The way that the Bible writers, Matthew and Luke, recite the conditions surrounding the death of Judas (Jesus’ betrayer), is a classic demonstration of different witnesses relaying different details about the same event.

On the surface, their testimony seems conflicting. Matthew’s (27: 5-8) version says, “And he threw the pieces of silver into the temple sanctuary and departed; and he went away and hanged himself. The chief priests took the pieces of silver and said, ‘It is not lawful to put them into the temple treasury, since it is the price of blood.’ And they conferred together and with the money bought the Potter’s Field as a burial place for strangers. For this reason that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day.”

On the other hand, this is what Luke (Acts 1: 18, 19) says. “With the reward he got 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 Hakeldama, that is, Field of Blood.”

So one account says Judas hung himself and that the priests bought the field. The other report is that Judas fell and that he bought the field. Which is it? My answer is that both are correct.

Because Judas’ body burst open, it makes sense, as Matthew states, that he fell from quite a height; ergo, the hanging. What likely happened is that his body decayed and became bloated. The body weight evidently broke the rope and then he fell. That caused his body to burst open.

If, like Luke, writing in the book of Acts, you assumed that all knew of the hanging, you too probably would feel that it didn’t have to be restated. Only as an aside would you throw in, as he did, that it was the Field of Blood where Judas fell. That he fell from hanging is obvious. That had to be the case because Judas’ body wouldn’t have burst open from having fallen from a standing position.

As for the purchasing of the field, it wasn’t Judas who paid for it, directly. When Luke says that Judas bought the field, he means that it was the money that Judas received that was used to buy the field. The Priests are the ones who actually bought it, using the money that was thrown back at them by Judas.

What makes these accounts classic and not contradictory, is that it happens almost all the time in courtrooms. Those testifying about the same event(s), testify from their differing angles, or viewpoints. The point to draw from this is, though professed differently, the speakers are speaking about the same actual incidents: Judas hung himself and the priests paid for the field.