16 “Men and brethren, this Scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke before by the mouth of David concerning Judas, who became a guide to those who arrested Jesus;
17 for he was numbered with us and obtained a part in this ministry.”
18 (Now this man purchased a field with the wages of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his entrails gushed out.
19 And it became known to all those dwelling in Jerusalem; so that field is called in their own language, Akel Dama, that is, Field of Blood.)
20 “For it is written in the Book of Psalms: ‘Let his dwelling place be desolate,
And let no one live in it’; (Psalm 69:25) and, ‘Let another take his office.’ (Psalm 109:8)
1 When morning came, all the chief priests and elders of the people plotted against Jesus to put Him to death.
2 And when they had bound Him, they led Him away and delivered Him to Pontius Pilate the governor. 3 Then Judas, His betrayer, seeing that He had been condemned, was remorseful and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders,
4 saying, “I have sinned by betraying innocent blood.” And they said, “What is that to us? You see to it!”
5 Then he threw down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself.
Teaching: These two passages from Matthew and the Book of Acts show us the death of Judas Iscariot who betrayed our Lord and in remorse hung himself.
There is no discrepancy between the Matthew verses and the Book of Acts verses as these two sets of verses complement one another. Both show the death of Judas who betrayed Yeshua.
Judas hanged himself and would have naturally struggled violently as he began to choke. The branch probably broke through his struggling and he fell down onto the ground where his stomach burst open from the impact of hitting the ground. (The ground around Jerusalem has a lot of rocks and so this could have been a factor in his stomach bursting open when he hit the ground. The verse in Acts tells us Judas fell headlong, so was there a depression that he fell into or sloping ground where his body then rolled? We are given the facts which is more than sufficient for us without doubting. Amen.