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JUDAS ISCARIOT ('IouSas 'Ioicaptd rrt...

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 536 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JUDAS ISCARIOT ('IouSas 'Ioicaptd rrts or 'Ivuapu',O) , in the See also:

Bible, the son of See also:Simon Iscariot (See also:John vi. 71, xiii. 26), and one of the twelve apostles. He is always enumerated last with the See also:special mention of the fact that he was the betrayer of Jesus. If the generally accepted explanation of his surname (" See also:man of Kerioth "; see Josh. xv. 25) be correct, he was the only See also:original member of the apostolic See also:band who was not a Galilean. The circumstances which led to his See also:admission into the apostolic circle are not stated; while the motives by which he was actuated in enabling the Jewish authorities to See also:arrest Jesus without tumult have been variously analysed by scholars. According to some (as De Quincey in his famous See also:Essay) the See also:sole See also:object of Judas was to See also:place Jesus in a position in which He should be compelled to make what had seemed to His followers the too tardy display of His Messianic See also:power: according to others (and this view seems more in See also:harmony with the See also:Gospel narratives) Judas was an avaricious and dishonest man, who had already abused the confidence placed in him (John xii. 6), and who was now concerned only with furthering his own ends. As regards the effects of his subsequent remorse and the use to which his See also:ill-gotten gains were put, the strikingly apparent discrepancies between the narratives of Matt. See also:xxvii. 3, 10 and Acts i. 18, 19 have attracted the See also:attention of biblical scholars, ever since See also:Papias, in his See also:fourth See also:book, of which a fragment has been preserved, discussed the subject.

The simplest explanation is that they represent different traditions, the Gospel narrative being composed with more special reference to prophetic fulfilments, and being probably nearer the truth than the See also:

short explanatory See also:note inserted by the author of the Acts (see See also:Bernard, Expositor, See also:June 1904, p. 422 seq.). In ecclesiastical See also:legend and 2 For the principle of the See also:Levirate illustrated in Gen. xxxviii., see See also:RUTH. See also:Lagarde (Orientalia, ii.) ingeniously conjectured that the See also:chapter typified the suppression of Phoenician (viz. Tamar, the date-See also:palm) and the old Canaanite elements (Zerah = indigena) by the younger Israelite invaders (See also:Perez =" See also:branch "). For other discussions, apart from commentaries on See also:Genesis, see B. See also:Luther in See also:Meyer, op. cit., pp. 200 sqq. in sacred See also:art Judas Iscariot is generally treated as the very in-See also:carnation of treachery, ingratitude and impiety. The See also:Middle Ages, after their See also:fashion, supplied the lacunae in what they deemed his too meagre See also:biography. According to the See also:common See also:form of their See also:story, he belonged to the tribe of See also:Reuben.' Before he was See also:born his See also:mother Cyborea had a See also:dream that he was destined to See also:murder his See also:father, commit See also:incest with his mother, and sell his See also:God. The attempts made by her and her See also:husband to avert this curse simply led to its accomplishment.

At his See also:

birth Judas was enclosed in a See also:chest and flung into the See also:sea; picked up on a See also:foreign See also:shore, he was educated at the See also:court until a murder committed in a moment of See also:passion compelled his See also:flight. Coming to See also:Judaea, he entered the service of Pontius See also:Pilate as See also:page, and during this See also:period committed the first two of the crimes which had been expressly foretold. Learning the See also:secret of his birth, he, full of remorse, sought the See also:prophet. who, he had heard, had power on See also:earth to forgive sins. He was accepted as a See also:disciple and promoted to a position of See also:trust, where avarice, the only See also:vice in which he had hitherto been unpractised, gradually took See also:possession of his soul, and led to the See also:complete fulfilment of his evil destiny. This Judas legend, as given by Jacobus de Voragine, obtained no small popularity; and it is to be found in various shapes in every important literature of See also:Europe. For the See also:history of its genesis and its See also:diffusion the reader may consult D'See also:Ancona, La leggenda di Vergogna e la leggenda di Giuda (1869), and papers by W. Creizenach in See also:Paul and ,Braune's Beitr. zur Gesch. der deutschen Sprache and Litteratur, vol. ii. (1875), and See also:Victor Diederich in Russiche Revue (188o). Cholevius, in his G,schichte der deutschen Poesie nach ihren antiken Elementen (1854), pointed out the connexion of the legend with the See also:Oedipus story. According to See also:Daub (Judas Ischariot, See also:oder Betrachtungen fiber das Bose See also:im Verhaltniss zum Guten, 1816, 1818) Judas was " an incarnation of the See also:devil," to whom " See also:mercy and blessedness are alike impossible." The popular hatred of Judas has found See also:strange symbolical expression in various parts of Christendom. In See also:Corfu, for instance, the See also:people at a given See also:signal on See also:Easter See also:Eve throw vast quantities of crockery from their windows and See also:roofs into the streets, and thus execute an imaginary stoning of Judas (see See also:Kirkwall, Ionian Islands, ii. 47).

At one See also:

time (according to Mustoxidi, Delle See also:case corciresi) the tradition prevailed that the traitor's See also:house and See also:country See also:villa existed in the See also:island, and that his descendants were to be found among the See also:local See also:Jews. Details in regard to some Judas legends and superstitions are given in Notes and Queries, 2nd See also:series, v., vi. and vii.; 3rd series, vii.; 4th series, i.; 5th series, vi. See also a See also:paper by See also:Professor Rendel See also:Harris entitled " Did Judas really commit See also:suicide?" in the See also:American See also:Journal of See also:Philology (See also:July 1900). See also:Matthew See also:Arnold's poem " St Brandan " gives See also:fine expression to the old story that, on See also:account of an See also:act of charity done to a leper at See also:Joppa, Judas was allowed an See also:hour's See also:respite from See also:hell once a See also:year. (G.M1.) JUDAS-See also:TREE, the Cercis siliquastrum of botanists, belonging to the See also:section Caesalpineae of the natural See also:order See also:Leguminosae. It is a native of the See also:south of See also:France, See also:Spain, See also:Portugal, See also:Italy, See also:Greece and See also:Asia See also:Minor, and forms a handsome See also:low tree with a See also:flat spreading See also:head. In See also:Spring it is covered with a profusion of purplish-See also:pink See also:flowers, which appear before the leaves. The flowers have an agreeable See also:acid See also:taste, and are eaten mixed with See also:salad or made into fritters. The tree was frequently figured by the older herbalists. One woodcut by See also:Castor See also:Durante has the figure of Judas Iscariot suspended from one of the branches, illustrating the popular tradition regarding this tree. A second See also:species, C. canadensis, is common in See also:North See also:America from See also:Canada to See also:Alabama and eastern See also:Texas, and differs from the See also:European species in its smaller See also:size and pointed leaves. The flowers are also used in salads and for making pickles, while the branches are used to dye See also:wool a See also:nankeen See also:colour.

End of Article: JUDAS ISCARIOT ('IouSas 'Ioicaptd rrts or 'Ivuapu',O)

Additional information and Comments

In the recent discovery of apocryphic gospel of Judas,this man is an honest apostle who just obeyed the order of his master to deliver him to be crucified.This makes anyone wonders if the whole story is just a rewritten view of Egyptian myth of Osiris and Set,taking into consideration that Judas gospel is found in Egypt and written in coptic?
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JUDD, SYLVESTER (1813–1853)

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