and they gave it for the potter’s field, as the Lord had commanded me.”
These words show that Judas’s betrayal and the actions of the chief priests were foretold. Although Matthew mentions the prophet Jeremiah, the quoted wording more strongly recalls Zechariah 11:12–13, where it says, “...And they weighed out my wages—thirty pieces of silver, and the Lord said, throw it to the potter...” Matthew mentions Jeremiah intentionally, because in his writings the potter’s field and the symbol of blood appear as images of judgment and of the new covenant (Jeremiah 18:1–6, 19:1–13). Thus, the evangelist brings together the words of two prophets, showing that in the story of Christ the substance of all the ancient prophecies is being fulfilled: the thirty pieces of silver as the price of betrayal, the potter’s field as a field of sin, and the Lord’s command as divine ordering. “The price of the one sold” here highlights the unbelievable contrast that the Son of God was valued at the price of a slave (Exodus 21:32), yet that same “price” became the beginning of humanity’s salvation. The chief priests, as though having achieved their aim, unknowingly become instruments of prophecy: through their hands what the Lord had foretold is carried out. In this episode the two lines of judgment and salvation are interwoven: a person carries out his evil intent, but God, through that same act, accomplishes his saving plan.