The Meaning of Matthew 27:7 Explained

Matthew 27:7

KJV: And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter's field, to bury strangers in.

YLT: and having taken counsel, they bought with them the field of the potter, for the burial of strangers;

Darby: And having taken counsel, they bought with them the field of the potter for a burying-ground for strangers.

ASV: And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter's field, to bury strangers in.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

And  they took  counsel,  and bought  with  them  the potter's  field,  to  bury  strangers  in. 

What does Matthew 27:7 Mean?

Context Summary

Matthew 27:1-10 - The Betrayer's Remorse And Suicide
It was the very early morning when Jesus was led off to Pilate, for he was on the cross by nine. Judas apparently watched the scene from afar. It may be that he was stricken with horror, when our Lord did not exert His mighty power in self-deliverance. The only expedient that occurred to the traitor as practicable was to attest the Lord's innocence. What a tribute that was to the absolute purity and beauty of the life which he had known for so long in the closest intimacy! If there had been a flaw, he would have caught at it as justifying his deed; but there was none. See Hebrews 7:26-27.
The money burnt his hands and rang on the marble floor. Who can estimate the despair, the horror, the blackness of darkness that drove him to a suicide's fate? See Acts 1:15, etc. Note how punctilious these false priests were, Matthew 27:6. It is certain that even after this, if he had repented, he would have been forgiven. But despair had seized him. He went to his own place! Each of us is making a place for himself and is going to it. [source]

Chapter Summary: Matthew 27

1  Jesus is delivered bound to Pilate
3  Judas hangs himself
19  Pilate, admonished of his wife,
20  and being urged by the multitude, washes his hands, and releases Barabbas
27  Jesus is mocked and crowned with thorns;
33  crucified;
39  reviled;
50  dies, and is buried;
62  his tomb is sealed and watched

Greek Commentary for Matthew 27:7

The potter‘s field [του αγρου του κεραμεως]
Grotius suggests that it was a small field where potter‘s clay was obtained, like a brickyard (Broadus). Otherwise we do not know why the name exists. In Acts 1:18 we have another account of the death of Judas by bursting open (possibly falling after hanging himself) after he obtained the field by the wages of iniquity. But it is possible that εκτησατο — ektēsato there refers to the rabbinical use of Korban, that the money was still that of Judas though he was dead and so he really “acquired” the field by his blood-money. [source]

Reverse Greek Commentary Search for Matthew 27:7

Matthew 27:9 By Jeremiah the prophet [δια Ιερεμιου]
This quotation comes mainly from Zechariah 11:13 though not in exact language. In Jeremiah 18:18 the prophet tells of a visit to a potter‘s house and in Jeremiah 32:6. of the purchase of a field. It is in Zechariah that the thirty pieces of silver are mentioned. Many theories are offered for the combination of Zechariah and Jeremiah and attributing it all to Jeremiah as in Mark 1:2. the quotation from Isaiah and Malachi is referred wholly to Isaiah as the more prominent of the two. Broadus and McNeile give a full discussion of the various theories from a mere mechanical slip to the one just given above. Matthew has here (Matthew 27:10) “the field of the potter” (εις τον αγρον του κεραμεως — eis ton agron tou kerameōs) for “the potter the house of the Lord” in Zechariah 11:13. That makes it more parallel with the language of Matthew 27:7. [source]
Acts 1:18 Purchased [ἐκτήσατο]
See on possess, Luke 18:12. Better, as Rev., obtained. Judas did not purchase the field, but the priests did with the money which he returned to them, (Matthew 27:7). The expression means merely that the field was purchased with the money of Judas. [source]
Acts 1:19 Akeldama [ακελδαμαχ]
This Aramaic word Peter explains as “the field of blood.” Two traditions are preserved: one in Matthew 27:7 which explains that the priests purchased this potter‘s field with the money which Judas flung down as the price of the blood of Jesus. The other in Acts describes it as the field of blood because Judas poured out his blood there. Hackett and Knowling argue that both views can be true. “The ill-omened name could be used with a double emphasis” (Hackett). [source]
Romans 9:21 Or hath not the potter a right over the clay? [η ουκ εχει εχουσιαν ο κεραμευς του πηλου]
This question, expecting an affirmative answer, is Paul‘s reply to the previous one, “Why didst thou make me thus?” Πηλος — Pēlos old word for clay, is mud or wet clay in John 9:6, John 9:11, John 9:14. The old word for potter (κεραμευς — kerameus) in N.T. only here and Matthew 27:7, Matthew 27:10. [source]

What do the individual words in Matthew 27:7 mean?

Counsel then having taken they bought with them the field of the potter for a burial place for the strangers
συμβούλιον δὲ λαβόντες ἠγόρασαν ἐξ αὐτῶν τὸν ἀγρὸν τοῦ κεραμέως εἰς ταφὴν τοῖς ξένοις

συμβούλιον  Counsel 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Neuter Singular
Root: συμβούλιον  
Sense: counsel, which is given, taken, entered upon.
λαβόντες  having  taken 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Participle Active, Nominative Masculine Plural
Root: λαμβάνω  
Sense: to take.
ἠγόρασαν  they  bought 
Parse: Verb, Aorist Indicative Active, 3rd Person Plural
Root: ἀγοράζω  
Sense: to be in the market place, to attend it.
ἀγρὸν  field 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Masculine Singular
Root: ἀγρός  
Sense: land.
τοῦ  of  the 
Parse: Article, Genitive Masculine Singular
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
κεραμέως  potter 
Parse: Noun, Genitive Masculine Singular
Root: κεραμεύς  
Sense: a potter.
ταφὴν  a  burial  place 
Parse: Noun, Accusative Feminine Singular
Root: ταφή  
Sense: burial.
τοῖς  for  the 
Parse: Article, Dative Masculine Plural
Root:  
Sense: this, that, these, etc.
ξένοις  strangers 
Parse: Adjective, Dative Masculine Plural
Root: ξένος  
Sense: a foreigner, a stranger.

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