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judas Summary and Overview

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judas in Easton's Bible Dictionary

the Graecized form of Judah. (1.) The patriarch (Matt. 1:2, 3). (2.) Son of Simon (John 6:71; 13:2, 26), surnamed Iscariot, i.e., a man of Kerioth (Josh. 15:25). His name is uniformly the last in the list of the apostles, as given in the synoptic (i.e., the first three) Gospels. The evil of his nature probably gradually unfolded itself till "Satan entered into him" (John 13:27), and he betrayed our Lord (18:3). Afterwards he owned his sin with "an exceeding bitter cry," and cast the money he had received as the wages of his iniquity down on the floor of the sanctuary, and "departed and went and hanged himself" (Matt. 27:5). He perished in his guilt, and "went unto his own place" (Acts 1:25). The statement in Acts 1:18 that he "fell headlong and burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out," is in no way contrary to that in Matt. 27:5. The sucide first hanged himself, perhaps over the valley of Hinnom, "and the rope giving way, or the branch to which he hung breaking, he fell down headlong on his face, and was crushed and mangled on the rocky pavement below." Why such a man was chosen to be an apostle we know not, but it is written that "Jesus knew from the beginning who should betray him" (John 6:64). Nor can any answer be satisfactorily given to the question as to the motives that led Judas to betray his Master. "Of the motives that have been assigned we need not care to fix on any one as that which simply led him on. Crime is, for the most part, the result of a hundred motives rushing with bewildering fury through the mind of the criminal." (3.) A Jew of Damascus (Acts 9:11), to whose house Ananias was sent. The street called "Straight" in which it was situated is identified with the modern "street of bazaars," where is still pointed out the so-called "house of Judas." (4.) A Christian teacher, surnamed Barsabas. He was sent from Jerusalem to Antioch along with Paul and Barnabas with the decision of the council (Acts 15:22, 27, 32). He was a "prophet" and a "chief man among the brethren."

judas in Schaff's Bible Dictionary

JU'DAS (praise). 1. The patriarch Judah. Matt 1:2-3. 1. The betrayer of Christ. Matt 10:4; Mark 3:19; Luke 6:16. Nothing is known of his early history. His name has been variously interpreted, but best as from Ish Kerioth, "the man of Kerioth," a town of Judah. Josh 15:25. He is called the son of Simon. John 6:71. His executive ability led to his choice as treasurer, but the office stimulated and increased his avarice. John 12:6; John 13:29. This trait is shown very strikingly in his regret over Mary's "waste." It has been suggested that the loss, as he regarded it, of the 300 denarii which the ointment cost may have made him the more willing to accept the 30 shekels (the price of a slave) which he received for the betrayal of Christ. Matt 26:15. The best explanation of the awful crime is that of our Lord: he was under the influence of Satan. John 6:70-71. Judas returned after making the infamous bargain, and mingled again with the disciples. He was present at the paschal supper, though probably not at the institution of the Lord's Supper. His familiarity with the habits of Jesus enabled him to guide the attendant mob directly to the garden of Gethsemane, and there, with the moisture of Jesus' lips still wet upon his own, to give the command, "Take him." Matt 14:43-45. But when the deed was done there came on the reaction. He knew and confessed that he had betrayed "innocent blood." He could not endure the strain of a conscience on the rack. He flung the money to the priests and went and hanged himself, but was not suffered to present an unmangled corpse, for, the rope breaking, his body fell headlong and all his bowels gushed out. Comp. Matt 27:5 with Acts 1:18. The 30 shekels were not put into the treasury, since they were "the price of blood;" accordingly, the priests bought a field with them. Matt 27:7. This is the purchase attributed to Judas himself by Peter. Acts 1:18. Aceldama, where he committed suicide, is shown on the southern slope of the valley of Hinnom. Some have attempted to extenuate his guilt by supposing that he wished to hasten the crisis and to force Christ to set up his kingdom. But our Lord, the most merciful of beings, calls him "the son of perdition," for whom it would have been good "if he had not been born." He is branded in history as the most ungrateful of traitors, although the wisdom of God overruled his treason for the crucifixion of Jesus, whose death is our salvation. 1. The one called Juda in Mark 6:3. 2. A brother of James, and one of the apostles; called also Thaddaeus and Lebbaeus and Jude. Matt 10:3; Mark 3:18: Luke 6:16; John 14:22; Acts 1:13; Matt 13:55. 3. Judas of Galilee, a leader of an insurrection "in the days of taxing" -- i. e. the census -- a.d. 6, and who, according to Gamaliel, was very successful for a time, but was ultimately completely defeated. Acts 5:37. We find in Joscphus an allusion to a man, who is there said to have been born in the city of Gamala in Gaulanitis, and to have been the founder of a new sect, which did not differ from that of the Pharisees save in a fanatical love of liberty and refusal to support the Roman state. 4. The one whose house in Straight Street, Damascus, sheltered Paul during his blindness. Acts 9:11, Acts 9:17. This Judas may have kept an inn; it is unlikely that he was a disciple. 5. Judas, surnamed Barsabas, a "chief man among the brethren," a "prophet," who was chosen along with Paul and Barnabas and Silas to carry the decisions of the council of Jerusalem, a.d. 50, to Antioch. Acts 15:22-33. JUDE was one of the apostles, and the brother of James the Less, Jude 1. He is called "Judas," Matt 13:55; John 14:22; Acts 1:13, and elsewhere "Lebbaeus," Matt 10:3, and "Thaddaeus." Mark 3:18. Epistle of, was written about a.d. 65. The author calls himself "a servant of Christ and a brother of James," who was a brother of Christ and was also called the Just and the bishop of Jerusalem. See James. The epistle is intended to guard believers against prevalent errors, and to urge them to constancy in the faith once delivered to the saints. This is done by a vivid exhibition of the terrors of God's judgments upon the wicked, and by a recurrence to that great principle of our religion, dependence on Christ alone, to keep us from falling. In Jude 9 we read: "Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said. The Lord rebuke thee." This incident is not elsewhere recorded in Scripture, and is probably quoted from the Apocalypse of Moses. In Jude 14 Jude quotes a prophecy of Enoch, the seventh from Adam. There is a striking resemblance between 2 Peter and Jude. Both are warnings against errorists.

judas in Fausset's Bible Dictionary

At whose house, in the street called Straight at Damascus (now the "street of bazaars," reaching long, straight, and wide from the S. gate into the heart of the city), Saul of Tarsus lodged after his conversion (<440911> Acts 9:11). The house is still professedly shown a few steps out of the "street of bazaars," in an open space, "the sheikh's place." It has a stone floored square room, partly wailed off for a tomb shown as "the tomb of Ananias."