Albert Barnes Commentary Matthew 27:4

"saying, I have sinned in that I betrayed innocent blood. But they said, What is that to us? see thou [to it]." — Matthew 27:4 (ASV)

I have sinned, I have been guilty. I have done wrong.

In that I have betrayed the innocent blood. This means betraying an innocent person to death. Blood is used here for life, or for the person. The meaning is that he knew and felt that Jesus was innocent.

This confession is a remarkable proof that Jesus was innocent. Judas had been with him for three years; he had seen him in public and private, heard his public teaching and his private views, and observed him in all circumstances. If Jesus had done anything evil, or promoted anything against the Roman emperor, Judas was competent to testify to it.

Had he known any such thing, he would have stated it. He would have come forward to vindicate himself. His testimony, as a disciple of Jesus, would have been far more valuable to the chief priests than that of any other man. He might not only have escaped the horrors of a troubled conscience and an awful death but could also have looked for an ample reward.

The fact that he did not make such a charge—that he fully and frankly confessed that Jesus was innocent, and that he gave up the ill-gotten price of treason—is complete proof that, in Judas’s belief, the Saviour was free from crime, and even from the suspicion of crime.

What is that to us? This way of speaking indicated that they had nothing to do with his remorse of conscience or his belief that Jesus was innocent. They had secured what they wanted—the person of Jesus—and now cared little for the traitor’s feelings.

So it is with all wicked men who use others to accomplish their crimes or gratify their passions: they will care little for the effect on the instrument. They will soon cast him off and despise him. In thousands of instances, these instruments of villainy and the panders to the pleasures of others are abandoned to remorse, wretchedness, crime, and death.