Through the years, the description of Judas Iscariot’s death has been one of the most popular
alleged Bible contradictions. It seems as if every skeptical book or Web site that questions the
integrity of the Bible lists Judas’ death as one of the most obvious inconsistencies in Scripture.
Whereas Matthew records that Judas “went and hanged himself” after betraying Jesus for 30
pieces of silver, Matthew 27:5 Luke records in the book of Acts that “falling headlong, he burst open
in the middle and all his entrails gushed out.” Acts 1:18 Because Matthew only mentions Judas
being hanged, while Luke mentions Judas falling headlong and bursting open at his midsection,
a real contradiction supposedly is staring us in the face.
The truth of the matter is, however, like the accounts of Jesus’ resurrection and
many other Bible events, these two verses simply supplement each other.
It is not an either/or scenario. Judas, indeed, “hanged himself,” and sometime later,
his body fell headfirst, causing his midsection to burst open.
What would cause his “stomach” or midsection to split open? Well, consider that when a person
dies, the body begins to decompose. If left to itself (with no attempt to preserve the body,
such as with embalming), bacteria soon begin to break down various tissues. As a result,
gases are released within the body, which in turn cause it to swell. (Have you ever seen
dead swollen mammals on the side of the road?) A few years ago, the news media reported how
a 50-ton whale had beached itself on the shores of Taiwan and died.
While on its way to being transported through a Taiwanese city to a particular research center,
the swollen mammal literally exploded and soaked pedestrians and motorists in blood and entrails.
According to one Taiwanese scientist, “Because of the natural decomposing process, a lot of gases
accumulated, and when the pressure build-up was too great, the whale’s belly exploded.”
It certainly is not difficult to imagine that a dead human body, which may have been
swelling for a number of days, could have fallen a short distance (from wherever it was hanging),
and easily burst open once striking the ground. Matthew 27:5 and Acts 1:18 do not legitimately
contradict each other if it is possible for both to be true—and
it certainly is scientifically and logistically possible for both incidents to have occurred.
Consider a brawl in which two men are fighting to the death.
The larger man strikes the undersized man in the throat, crushing his trachea. For nearly 60
seconds, the wounded man stumbles around trying to breathe, but to no avail. He then goes limp,
falls to the ground, and strikes his head on the cement, having died from asphyxia. When the police
come to the scene and ask various witnesses what happened, one person will likely declare,
“James struck John and killed him.” Another person may say, “John appeared to suffocate following a
fight,” while another who was late to the fight might add, “Falling headfirst, John busted his
skull on the ground, causing part of his brain to ooze out onto the concrete.” Are the statements
from the witnesses contradictory? No. They’re supplementary. Likewise, neither of the statements
concerning the death of Judas is contradictory. Simply put, one does not exclude the other.
According to ancient tradition, Judas hanged himself above the Valley of Hinnom on the
edge of a cliff. Eventually the rope snapped (or was cut or untied), thus causing Judas
to fall headfirst into the field below as Luke described. Matthew does not deny that Judas fell
and had his entrails gush out, and Luke does not deny that Judas hanged himself. In short,
Matthew records the method in which Judas attempted his death. Luke reports the end result.