We took sweet counsel together,.... Not in religious matters; for in these the testimonies of the Lord were David's counsellors, Ps 119:24; but in civil things: hearty counsel is one branch of friendship, and which greatly sweetens it, Pr 27:9; as this may be applied to Christ and Judas, it may denote the mutual delight and pleasure they had, the one in communicating, the other in receiving a notional knowledge of the Gospel, and the mysteries of it, which are the counsel of God, Ac 20:27; for if hearers may hear the word gladly, as Herod did, and receive it with joy, as did the stony ground hearers, and yet be destitute of the grace of God; why may not Judas, and other preachers devoid of true grace, be thought to receive and preach the doctrines of the Gospel in a speculative way, with some kind of delight and pleasure?
so professors of religion take sweet counsel together, when they communicate to each other what light and knowledge they have in the mysteries of the Gospel, and converse about experience, and the mysteries and secrets of internal godliness, and give and take advice in spiritual things; and sad it is when anyone of these drop their profession, and reproachers, scoffers, or persecutors;[and] walked unto the house of God in company: David with his royal family and courtiers, and Ahithophel among the rest; where he delighted to go, and that with a multitude.
So Christ and Judas often went to the temple together, with the rest of the disciples, who heard many an excellent sermon from his mouth: all which are further aggravations of sin and guilt.