Acts 1:18

(Now this man obtained a field with the reward of his iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out. And it became known to all the dwellers at Jerusalem; insomuch that in their language that field was called Akeldama, that is, The field of blood.)

These verses, of course, were not spoken by Peter, but by Luke, as proved by "their language" in Acts 1:19. Peter would have said, "our language."

Matthew's account of this incident (Matthew 27:7f) has been alleged to contradict what Luke said here; but, in actuality, the two accounts are in perfect harmony. Judas hanged himself, as Matthew related; but his body also fell, as in Luke. We do not know whether the fall took place as a result of Judas' bungling efforts at suicide, or if his body hung until it fell of natural causes. Tradition says that he fell while in the process of hanging himself. Johnson says:

He probably hanged himself on a tree projecting over the precipices of the Valley of Hinnom, and afterward, on account of the rope or limb breaking, fell headlong with such force as to burst his body open on the jagged rocks. This is the traditional account of his death.[23]

Such alleged "contradictions" as skeptics delight to point out from such variations in the holy gospels are called "pseudocons," which means sham-contradictions, being, in fact, not contradictions at all but variations expected from independent accounts of events in the New Testament.

Another pseudocon based upon this event appears in Matthew's statement that the priests bought the field of blood, whereas in Luke it is stated that Judas "obtained" the field. Judas provided the money, which remained his after his death; and therefore the field properly belonged to Judas, his estate, and his heirs (if any). Certainly, the priests refused to accept the returned money, either for themselves or for the temple treasury. Thus it is exactly true that Judas "obtained" the field. His money bought it. The priests, however, actually did the purchasing, hence the statement that "they" bought the field.

The diligence of those who cavil at the sacred text is apparent in a third pseudocon based on this same transaction. It regards the two reasons given for the name of the field, Akeldema, the reason assigned for this name in Matthew being the fact that the money that bought it was "the price of blood," and the reason in Acts appearing to be derived from the bloody death of Judas. Both reasons are true, either one of them being sufficient to suggest the name. Matthew's mention of one reason does not deny the other, nor does Luke's mention of the other deny the one. For more on this, see my Commentary on Matthew, Matthew 27:10.

The apparent reason for this parenthesis was to show the desolation of Judas' estate, that is, "The field of blood." Peter's speech, which Luke immediately resumed, quoted prophecy with reference to that very desolation.