Zechariah 11:13

The Lord instructed Zechariah to throw the 30 shekels of silver to the potter since it was, ironically, such a handsome price. His service had been worth far more than that. So Zechariah threw the 30 shekels of silver to the potter in the temple. Evidently the setting of Zechariah’s visionary allegory was the temple courtyard. Throwing something to the potter was evidently a proverbial way of expressing disdain for it since potters were typically poor and lowly craftsmen. [Note: Unger, p. 200; Leupold, p. 217.]

"The fulfillment of this prophecy in Matthew 27:3-10 is proof enough that the money was flung down in the temple and immediately taken up by the priests to purchase a field of a potter for a burying ground for the poor." [Note: Unger, p. 200. ]

Matthew attributed this prophecy to Jeremiah (Matthew 27:9-10). Probably Matthew was referring to Jeremiah 32:6-9, which he condensed using mainly the phraseology of Zechariah 11:12-13 because of its similarity to Judas’ situation. Joining (conflating) two quotations from two Old Testament books and assigning them to one prophet follows the custom of mentioning only the more notable prophet. Compare Mark 1:2-3, in which Isaiah 40:3 and Malachi 3:1 are quoted but are assigned to Isaiah. [Note: For further discussion, see Hobart E. Freeman, An Introduction to the Old Testament Prophets, pp. 340-42.]

"Like the earlier prophecy of the King (ix. 9), the prophecy of the Shepherd is remarkable for its literal fulfillment. The ’thirty pieces of silver’ were literally the ’goodly price’ paid for Him, ’whom they of the children of Israel did value.’ ’The potter’ was literally the recipient of it, as the purchase money of his exhausted field for an unclean purpose (Matt. xxvii. 5-10)." [Note: Perowne, p. 127.]