The Baltimore County union. [volume] (Towsontown, Md.) 1865-1909, 1905-04-08
JUDAS THIRTY PIECES OF SILVER.

OF the babe.
JUDAS THIRTY PIECES OF SILVER.
Tradition and legend supply long
history 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 re-
Gently. A series of traditions 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. Abra-
ham 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
other purchase, or accept the state
ment made by writer In the four
teenth century that ''For thrift pens
they sold that childe."
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 ernbalm his father.
Here they remained, undisturbed,
for long period Of years, in fact un-
til the Queen of Sheba made her won
derful visit to King Solomon, when
they figured among the gifts pre-
sented by the Queen to the ruler
whose fame had reused her curiosity.
From Jerusalem they found their
way 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 plunder.
Again they rest, this time until
the birth of Christ, when Melchior,
one of the wise men, brought them
from Arabia and placed them at the
feet of the infant Saviour as part of
his offering. During the hurried
flight into Egypt they were in the
keeping of the Virgin Mary, but when
closely pursued by the soldiers Of
Herod she stopped to inquire her way
of man who was sowing 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 in
quired of the sower If he had seen the
infant Saviour and his parents. The
man replied 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.
The money was found by shep-
herd, who kept it intact for years.
Then. being afflicted by a disease
that was pronounced incurable, he
applied to the Saviour for help and
was healed. Out of gratitude he
presented the money as an offering at
the high altar, and soon afterward it
was used to pay Judas for his act of
treachery.
Various reasons have been given to
explain why Judas exacted just that
amount. One is that he believed
himself cheated out of so much,
through the use of the box of oint-
ment, for it had been sold for three
hundred pence he would have appro-
priated a tenth. Again, it is said
that Judas, having 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
distress 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 "cast
down the pieces of silver in the Tenn
pie" and the priests, believing it not
lawful-being the price Of blood-to
return them to the treasury, purchased
with them the potter field, the field
of blood" This field was long sup
posed to be possessed of unusual
powers, among them that Of rapidly
decomposing bodies buried in it, so
that large quantities of the earth
| were carried away. The Pisan Cru
saders 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 pre-
served.
One tradition says that only half of
the thirty pieces of silver were used
as purchase money for the field of
blood, (" the others being given as a
bribe 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.-N. Y. Sun.
A YOUNG Irishman, a private in the
old Stonewall Brigade, disappeared
shortly before the first battle Of Bull
Run, July, 1861, and was absent
without leave for some days. On his
return his comrades twitted him on
being coward, and having run off
to escape the fight. Unabashed, Pat
said /: run off, is it? / did nothing
of the kind. I simply obeyed the