Who He Is
Young man who invited Yeshua into his own home, treated him with hospitality, and insistently asked for his opinion on the power of the state; it was over that answer that men came in and arrested Yeshua. Pilate understands from the question that the accusation was born of a trap, not of a crime. He is the young man who betrayed Yeshua for money.
any power is a violence against people, and the time will come when there will be no more power [...] Man will pass into the kingdom of truth and justice, where there will be no need for any power at all
Trajectory
In chapter 2 he exists only in Yeshua's account to Pilate.
In chapter 16 he is absent from the execution, and his fate is left for chapters 25 and 26.
In chapter 25 Pilate asks Afranius, in confidence, to protect Judas from Yeshua's secret friends, who would kill him that night. In chapter 26, Afranius arranges something with a woman named Nisa, who lures Judas to the Garden of Gethsemane with the promise of a meeting and does not show up; two men stab him after tearing away the purse of thirty tetradrachms, and the money is thrown, with a note, into the courtyard of Caiaphas's palace. In front of Matthew Levi, who swears to kill him, Pilate reveals that the killing has already been carried out on his orders.
I ask you to see to this, that is, to take every measure for the safety of Judas of Kerioth
Thirty tetradrachms! Thirty tetradrachms! Everything I received is with me. Here is the money! Take it, but let me live
I return the cursed money
Themes Embodied
The standard themes that run through him are Loyalty and betrayal and Money and wealth. The reading of chapter 26 on the form of his death:
The scene mirrors, in reverse, the very scheme Judas used against Yeshua Ha-Notzri: he too is lured by feigned affection and sold for money, and the narrative echo is deliberate, because it returns to the traitor the exact logic of his betrayal.
Relationships
- Yeshua Ha-Notzri: the guest he denounced.
- Pontius Pilate: who orders his killing while disguising the order as protection.
- Afranius: the chief of the secret guard who sets the plan in motion.
- Matthew Levi: who swears to kill him and arrives too late.