The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1883-07-12
Theories of the Motive of Judas
Iscariot.

J ed the hypothesis which is stated by DE-
Quincy, of which q much abbreviated
statement is us follows: Judas, us all the
disciples, thought the kingdom of heaven
which Jesus proclaimed was an earthly
kingdom, which was to begin by deliver
ance from the Roman power. Judas was
in advance of his brethren in thought OF
this kingdom. The Jews were ripe fol
revolt. Judea was in ferment with revo
lutionary doctrines and expectancy. A
leader was wanted to set off the spark
which would kindle the popular flame.
Judas thought that Jesus was delaying
action by over-speculation, indecision, and
doubt The Germans liken Him to Ham
let in this. In his view Jesus should bt
precipitated into action by some force
from without, and thrown into the center
of popular movement. Then events
would carry Him forward on the flood tide
into the kingdom in which His disciples
would be chiefs. His miscalculation was
not d political oversight. In that he was
sagaciOus and bold. It was a spiritual
blindness, the same as all the disciples had
which could not understand that the king
dom of which Jesus talked was not of this
world. De Quincy adopts the German
hypothesis in general, and amplifies it. He
says
1t was no religion at all which they as
yet supposed to be the object of Christ s
teaching, but a simple preparation for a
pitiable vulgar scheme of earthly aggran-
dizement. But while the other apostles
had simply failed to comprehend their
master, j udas had presumptuOuslya assumed
that he comprehended the purposes of
Christ more fully than Christ himself. His
object was audacious i'll a high degree, but
| according to the theory which l am eX-
plaining) for that very reason not treacher-
Gus at all. The more that he was liable to
the reproach of audacity, the less can he be
suspected OF perfidy. Hesupposed himself
| executing the very innermoSt purposes of
Christ, but with an energy which Christ
was supposed to want.
His hope was that when at length actu-
ally arrested by the Jewish authorities,
Christ wouldno longer vacillate; He would
be forced to give the signal to the populace
OF Jerusalem, who would then have risen
III mass for the double purpose of placing
movement, and of throwing off the Roman
yoke.
Jeremy Taylor, quoted by De Quincy,
whilst he is severe on Judas for his treach-
cry and reckons the thirty pieces--of silver
as very large sum, somewhat illGgcally
eXonerates him of the intent to bring Jesus
to destruction, and allows that when he
saw the consequences of what he had done,
remorse drove him TO self-slaughter. Says
De Quincy
'He [Jeremy Taylor admits clearly that
Judas was a traitor only in the sense of
seeking his Masters ACKNOWLEDGEMENT by
methods which were in revolt against that
Master, methods which not only involved
express and formal disobedience to that
Master, but which ran into headlong hos
tility against the spirit of all that he came
on earth to effect. 1t was the revolt, not
Of periidious malignity, but of arrogant and
carnal blindness. y
w. w. Story, in his poem entitled ga
Roman Lawyer at Jerusalem" goes far
beyond the German and De Quincy
thought, and supposeS that Judas knew
that Jesus was God, and that nothing could
harm him, and that his zeal to have him
assert himself was the cause of his fetch
ing the authorities upon him. The follow
ing is a brief specimen of Mr.. Story
"Daily he heard his Masters voice proclaim,
Il am the Lord! The Father lives in me!
Who knoweth me knows the Eternal God
lie who bel ieves in me shall never die!
No; he shall see me with my angels come
With power and glory here upon the earth
Tojudge the quick and dead Among You here
Some shall not taste of death before l come,
Gods kingdom to establish on the earthr
At last He said: No longer will bear
This ignomny heaped upon my Lord
No man hath power to harm the Almighty One,
Ay, let mems hands be lifted, then at once,
EiIulgent like the sun, swift like the sword,
The jagged lightning flashes from the cloud,
Shall he be manifest-the living God
And PROSTATE all shall on the earth adore!'
The unthinkiDg world have been content
to regard the act of Judas as the intention
al betrayal of Jesus to the executioners for
money, knowing his quality. They have
exalted their own goodness by magnifying
his crime. In this they have had to sup
pose that Judas, knowing Jesus to be God;
that he had all power and all knowledge
that He knew his every thought, and could
neither be deceived, nor betrayed, nor de-
livered into any human power; that by a
word He could anninilate all opposers, and
could consign His enemies to everlasting
torture, yet was so avaricious that he sold
Him and sold his own soul into instant
perdition for a sum OF money
Fausset's eXpository says the thirty piec-
es was only the price of slave but what
if it We're millions If it were all the
world. what could Judas get out of it in
such an act? In this the world supposes
a crime which was morally impossible
German thought has tried to make an Of
Tense that was possible for man to do. De
Quincy has ampliiied it a little, and Story
has embellished it a great deal. But even
deep-thinking men are prone to draw theo-
ries from their own thought, rather than
to cleave to the historical evidence, which
must be the foundation of any substantial
explanation.
If Judas knew that Jesus was God, OF
equal with God, he was in advance of all
the disciples. None of them had any idea
who He was till after He had risen from
the dead. They expected kingdom on
earth, and understood all His declarations
of His quality and power us referring to
that. Much of this was mystical to them,
but they were mostly ignorant men, of
low estate, and were content with the lives
they were living, and to be led by one in
whom they saw wonderful knowledge and
power. In Luke xviii is an example of
their spiritual blindness
Then He took the twelve and said unto
them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and
all things that are written by the prophets
concerning the Son of Man shall be accom-
plished. For He shall be delivered unto
the Gentiles, and shall be Knocked and
spitefnlly entreated, and spitted on and
they shall scourge Him, and put Him to
death and the third day He shall rise
again.
''And they understood none of these
things ; and this saying was hid from them,
neither knew they the things which were
spoken"
This was when He was about to make
His glorious entry into Jerusalem yet the
twelve had no idea of His identity or
mission, and His declaring of it WAS to
them mysterious.
None Of the prophecies which are cited
us fulfilled in Christ were understood as
maapin0 Him fiji louor ofto,. +bo o,ro,,+