John 13:29

Bag. Gr. glossokomon, “money box” (see on ch. 12:6). Judas was the treasurer of the group.

Against the feast. That is, “for the feast.” The disciples had already provided for their own paschal supper, however the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread still lay ahead. Some who seek to establish the day of the regular Passover feast have advanced the argument that it would have been impossible for Judas to purchase provisions on a festival day. This argument is invalid. The Jews permitted purchases of food on that day, provided the transactions were not conducted in the usual fashion. This is made clear in the Mishnah: “One may not whet a knife on a Festival, but one may draw it over another knife [to sharpen it]. A man may not say to a butcher, ‘Weigh me a denar’s worth of meat,’ but he slaughters [the animal] and shares it among them. A man may say [on a Festival] to his neighbour, ‘Fill me this vessel,’ but not in a measure. R. Judah says: If it was a measuring-vessel he may not fill it. It is related of Abba Saul b. Batnith that he uses to fill up his measures on the eve of a Festival and give them to his customers on the Festival. Abba Saul says: He used to do so during the intermediary days of a Festival too, on account of the clearness of measure; but the Sages say: He used also to do so on an ordinary day for the sake of the draining of the measures. A man may go to a shopkeeper whom he generally patronizes and say to him: ‘Give me [so many] eggs and nuts, and stating the number; for this is the way of a householder to reckon in his own home’” (Bezah 3.7, 8, Soncino ed. of the Talmud, pp. 144, 148, 152).

To the poor. The occasion was appropriate for donations to the poor, who might otherwise not be able to provide Passover lambs for the feast.