NT Characters: Judas

<p>For additional notes and resources check out Douglas’ <a href="https://www.douglasjacoby.com/judasmp3/" target="_blank">website</a>.</p><p><strong>Intro</strong></p><ul><li>Judas is hardly the first traitor in the Bible. (For example, consider Joseph's brothers, Doeg, Absalom, and Ziba.)</li><li>One of the closest parallels is Joab's betrayal (with a kiss) of Amasa (2 Samuel 20:1-13).</li><li>Yet Judas is the most significant traitor in scripture.</li></ul><p><strong>Name</strong><br /> </p><ul><li>Named after Judah, patriarch of the tribe of Jesus.</li><li>Or he may have been named in honor of Judas Maccabee (the political revolutionary of the 2nd century BC).</li><li>There were two Judases (Judahs) in the apostolic band: Judas Iscariot and Judas son of James (Thaddaeus).</li><li>On the meaning of "Iscariot"<ul><li>Man of Kerioth (<i>'ish-Kerioth</i>)?</li><li>Corruption of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sicarii"><i>sicarius</i></a> (dagger-man)?</li><li>No other apostle is given an epithet based on his place of origin, unless Simon the Zealot is Simon the Canaanite (or man of Cana) is right (as in a minority of manuscripts). If the latter option is correct, then along with Simon the Zealot, Judas was one of the two most political members of the apostolic band.</li></ul></li><li>Judas is mentioned about 50x in the NT.</li><li>Since his defection, Christians seldom name their children Judas (or Adolf, Genghis, or Jezebel).</li></ul><p><strong>Short ministry career</strong></p><ul><li>Matthew 10:4 -- appointed apostle</li><li>Served as apostolic treasurer, a position not usually given to those who are greedy or irresponsible.</li><li>John 6:70-71 -- Jesus knew Judah would become a traitor, though this in no way forced him to go down that path.</li><li>John 12:4 -- critical of the woman for anointing Jesus.</li><li>John 12:6 -- not sincere, but was helping himself to the money bag. Little sins take a cumulative toll on our character, and our outlook on life.</li><li>Luke 22:3 -- Satan "entered" him (sugge