question about Judus

[allisonP]

Hello by the way this is my first post

My husband and I were reading last night about him and we read in Mattew that he hung him self and that the preist bought a feild with his silver.

Then in Acts 2 we read that HE bought the feild and fell headlong and his intestines fell out.

They sound contradictory.

Anybody ever study this? and would you mind shareing what you have learned?

Thanks,
Allie

 

[daveleau]

The best description of this that I have heard is that they are two views of the same happening. It describes the death issue at least...
Judas hung himself from a tree and when he was found, he had been in the sun for a while. As his body decomposed, it was bloated. Either the tree limb broke or when he was cut down, his skin burst causing the his intestines to fall out. It is just an instance of two different ways of describing what happened.

Regarding the purchase of the field, Acts 1:18 says that Judas bought the field. Matthew 27:5 says that the money was used by the priests to buy a field for the burial of strangers. I am not sure how this is reconciled.

Here is a discussion of this problem that gives a fair amount of data: http://home.austin.rr.com/selliott4/papers/judas.html

It could be a transcription error from the autographs (original writings) to the copies, as there are many apparent additions and subtractions that are still being corrected in more current translations of Scripture as older versions of Scripture are unearthed.