Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-03-27
SILVER OF JUDAS
ONE OF THE THIRTY PIECES
SAID TO BE IN EXISTENCE.
History of the Coin That Played So
Prominent Part in the
Scriptures.
From the New Yor- Sun.

rroUi the New 1of SUM-
Tradition and legend supply long his
tory of the thirty pieces of silver paid to
Judas for the betrayal of Christ of one of
which Mark Fisher of this city thinks he
was robbed recently. series of tradl-
tons would carry it back to the time of
Terah, father of Abraham; for his hands,
we are told, fashioned and made the thirty
pieces of silver which were kept intact
from that time until they were used as the
purchase money for the potter's field Or
field of blood
Terah having made them, Abraham took
them with him when he left Chaldea, and
used them as part of the purchase money
for the cave of Machpelah They appear
next in the hands of the Ishmaelites, who
paid them to Joseph's brethren when they
sold him into bondage.
AS the Biblical version of the story says
that only twenty pieces of silver was the
price paid for Joseph, we must conclude,
in order to keep the thirty pieces intact,
either that the other ten were paid with
them for some other purchase, or accept
the statement made by writer in the
fourteenth century that "for thrift pens
they sold that childe''
In Sheba's Treasury.
However this may be, tradition says that
these same pieces of silver came into the
possession of Joseph himself when his
brethren went down into Egypt to buy corn.
On the death of Jacob they found their
way into the royal treasury of Sheba.
where Joseph sent them to pay for spices
to embalm his father.
Here they remained, undisturbed, for
long period of years, in fact, until the
Queen of Sheba made her wonderful visit
to King Solomon, when they figured among
the gifts presented by the queen to the
ruler whose fame had reused her curiosity.
Tar n1py,a fIar- fbntv
back to Arabia. This was in the reign of
Rehoboam, when the King of Egypt, having
despoiled the temple, gave them to the
King of Arabia, his ally, as part of his
share of the plumber.
Again they rest, this time until the birth
of Christ when Melchoir, one of the wise
men, brought them from Arabia and placed
them at the feet of the infant Saviour as
fight into Egypt, they were in the keeping
of the Virgin Mary, but when closely pur-
sued by the soldiers of Herod she stopped
to inquire her way of man who was SOW
ing corn and in her haste and confusion
she dropped them
Scarcely were the holy family out of sight
when the corn the man had been sowing
miraculously Sprang up and grew. Almost
Immediately Herod's soldiers appeared and
inquired of the sower If he had seen the in
FAINT Saviour and His parents. This man re-
piled that no one had passed that way
since his corn was sown, and the soldiers,
considering further pursuit in that direction
useless, turned back and gave up the search.
Found by Sheppard.
The money was found by shepherd. who
kept it intact for years. Then, being af-
ficted by disease that was pronounced
and was healed. Out of gratitude he pre-
scented the money as an offering at the high
altar and soon afterward is was used to
pay Judas fore1s act of treachery.
Various reasons have been given to ex-
plain why Judas exacted just that amount.
One is that he believed himself cheated out
of so much, through the use of the box of
ointment, for if it had been sold for three
hundred pence he would have appropriated
a tenth. Again, 1t is said that Judas, hav-
ing been sent by Christ on Holy Thursday
with that amount of money to make ready
the last supper, fell asleep by the wayside
and was robbed. In the midst of his dis
tress PLATE appeared, and being tempted,
he agreed to betray his Master for the
amount of money Of which he had been
robbed
When smitten by remorse, he least down
the pieces of silver in the temple and the
priests, believing it not lawful-being the
price of blood-to return them to the treas
ury, purchased with them the potter's
field, the field of blood This field was
long supposed to be possessed of unusual
powers, among them that of rapidly de-
composing bodies buried in 1t, so that large
quantities Of the earth were carried away
The Pisan Crusaders took some of the earth
with them for the Campo Santo in Pisa,
and the Empress Helena had some of it
taken to Rome. Portions of it are still
shown in various parts of Europe, where it
is said to have been preserved.
One tradition says that only half of the
thirty pieces of silver were used as pur-
chase money for the field of blood" the
others being given as bride to the soldiers
who guarded the sepulchre, that they might
say that the body of our Lord had been
stolen. Here, according to tradition, all
trace of them was lost.