What happened to Judas after the death of Jesus?

Answer 1

A:

There are two diammetrically opposed narratives in the New Testament as to what happened to Judas after the death of Jesus.

Matthew 27:3-5 says that Judas repented of what he had done and took the thirty pieces of silver back to the Temple and cast them down at the priests. He then went away and hanged himself. We do not know where this took place - it could have been from a beam in the house where he lived, or it could have been from a tree outside Jerusalem.

In Acts of the Apostles, at Acts 1:19, Judas was no doubt pleased to be suddenly rich, and purchased a field with the money he had received. Unfortunately for him, he fell down and died, his bowels gushing out. This misadventure was in the field he bought, as it was for this reason then called the field of blood, but we simply do not know where it was.

Some have attempted to harmonise the two accounts, seeking to avoid contradictions in The Bible, but these attempts have so far been unsuccessful. We are left with two very different explanations of what Judas did with the money, and two ways in which he died, in two different locations, neither of which we can identify.

Answer:

Since Jesus tells us that the Word of God "...is Truth..." [John 17:17]... then, BOTH of these accounts are what happened to Judas:

He bought the "field" with the money the religious leaders paid him to ID Christ. And it was in this field where he later hanged himself [no doubt from a tree growing there] when he realized the deadly extent to which his betrayal had gone against his friend, Jesus. The more gory account of Acts 1:18-19 merely tells us that Judas' body went undiscovered until after he had been hanging from the tree awhile.

A human body left unattended after death "bloats" and swells up like a balloon with internal gases and pressure [and 'dead weight']. The skin stretches beyond its limits to the "breaking point." Which means that "something has to give," sooner or later. The sheer weight of his body on the rope in the course of this decomposition would have eventually snapped the weaker bones of the neck... whereby, as the Acts account tells us: "...falling there, he burst open, spilling out his intestines." (Acts 1:18 NLT New Living Translation)

The two accounts aren't "opposed" to each other... they are merely two different details and "perspectives" of the same account.

Answer:

The sequential steps of Judas are as follows:-

• Judas betrayed Jesus [Matthew 26:14-16]
• Jesus arrested [Matthew 26:50]
• Jesus found guilty [Matthew 26:66]
• Judas returned 30 pieces of silver to Pharisees. [Matthew 27:5(a) ]
• Jesus crucified [Matthew 27:35]
• Judas went and hanged himself [Matthew 27:5(b) ]
• Judas' bowels gushed out. [Acts 1:18]
• Priest's used Judas's money (which he had returned to them) to buy potter's field (aka field of blood) [Matthew 27:7-8]

Judas committed suicide after the death of Jesus.