So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he
went away and hanged himself. Matthew 27:5
(With the
payment he received for his wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell
headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out. Everyone in
Jerusalem heard about this, so they called that field in their language
Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.) Acts 1:18-19
Contradiction
means two passages give completely different accounts: for example if one said
Judas hung himself and the other said he was murdered by a mob. That’s a contradiction.
The
two passages explain different time frames in Judas’ death. They don’t contradict each other. Judas hung himself in a field he bought with
the money he earned betraying Jesus.
When his body was discovered, a CSI investigator may conclude:
1. He struggled while choking and fell to the ground
when the rope snapped. OR…
2. Nobody touched his body for weeks, leaving it on the
rope. Over time, gravity and decay, his
body fell from the rope, hit the ground and split open.
Either way, it was a
gruesome, prolonged death. The Bible
doesn’t contradict Judas’ death.