Bible Discussion Thread

Fred,
Matthew 27:3-5 clearly states that Judas hanged himself. But here in Acts 1:18 there seems to be a contradiction. However, when you read both accounts more completely, you will realize they do not contradict each other at all. Matthew states Judas hanged himself and the book of Acts isn’t suggesting that he didn’t. When Luke (the author of Acts) states that Judas fell headlong and burst asunder in the midst, he isn’t stating that’s how Judas died. The consensus among Bible scholars was that Judas split open after falling from the tree or post that he hanged himself from. Perhaps the tree was near a precipice or after he had hanged himself his rotting body eventually fell and burst open where it landed. The Lord only knows. I believe because it was common knowledge that Judas had hanged himself, Luke didn’t feel the need to mention it here in Acts 1:18. Instead he placed emphasis on how his body had burst asunder in this particular field because he was trying to show how this act had fulfilled scripture from the Psalms, not how Judas had died. (See Psalm 69:25, Psalm 109:8) and ( Zechariah 11:12-13)