The Promise (Passion play)
Jesus and His disciples meet in an upper room to celebrate the Passover, and he gives them some of his final teachings, assuring them that His spirit and His peace will always be with them ("Shalom"). Judas leaves the table to betray Jesus to the priests and Pharisees. Jesus predicts that all his disciples will fall away, but Peter insists that he will never leave Jesus. Jesus warns him that before the rooster crows, he will deny Jesus three times. Jesus and the rest of His disciples go into the Garden of Gethsemane to pray ("He Is Jehovah" (reprise)). The disciples fall asleep. Jesus begs God to take away the suffering he will endure, but then asks that God's will be done so that God may be glorified ("Glorify Your Son"§). The disciples awaken as Judas returns with some Roman soldiers. Judas betrays Jesus with a kiss, and the soldiers arrest him and lead him away.
Treason
In William Shakespeare's play "King Lear" (c. 1600), when the King learns that his daughter Regan has publicly dishonoured him, he says "They could not, would not do 't; 'tis worse than murder": a conventional attitude at that time. In Dante Alighieri's "Inferno", the ninth and lowest circle of Hell is reserved for traitors; Judas Iscariot, who betrayed Jesus, suffers the worst torments of all: being constantly gnawed at by one of Lucifer's own three mouths. His treachery is considered so notorious that his name has long been synonymous with "traitor", a fate he shares with Benedict Arnold, Vidkun Quisling, Marcus Junius Brutus (who too is depicted in Dante's "Inferno", suffering the same fate as Judas along with Cassius Longinus). Indeed, the etymology of the word "traitor" originates with Judas' handing over of Jesus to the chief priests, captains of the temple and elders (Luke 22:52): the word is derived from the Latin "traditor" which means "one who delivers."
Christian theology and political thinking until after the Enlightenment considered treason and blasphemy as synonymous, as it challenged both the state and the will of God. Kings were considered chosen by God, and to betray one's country was to do the work of Satan.