Judas was no saint. He deliberately betrayed Jesus Christ primarily because of his keen interest in destruction of the Romans.
It is documented that Judas was a member of the Zealot party, and probably expected Jesus to use his miraculous powers to zap the Romans. The etymology of "Iscariot" is in fact related to Sicarii, a sect of the Zealots committed to the violent overthrow of Rome. If Judas was a Sicarius (which may or may not be historically possible), then it's possible that he saw Jesus as the Messiah in the fashion expected by the Zealots: a military leader who would zap the Romans into oblivion. If this scenario was the case, then Judas may well have been trying to force Jesus into a position where he had to reveal himself as the divinely appointed warrior-king who would destroy his enemies.
However, as Jesus' message of peace and forgiveness became more clear to Judas, he probably began to doubt Jesus as the Christ. The Jewish elders, whose egocentric anger was stirred by Christ's selfless teachings, sought His removal from the public forum.
Jesus was arrested, beaten and executed as the result of a conspiracy financed by the Jewish Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin paid Judas to find and arrest Jesus, and thus began Christ's unfortunate persecution.
And as for Judas' supposed betrayal?
Craig Hill, professor of New Testament at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C., would let the villain off history's hook, papyrus or not.
"What Jesus did — raising crowds and civic unrest — would have gotten him killed anywhere in the Roman Empire," Hill said.
Judas was and is under the O.T. judgment of the Jews. And how does one know if Judas did not repent for his actions before his death, such as the thief on the cross that believed, and would see Christ in paradises which some would argue is the non burning side of hell the side that Christ took captive and lead to heaven upon His resurrection. How does one know if Judas was one of them?
People like to vilify Judas and the Jews for the crucifixion of Christ, but my bible says that He laid down His life and that no man no demon no angel and certainly no devil had the power to take it!
Emmet,
I believe your take is as close to the truth as we can get, given the gospel accounts. And as I believe that Judas may have began to doubt the Savior once he realized that Jesus did not come to bring "peace" (hence, destroying his enemies), but a "sword" (hence, furthering the division among the Jews which would certainly thwart the Zealots plans), it was not until after he witnessed the Lord's atoning sacrifice that he realized he actually was the Christ. Once that realization manifested, he could not bear the weight of guilt and pain, resulting in his subsequent suicide.