Read carefully…

Originally posted on August 07, 2007 – by Andre Piet

The following question was presented to me:

In Matt. 27:9 we read that Judas handed over the Lord to His enemies for thirty pieces of silver, and that this had already been foretold by Jeremiah. Now I just can’t find anywhere in Scripture that this was foretold by Jeremiah; the only place where something like this is mentioned is in Zechariah 11, but that’s not Jeremiah 😉
Am I going crazy or is there something else going on…..

To put your mind at ease… I believe it’s something else.
Over time, a whole list of suggestions has been proposed. Here’s a selection:

• Matthew may have made a mistake.
• “Jeremiah” here might stand for the prophets in general.
• Jeremiah might have been the author of this section in Zechariah.
• This passage from Zechariah may have originally appeared in Jeremiah.
• This “mistake” by Matthew is intentional, so we wouldn’t place value on such details…

Let’s take a closer look at the text (Matt. 27:9).

“Then was fulfilled that which is SPOKEN through Jeremiah the prophet, SAYING, And they took the thirty silverlings…”

In other words, Matthew does not claim at all that these words were written by Jeremiah. Jeremiah spoke these words. If we accept this distinction as it presents itself, the problem disappears instantly like snow in the sun!
Some words of the prophets were never spoken by them but only written down. Other words of the prophets were only spoken by them and not written down—at least, not by themselves. The quote in Matt. 27:9 falls into this latter category.

P.S.
How Matthew then knew that these words were from Jeremiah is another question. Perhaps through oral tradition?

Delen: