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S. Michael Houdmann
Supporter
Matthew 27:5-8 says, "So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself. The chief priests picked up the coins and said, 'It is against the law to put this int...
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Mike Dumais
There are at least 15 references translated as "hanging" in the Bible, and usually refer more to the death display / act among several actual methods. The term "hung" is known today as hanging by rope, with said rope tied around the neck and the person suspended by the rope. Jesus was "hung" on the cross. (Crucified). 2 Samuel 17:23 (Ahithophel hung himself with a rope or thong) Now when Ahithophel saw that his counsel was not followed, he saddled his donkey and arose and went to his home, to his city, and set his house in order, and strangled himself; thus he died and was buried in the grave of his father. Esther 7:10 (Haman was impaled on a 70' pole) So they hanged Haman on the gallows which he had prepared for Mordecai, and the king's anger subsided. Ezra 6:11 (here translated as impaled) And I issued a decree that any man who violates this edict, a timber shall be drawn from his house and he shall be impaled on it and his house shall be made a refuse heap on account of this. The most logical interpretation is that Judas impaled himself, in a somewhat public place.
Jack Gutknecht
The NIVSB says about Luke's statement in Acts 1:18 ("fell headlong") that Mt 27:5 reports that Judas hanged himself. It seems that when the body finally fell, either because of decay or because someone cut it down, it was in a decomposed condition and so broke open in the midde.
This info supplements, but by no means contradicts, Mt 27:5.
The 2 accounts could provide different aspects of the same episode: Judas hung himself, and his body fell and burst open on the ground.
John Appelt
Both the character and death of Judas has been distorted. However, William Arthur Darby published in his 1846 book, ‘Judas Iscariot, the Argument in His Case, on Scripture Evidence,’ which argued for a different perspective on Judas with a section about his death. The following is based on it: The typical scenario is that Judas went to a hill and hanged himself. When he did, the rope broke and he fell down the precipice. The fall caused his bowels burst and the bowels to gush out. But the passages of Matthew 27:3-5 and Acts 1:15-26 reveal a different account. The fact is he did not commit suicide, or even botch the suicide so that his intestines spilled out. No precipice or breaking rope is even in the account. The Greek word ‘apegxato,’ only found here in the New Testament in Matthew 27:5, is for some reason translated ‘hanged himself.’ But ‘hanging’ is ‘kremao.’ Certainly Peter would have mentioned the hanging in Acts 1:18 but he does not. The Septuagint (LXX), the Greek translation of the Old Testament, has a form of ‘kremao’ for the hanging of Haman and the curse of hanging in Deuteronomy 21:22, 23. According to older commentators ‘apegxato’ has the sense of suffocating perhaps with grief or anguish as in ‘choked with grief.’ When it says Judas fell ‘headlong’ it uses ‘prenes’ which is used by ancient Greek authors for ‘on his face’ or ‘prone’ as in worship or paying homage. Judas did not go down head first but fell down on his face. Judas suffered the ultimate anguish. The nature of the bowels bursting was not likely from a fall, much less falling headlong. But, if Judas was choked with grief and truly sorrowful, the bursting could have been from the intense grief he felt. In his commentary on Acts 1, Adam Clarke, mentioned this has happened to other people whether through grief or some great emotional stress. Putting this all together according to the Scriptures, Judas was so remorseful in betraying Jesus that he brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders. When they callously rejected it, Judas threw down the silver pieces in the temple and went out. Choked with grief, he fell prostrate on his face. While agonizing, his intestines burst and entrails gushed out.
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