details, it is impossible to make out with accuracy what the real Judas
was. We can, however, by dispassionate examination of the facts
determine their sole import, and if we indulge in inferences we can
deduce those which are fairly probable. As Judas was treasurer, he must
have been trusted. He could hardly have been naturally covetous, for he
had given up in common with the other disciples much, if not all, to
follow Jesus. The thirty pieces of silver--some four or five pounds of
our money--could not have been considered by him as a sufficient bribe
for the ignominy of a treason which was to end in legal murder. He
ought perhaps to have been able to measure the ferocity of an
established ecclesiastical order and to have known what would have been
the consequence of handing over to it perfect, and therefore heretical,
sincerity and purity, but there is no evidence that he did know: nay,
we are distinctly informed, as we have just seen, that when he became
aware what was going to happen his sorrow for his wicked deed took a
very practical shape.

We cannot allege with confidence that it was any permanent loss of
personal attachment to Jesus which brought about his defection. It came
when the belief in a theocracy near at hand filled the minds of the
disciples. These ignorant Galilean fishermen expected that in a very
short time they would sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of
Israel. The custodian of the bag, gifted with more common sense than
his colleagues, probably foresaw the danger of a collision with Rome,
and may have desired by a timely arrest to prevent an open revolt, which
would have meant immediate destruction of the whole band with women and
children. Can any position be imagined more irritating that that of a
careful man of business who is keeper of the purse for a company of
heedless enthusiasts professing complete indifference to the value of
money, misunderstanding the genius of their chief, and looking out every