Judas Iscariot Death Passage?

Question

I read in Matthew chapter 27 about the death of Judas by suicide/hanging. However, I remember that somewhere in the other gospels there was a passage where he fell and "split open." I have not been able to find this passage in the New Testament Bible detailing the alternate scenario of the death of Judas Iscariot. Any ideas about its location?

Answer 1

Judas hung himself, and after a while, he fell and split open (coz that's what a rotted body does when it hits the ground).

"MAT 27:5-8 Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself. But the chief priests took the silver pieces and said, "It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, because they are the price of blood." And they consulted together and bought with them the potter's field, to bury strangers in. Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day.

First of all, notice that the text does not say that Judas died as a result of hanging. All it says is that he "went and hanged himself." Luke however, in Acts, tells us that "and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his entrails gushed out." This is a pretty clear indication (along with the other details given in Acts - Peter's speech, the need to pick a new apostle, etc.) that at least after Judas' fall, he was dead. So the whole concept that Matthew and Luke both recount Judas' death is highly probable, but not clear cut. Therefore, if I were to take a radical exegetical approach here, I could invalidate your alleged contradiction that there are two different accounts of how Judas died."

In addition the Greek word APAGCHO used to describe Judas's hanging of himself was only used one other time in the Bible, "it's only used in 2 Samuel 17:23 : "Now when Ahithophel saw that his advice was not followed, he saddled a donkey, and arose and went home to his house, to his city. Then he put his household in order, and hanged himself, and died; and he was buried in his father's tomb." Notice that not only is it stated that Ahithophel "hanged himself" ... but it explicitly adds, "and died". Here we have no doubt of the result. In Matthew, we are not explicitly told Judas died. Also, there is nothing in the Greek to suggest success or failure. It simply means "hang oneself."

Answer 2

In the New Testament, Judas is said to have died by hanging himself in the Gospel of Matthew, Matthew 27:3-10, and by bursting open after a fall in the Book of Acts, Acts 1:16-19). The Gospel of Judas does not agree with the account, but claims rather that Judas was stoned to death by the remaining eleven disciples.

Answer 3

The Matthew 27 account of Judas' suicide by hanging, is augmented by the passage you seek in Acts 1:16-19.
Other incidents of suicide by hanging are mentioned in the Old Testament, and they say "so & so hanged himself, and he died." Matthew, being a Jew, would have followed the Old Testament (Jewish) habit of making mention of Judas' death, were it so.

What we might conclude is not the discrepancy, but a fuller picture of events surrounding Judas' demise. Quite possibly, Judas' suicide attempt did not kill him, or even more likely, some of Jesus' more zealous followers found him on a rope and stoned him to death, according to The Law.

Presumed inconsistencies in the Bible are often resolved by combining what seems on the surface to be two conflicting accounts.

Though the passages leave some questions about "how" Judas died, the focus the scriptures is always Jesus.

Answer 4

You will find that passage in Acts chapter 1.

All four of the gospels end at the resurrection of Jesus. The book of Acts continues beyond that giving the ascension of Jesus to heaven and the history of the apostles (mainly Peter and Paul) beyond that.

All of the gospels end with Judas' death by hanging. Acts continues on to tell us that after he hung himself and had been "hanging" there for a time, his body fell from the branch and burst open. (Which would only happen if it was begin to decay - so it appears his suicide was not immediatley discovered).

Before his death, Judas had returned the money he was paid to betray Jesus to the Pharisees. Because it was "blood money", they were unable to return it to the group's treasury. So instead, they took the money and purchased the field in Judas' name in which his body had been found, and converted it into a cemetary for the poor. Judas was the first one buried there.

Because his falling, bursting, and being buried was several days after the end of the gospels, it is not mentioned there.

Answer 5

Here's the deal regarding the "two" items about Judas' death.

He hung himself over a cliff (or at least the side of a hill). When the rope was cut, he fell onto rocks and his bloated body (which happens to people who are hung) split open and his intestines were spilled out.

Answer 6

Act 1:18-19 Indeed, then, this one purchased a field with the reward of unrighteousness. And falling headlong, he burst apart in the middle, and all his bowels gushed out. And it was known to all the dwellers at Jerusalem, so much so that that field is called in their own dialect, Akeldama, that is to say, Field of Blood.

Answer 7

It's in Acts. Apparently, what happened is either while hanging, or during the hanging, the rope broke. Falling onto sharp rocks would tear a person open, wouldn't it.