Tuesday, May 14, 2019

Luke 22:1-6 comments: the last Passover


22:1 ¶  Now the feast of unleavened bread drew nigh, which is called the Passover. 2  And the chief priests and scribes sought how they might kill him; for they feared the people. 3  Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve. 4  And he went his way, and communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray him unto them. 5  And they were glad, and covenanted to give him money. 6  And he promised, and sought opportunity to betray him unto them in the absence of the multitude.

The Feast of Unleavened Bread and its relationship to the Passover should be read from the Old Testament.

Exodus 12:1 ¶  And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in the land of Egypt, saying, 2  This month shall be unto you the beginning of months: it shall be the first month of the year to you. 3  Speak ye unto all the congregation of Israel, saying, In the tenth day of this month they shall take to them every man a lamb, according to the house of their fathers, a lamb for an house: 4  And if the household be too little for the lamb, let him and his neighbour next unto his house take it according to the number of the souls; every man according to his eating shall make your count for the lamb. 5  Your lamb shall be without blemish, a male of the first year: ye shall take it out from the sheep, or from the goats: 6  And ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month: and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. 7  And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it. 8  And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire, and unleavened bread; and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. 9  Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire; his head with his legs, and with the purtenance thereof. 10  And ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning; and that which remaineth of it until the morning ye shall burn with fire. 11  And thus shall ye eat it; with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet, and your staff in your hand; and ye shall eat it in haste: it is the LORD’S passover. 12  For I will pass through the land of Egypt this night, and will smite all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgment: I am the LORD. 13  And the blood shall be to you for a token upon the houses where ye are: and when I see the blood, I will pass over you, and the plague shall not be upon you to destroy you, when I smite the land of Egypt. 14  And this day shall be unto you for a memorial; and ye shall keep it a feast to the LORD throughout your generations; ye shall keep it a feast by an ordinance for ever. 15  Seven days shall ye eat unleavened bread; even the first day ye shall put away leaven out of your houses: for whosoever eateth leavened bread from the first day until the seventh day, that soul shall be cut off from Israel. 16  And in the first day there shall be an holy convocation, and in the seventh day there shall be an holy convocation to you; no manner of work shall be done in them, save that which every man must eat, that only may be done of you. 17  And ye shall observe the feast of unleavened bread; for in this selfsame day have I brought your armies out of the land of Egypt: therefore shall ye observe this day in your generations by an ordinance for ever. 18  In the first month, on the fourteenth day of the month at even, ye shall eat unleavened bread, until the one and twentieth day of the month at even. 19  Seven days shall there be no leaven found in your houses: for whosoever eateth that which is leavened, even that soul shall be cut off from the congregation of Israel, whether he be a stranger, or born in the land. 20  Ye shall eat nothing leavened; in all your habitations shall ye eat unleavened bread.

The chief priests and the scribes sought how they could kill Jesus but not in such a way as to arouse the riotous inclinations of an unruly people who adored Him. It is at this point in God’s plan to redeem mankind to Himself that Satan entered Judas.

Jesus called Judas a devil.

John 6:70  Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil?

And although the specifics aren’t related here Judas, a man given to doubtful loyalty to Christ, is possessed, as we understand it, by Satan himself. See here for Judas’ bad character.

John 12:6  This he said, not that he cared for the poor; but because he was a thief, and had the bag, and bare what was put therein.

And here for the specific occurrence of Satan taking control of him.

John 13:26  Jesus answered, He it is, to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it. And when he had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of Simon. 27  And after the sop
Satan entered into him. Then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, do quickly. 28  Now no man at the table knew for what intent he spake this unto him. 29  For some of them thought, because Judas had the bag, that Jesus had said unto him, Buy those things that we have need of against the feast; or, that he should give something to the poor. 30  He then having received the sop went immediately out: and it was night.

But when Satan is finished using a person they are themselves typically finished.

Matthew 27:1 ¶  When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death: 2  And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor. 3  Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, 4  Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that. 5  And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself. 6  And the chief priests took the silver pieces, and said, It is not lawful for to put them into the treasury, because it is the price of blood. 7  And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in. 8  Wherefore that field was called, The field of blood, unto this day. 9  Then was fulfilled that which was spoken by Jeremy the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was valued, whom they of the children of Israel did value; 10  And gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord appointed me.

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