When Peter rose to speak to all of the brethren that were present, he told of Judas’ betrayal, having been numbered as one of them in this ministry. The purchase of the field that Peter referred to was done by the Sanhedrin after Judas had given the money back that he had been paid for showing them the way to find and arrest Jesus.
Judas Iscariot (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Rather than mentioning Judas having hanged himself, Peter allowed that he “burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out” (although he did not say that he was alive before that happened). Of course, these two accounts are the source of finger-pointing by skeptics who say this is a contradiction. We will not spend a lot of time on this because there are plenty of other resources that do a better job of explaining this, such as this article at Apologetics Press. We find the likelihood that Judas’ body was highly decomposed, causing Peter’s rather graphically described end, a likely scenario. It is especially so when one considers that he hanged himself at the time of Passover (we do not know where for certain – probably far from where anyone would find him readily). Touching a dead body at any time would make one ceremonially unclean for seven days after purification. That would certainly be undesirable during the Passover feast.
Peter speaks of the fate of Judas in terms of fulfilling prophecy (Psalm 69:25 and Psalm 109:8). The latter, “may another take his office,” means that they must now choose someone to replace Judas. The choice was made by much praying and casting lots. The one they chose was Matthias. We never hear much about him after that, which leads some to speculate that they appointed him in error, and that Paul was really the Lord’s choice for replacement. We should be satisfied instead with the prophecy spoken of here. What became of Matthias was not important to the gospel, so we do not know. We do know that Paul was chosen by the Lord Himself, and the apostles would decrease in number again soon enough – beginning with James in Acts 12.
(This year’s reading plan for Luke, Acts, and 1 and 2 Chronicles averages just 15 verses per day – 5 days per week!)
Schedule for this week
Read or listen to audio of today’s selection from Acts here
Read or listen to audio of today’s selection from 2 Chronicles here
/Bob’s boy
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some images © V. Gilbert & Arlisle F. Beers
All of my comments in this blog, however, are solely my responsibility. When reading ANY commentary, you should ALWAYS refer first to the scripture, which is God’s unchanging and unfailing word. Reading schedules, as well as a link to the site where you can get the reading plan that I’m currently following for yourself can be found on the “Bible Reading Schedules” page of my website at http://graceofourlord.com.
Bob's boy's Christianity blog 
Even if you think that the accounts of Judas’ death can be squared with each other, bear in mind that Matthew says that Judas was seized with remorse and returned the 30 pieces of silver, whereas in Acts he buys a field with it. Still, I’m sure there’s some brilliant explanation available as to why this is not a contradiction.
Thank you for your comment. I’m not sure about brilliant, but yes, I can come up with some explanations on the subject of the “Field of Blood” that satisfy me at least. And I would be happy to engage in such a conversation if it were in the context of being beneficial to someone’s salvation. As for myself, I do not trouble myself with such alleged contradictions as much as I used to. 99% of them have already been more than adequately addressed by others. I am satisfied with my own personal opinion that it is just not possible to truly read and truly study the Bible from beginning to end with an open heart and and open mind, and come away without the conviction that it is God’s word. Take away the open heart – different story, I’m afraid.
Best to you and yours,
Bob’s boy