The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1905-04-28
JUDAS THIRTY PIECES OF
SILVER.

paid 10 udas Tor the betrayal OF Chrlst
of one of which Mark Fisher of this
city thinks he was robbed recently.
A series of traditions would carry it
back to the time Of Terab, 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 "feld of blood"
Terrah 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 Mach.
pelah. They appear next in the hand
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 thirtie pins
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 embalm
his father.
Here they remained, undisturbed,
for long period of years, in fact until
the Queen of Sheba made her wender-
full visit to King Solomon, when they
figured among the gifts presented by
| Queen to the ruler whose fame has
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 plum
der.
Again they rest, this time until the
birth Of Christ, when Melehior, one of
the wise men, brought them from
Arabia and placed them at the feet OF
the infant Saviour as part of his offer
ing. During the hurried 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 sowing corn, and in her haste
and confusion she dropped them.
Scarcely we're 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 inquir-
ed of the sOwer if he had seen the in
FAINT Saviour and his parents. The
man replied that no one had passed
that way since his corn was sown, and
the soldiers, considering further pur-
suit in that direction useless, turned
back and gave up the search.
The money was found by a shep-
herd, who kept it intact for years.
Then being afflicted by disease that
was pronounced incurable, he applied.
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 him
self cheated out of so much, through
the use of the box of ointment, for it
had been sold for three hundred pence
he would have appropriated tenth.
Again it is said that Judas, having
been sent by Christ on Holy Thurs
day 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 ap-
peared, and being tempted he agreed
to betray his Master for the amount
of money of which he had been rob-
bed.
When smitten by remorse he "cast
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 treasury, pur-
chased with them the potter's field,
the "ield of blood" This field was
long supposed to be possessed of un-
usual powers, among them that of
rapidly decomposing bodies buried in
it, so that large quantities Of the earth
were carried away. Tie Pisan Cru
saders took some of the earth with
them for the Campo Sauto in Pisa,
and the Empress Helena had some OF