When the morning was come, all the chief priests and elders of the people took counsel against Jesus to put him to death: And when they had bound him, they led him away, and delivered him to Pontius Pilate the governor. 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, Saying, I have sinned in that I have betrayed the innocent blood. And they said, What is that to us? see thou to that. And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself. Matthew 27:1-5

The Apostles Creed states “suffered under Pontius PIlate ” Even though Pilate tried to “wash his hands” of the death of Christ, it was under his authority that he determined Jesus was to be crucified by the Romans. The religious leaders of Israel, used the Roman government to do their dirty work in killing the Messiah. Ultimately there were alot of evil hands involved in the death of Christ, but God used it to fulfill His will and deliver us from our sins

One of the main evil participants was Judas Iscariot, who we talked about in depth previously. Now that Judas fulfilled his betrayal of Christ, it was time for him to get paid the 30 pieces of silver. If you think God is not in control, this was prophesied in Zechariah 11:10-17 

12And I said unto them, If ye think good, give [me] my price; and if not, forbear. So they weighed for my price thirty [pieces] of silver. 13And the LORD said unto me, Cast it unto the potter: a goodly price that I was prised at of them. And I took the thirty [pieces] of silver, and cast them to the potter in the house of the LORD. 

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. And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in. Wherefore that field was called, The field of blood, unto this day.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; And gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord appointed me. Matthew 27:6-10

So why did the Apostle Matthew refer to Jeremiah when the prophecy was actually foretold by Zechariah? Is there actually a contradiction in the Bible? No, during the first century the scriptures were divided into three sections The Law, The Prophets, and The Psalms, this was confirmed by Jesus (Luke 24:44) When Matthew was referring to Jeremiah, he was referring to The Prophets section, which Jeremiah was traditionally the first book on the scroll

Jesus said “What does it profit to gain the whole world and lose your soul” (Matthew 16:26) When Judas received his 30 pieces of silver, did it bring him happiness? No, he hanged himself on a tree. As Jesus foretold “It would have been better he was never born at all” (Matthew 26:24)