Judas had betrayed Judas. He had received 30 pieces of silver from the chief priests and elders for it. He had made his choice and when he had carried it out he knew he had sinned, and betrayed innocent blood. Mathew 27:3. And the sad part of it was that it did not bring him to repentance.
The money now meant nothing to him nor did his own life. Mathew 27:5 says that he threw the money into the temple, and went away and hanged himself.
But did he really? As with any event in life, you take a group of people that experience the same thing, and in seeing exactly the same events unfold, can sometimes see it from different perspectives. Or was there other parts that were left out in some of the scripture for some reason or another?
There are 2 accounts of what happened to Judas. In Mathew 27:5-7, it says simply that Judas threw the money into the temple and went away to hang himself. The chief priests could not return the money to the treasury, because according to their law, it was blood money. And so they used it to buy a potters field in which to bury foreigners.
However, in Acts 1:18, he used the money to purchase a field and he threw himself into it and his body burst open.
And who bought the field? Judas or the chief priests?
Which account is correct? Could it be that perhaps some of each story is correct?
How it could have been is this, according to what I have found:
Mathews account says simply that Judas did hang himself. And that the chief priests purchased the potter's field with the blood money that Judas returned. However, In Lukes account in Acts 1: his fell headlong into the field which he purchased.
It could be that after he had hung himself, his decaying body could have broken the branch of the tree he was hanging from and he fell into the field causing his body to rupture. Acts 1:18-19. Note that Luke does not say that he died from the fall, only that his body fell.
How about the potter's field? Who really did purchase it?
Maybe Judas had begun buying it leading up to the days or weeks before his betrayal of Jesus Maybe, the transaction had not been completed and no money was yet paid for it. Maybe, he would have used that money to pay for the field. (my own thoughts) Maybe, once he had died, the chief priests completed his transaction of the field in his name.
Why could the accounts be so different? Maybe, Mathew's focus was more on his death, whiles Luke's was more on the horror of it. Maybe, maybe, maybe...on this side of heaven,k we will never know. But the way he died and that of who owned the field, is not what is important, though some skeptics would probably put their focus on that. (my thoughts)
The fact that this was predicted in the Old Testament was. Zechariah 11:12-13. And fulfilled when Judas betrayed Jesus Christ. It had to happen the way it did, to make the way of for the crucifixion of Christ. And the rest is biblical history. Why? Because that was the way that God ordained from the beginning to save the world from our sin.
What we learn from it is that there are evil people in the world. They are out to destroy our belief in Christ and our testimonies. These are people that are going to hell because they are unrepentant for their sin. They do not believe they need a Savior, or some don't believe he even exists. Even though the devil had thought he had won when Jesus was crucified and buried, in reality, he had not. The whole thing was a lie made up by an enemy to turn people away from the truth. In the end, Jesus had power over death and it is his only because of his shed blood that we have the promise of heaven. And one day, satan will be cast into the lake of fire and will no longer have dominion over the earth or anything or anyone in it. Those of us that have confessed our sins and accepted him into our lives, will reign with him m forever. How awesome a day that will be!
Today's sources: Scripture, How did Judas die?, and Was Judas Iscariot forgiven / saved?
Thank you for your patience today while I have been trying to get this study finished and completed. I have to tell you that these last two days on this particular disciple, have been a real problem. Especially today. I have felt like it has been a real spiritual opposition from the devil to try to get me discouraged enough to give up on it. I am truly thankful to God that if I have learned anything over my 60 plus years, it has been to learn patience. That is the reason that I have not given up on it which only comes from God. I am not sure what exactly I will be writing on in tomorrows blog. I know there was one other thing about the disciples and how Mary applied to the subject, so that may be it. In the meantime friends, please have a blessed day and I hope you will be back again.
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