<p>27:7 <em>And they took counsel</em>- As in :1. They were eager to spread responsibility for their actions in the entire business of killing the Lord; human beings feel safer beneath the umbrella of a committee, a group. And yet those men, like us, will each have to meet the Lord personally and face the consequence of their actions.</p><p><em>And bought with them the potter's field</em>- Acts 1:18 says that Judas &ldquo;obtained it with the reward of his iniquity&rdquo; (RV). And yet the thirty pieces of silver were still in his hand right up to the end of his life. Purchase of property was a slow business in Palestine, and nobody would have been doing business over the Passover feast. Neither is there any time in the narrative for Judas to have bought or obtained the field. And yet Acts 1:18 states that Judas &ldquo;obtained&rdquo; the field with the silver pieces, the reward of his iniquity, and killed himself there. I suggest the reconciliation is that the Jews bought the place where Judas had committed suicide <em>in Judas&rsquo; name</em>, even though he was dead. This again would&rsquo;ve involved a fair amount of fiddling books and behaviour of low integrity. And yet it was ostensibly done in strict and careful obedience to the idea that money earned by dishonest means should not be brought into the temple; this was based on Dt. 25:18 &ldquo;You must not bring the hire of a prostitute or of a male prostitute into the house of Yahweh your God&rdquo;. Again and again we see how these men who committed the worst possible sin in the entire universe&hellip; were strictly legally obedient to some Divine laws and the principles arising from them. This is a powerful warning to all of us religious people; we can so easily serve God with only part of our mind, one half of our brain. And the results are disastrous. Nothing less than the entire heart and soul and mind must be given over to Him.</p><p>The Potter&rsquo;s field was in the Valley of Hinnom, Gehenna; Judas went to Gehenna to kill himself, the ultimate proof that all who shall finally be condemned will in essence have condemned themselves.</p><p><em>To bury strangers in</em>- Thus through the death of Christ it became possible that Gentiles could have a place within Jerusalem, the city of God.</p>