Hebrew 'Block Logic'

Q." IN MT. 27.9 IT QUOTES A PROPHECY BY ZECHARIAH BUT THE VERSE SAYS JEREMIAH, IS THIS A CONTRADICTION?"
A. No, it is not a contradiction but there is a concept in Hebrew thought that needs to be brought out, and that is the concept of "block logic". Let's explain it by analyzing the verse. In Zechariah 11. 12-13 thereis a prophecy about the 30 pieces of silver and the potter's field. The potter's gate was on the south end of the city. In Jeremiah 7 G-d instructs Jeremiah to stand in the gate of the Temple and prophesy to the people coming into the Temple.

We know this was the south side of the Temple Mount. In Jeremiah 18 G-d tells Jeremiah to go to the potter's gate again to prophesy. Jeremiah 19.1-2 G-d tells him to go to the Valley of the sons of Hinnom near the Potter's gate and Prophesy. In Hebrew this valley is called "gay-hinnom" where we get the term "gehenna" from. This valley is at the south end of the city where the Hinnom swings around to the east, the Tyropean in the middle and the Kidron valley meet. This area is also called "Tophet" in the Scriptures and it was wherre people offered their children to idoloatry. It served as the refuse dump in the first century and was considered the most cursed place on earth. This is also the valley where the judgement in Mt 25 will take place, and it is referred to in Joel 3 and Isa. 66.

Now, Jeremiah prophesies from there and the potter's field was there. Later, Herod added an extension to the Temple complex called the Royal Stoa. This was right over the place Jeremiah prophesied from. On the west end was the Bazaars of Annas and on the other end was a chamber for the Sanhedrin. During the week of Passover, the Sanhedrin did not meet in the Temple, but moved out to theeis area in the Royal Stoa. Yeshua goes into the Bazaars of Annas and throws out the moneychangers and the thieves. Now, it was ok to changes money in the Temple because gentile coins had images on them and they could not be used in the Temple, much like our coins of today. But, high prices were extracted from the people for this service and this was what Yeshua objected to.

The Sanhedrin "heard" what yeshua was doing because it was in the other part of the Stoa, and thus began His final confrontation with the authorities. In Jeremiah 7.11, Jeremiah says that G-d calls them a "den of thieves", which is the exact term Yeshua uses, basically prophesying in the same area. Judas is paid 30 shekels, linking this with Zechariah now, but gives it back. After Judas dies, the money cannot be used in the Temple so a field south of the city, in the area of the Potter's gate and Tophet as referenced in Jeremiah, is bought and called "akeldama" meaning field of blood. Remember, this area is the most cursed place on earth. In 41 A.D. there was an auction and Annas bought this field, and his family used this area for the family burials. The tomb of Annas and Caiaphas have been found there. They said, "Let the curse be on us and our children" and it was and they were buried in the most cursed place on earth, just a few hundred yards from the most holy place on earth (Temple) just north. You see, Annas and Caiaphas didn't care about the prophecies. They didn't believe ,so to them it was a good real estate deal.

The people would be very familiar with Jeremiah 7, 18, 19 and would link it to Zechariah by "remez", which is the 2nd of 4 levels of interpretation which means "alluding to" or "glued to." The people would have seen them in "block logic", beginning in Jeremiah and ending in Zechariah 11. So, it is not a contradiction to say Jeremiah when you look at this verse in "block logic" and that is why Jeremiah is mentioned first. His prophecies with the key words "potter" and "Ben Hinnom", "tophet" were to point to other verses in your mind and link it to Zechariah who also uses "potter" and "30 pieces of silver". Then seeing what the context was in Yeshua's arrest, these terms were linked and seen in block logic.