Were you aware that of the original 12, Judas was probably the only non-Galilean? That should open some windows for you on the interpersonal issues among the apostles.
He's called Judas Iscariot- Judas of Kerioth. Most scholars agree that he was from a small village near the historic site of Hebron south of Jerusalem. That would make him Judean, and of course the Judeans looked down their noses at the country bumpkins of Galilee. But, more than that, Judeans questioned the Jewish heart of Galileans and there's a historic reason for that.
When Ezra and Nehemiah led the captives home to rebuild Jerusalem not everyone made it all the way. Some got into the borders of Israel and said, "This is far enough. There's good land here. This is where we'll remain," and they were not really involved in paying the price of rebuilding Jerusalem. More than that, Herod later on bribed people to move out of Judea to populate the Galilee and so it made Galileans look a bit like Roman collaborators.
Now do you see a bit better why Judas didn't really fit in that group?
You can discover more about these issues in our series:
#970 Apostles: Called to Die #844 Beginning Again #934 Herod
If you sense that you've been missing a lot in your understanding of the Bible we hope you'll use this BTL site often as a good reference for deeper insights.
I'm Don Pate and that's my prayer!
