Matthew 26:15

τί θέλετε, etc., what are ye willing to give me? Mary and Judas extreme opposites: she freely spending in love, he willing to sell his Master for money. What contrasts in the world and in the same small circle! The mercenary spirit of Judas is not so apparent in Mk. and Lk. κἀγὼ, etc.: καὶ introducing a co-ordinate clause, instead of a subordinate clause, introduced by ὥστε or ἵνα; a colloquialism or a Hebraism: the traitor mean in style as in spirit. ἔστησαν, they placed (in the balance) = weighed out. Many interpret: they agreed = συνεφώνησαν. So Theophy.: “Not as many think, instead of ἐζυγοστάτησαν ”. This corresponds with Mk. and Lk., and the likelihood is that the money would not be paid till the work was done (Fritzsche). But Mt. has the prophecies ever in view, and uses here a prophetic word (Zechariah 11:12, ἔστησαν τὸν μισθόν μου τρι. ἀργ., Sept [137]), indifferent as to the time when payment was made. Coined money was in use, but the shekels may have been weighed out in antique fashion by men careful to do an iniquitous thing in the most orthodox way. Or there may have been no weighing in the case, but only the use of an ancient form of speech after the practice had become obsolete (Field, Ot. Nor.). The amount = about three or four pounds sterling, a small sum for such a service; too small thinks Meyer, who suggests that the real amount was not known, and that the sum was fixed in the tradition to suit prophecy.

[137] Septuagint.