet Under this figure God intended to foreshew how the Jews would undervalue the great Prophet whom he should send among them ; and how the thirty pieces of silver, which they would pay as " the price of his blood," should be disposed of.
That we may give a practical turn to our subject, we shall deduce from the different parts of it some important observations :
1. For how small a price do men sacrifice their interest in the Saviour !
[God himself exclaims with astonishment, "A goodly price that 1 was prized at of them*^!" Thirty pieces of silver was the price of a slave *^: and yet that was (in the estimation of the Jews) the value of Jehovah's mercies, and (in the eyes of Judas and the Jewish rulers) of the Redeemer's blood. But ive, it may be said, know how to form a different estimate of these things. Would to God we did! But there is no gain so small, no pleasure so transient, but we choose it in preference to Christ, and are willing to part with Christ rather than forego the gratification we desire. Let sinners of every description attest (for indeed, however reluctantly, they must attest) this melancholy truth ]
2. How worthless will those things, for which we sold the Saviour, appear to us, as soon as conscience begins to perform its oflfice !
[Judas had pleased himself with the thought of enjoying his ill-gotten wealth : but scarcely had he obtained it, before he was far more ready to part with it than ever he had been to procure it. Sin of every kind appears very different after we have committed it, from what it did under the immediate influence of temptation. While solicited by our own corrupt affections, we imagine that the particular object of our desire (whatever it may be) will conduce greatly to our happiness :
= See Zech. xi. 12, 13. ^ Zech. xi. 18. ^ Exod. xxi. 32.