Acts 1:18

Syriac Peshitta (NT Only)

ܗܳܢܰܘ ܕ݁ܰܩܢܳܐ ܠܶܗ ܩܪܺܝܬ݂ܳܐ ܡܶܢ ܐܰܓ݂ܪܳܐ ܕ݁ܰܚܛܺܝܬ݂ܳܐ ܘܰܢܦ݂ܰܠ ܥܰܠ ܐܰܦ݁ܰܘܗ݈ܝ ܥܰܠ ܐܰܪܥܳܐ ܘܶܐܬ݂ܦ݁ܪܶܬ݂ ܡܶܢ ܡܨܰܥܬ݂ܶܗ ܘܶܐܬ݂ܶܐܫܶܕ݂ ܟ݁ܽܠܶܗ ܓ݁ܘܳܝܶܗ ܀

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

this: Matthew 27:3-10

with: Numbers 22:7, Numbers 22:17, Joshua 7:21-26, 2 Kings 5:20-27, Job 20:12-15, Matthew 25:15, 2 Peter 2:15, 2 Peter 2:16

and falling: Psalms 55:15, Psalms 55:23, Matthew 27:5

Reciprocal: Exodus 32:35 - General Deuteronomy 27:25 - General 2 Samuel 18:18 - Absalom's place 2 Samuel 20:10 - and shed 1 Chronicles 10:4 - Saul took 2 Chronicles 21:15 - thy bowels fall Psalms 70:3 - back Psalms 109:18 - so let Proverbs 29:1 - General Zechariah 11:13 - Cast Matthew 18:7 - but Matthew 26:15 - thirty Luke 9:25 - what Luke 14:30 - General Luke 16:15 - God Luke 22:5 - and covenanted Acts 8:20 - Thy

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Now this man purchased a field,.... This verse, with the following, seem to be the words of Luke the historian, which should be read in a parenthesis; for there was no need to have acquainted the disciples with the manner of Judas's death, which was so well known to all the inhabitants of Jerusalem; nor would Jerusalem, and the inhabitants of it, be mentioned with that propriety by Peter, when he, and those he spoke of, were upon the spot; nor could there be any necessity of his explaining a word in their own tongue, which they understood, and that in a language unknown unto them; nor does it seem likely, that in so short a time as five or six weeks, the field should have obtained the name of "Aceldama", and be commonly known by it. The Ethiopic version calls this field, "a vineyard"; and so it might be, and yet the potter's field too. It is somewhat difficult, that Judas should be said to purchase it, when Matthew says the chief priests bought it, Matthew 27:7. Both are true; Judas having received his money of the chief priests two days ago, might not only intend to purchase, but might really strike a bargain with the potter for his field; but repenting of his sin, instead of carrying the money to make good the agreement, went and threw it to the chief priests, and then hanged himself; when they, by a secret providence, might be directed to make a purchase of the same field with his money; or he may be said to purchase it, because it was purchased with his money. The Vulgate Latin, and Arabic versions render it, "he possessed" it; not in person, unless he was buried there, as he might be; and so all that he got by his wretched bargain, was only so much ground as to be buried in; or the sense may be, "he caused it to be possessed"; by returning the money which the chief priests used this way;

with the reward of his iniquity; that is, with the thirty pieces of silver, given him as a reward for that vile action of his betraying of his Lord and master: so the reward of divination, or what Balsam got by soothsaying, which was an iniquitous and wicked practice, is called, "the wages of unrighteousness", 2 Peter 2:15

and falling headlong he burst in the midst; either falling from the gallows, or tree on which he hanged himself, the rope breaking, upon a stone, or stump, his belly was broke, and burst; or falling from the air, whither he was violently snatched up by Satan, who was in him, and by whom he was thrown down to the earth, and who went out of him by a rupture made in his belly; or being in deep melancholy, he was strangled with the squinancy, and fell down on his face to the ground, as the Syriac, Arabic, and Ethiopic versions render it,

and burst asunder: and all his bowels gushed out; through the rupture that was made. So we read of a man that fell from the roof of a house, פקעיה כרסיה ונפיק מעייניה, "and his belly burst, and his bowels came out" l. And this was the miserable end of Judas. The death of Arius, as related by Athanasius m, from Macarius the presbyter, who was present, was much after the same manner; who reports, that having swore to the orthodox faith, and being about to be introduced into the church at Constantinople, after the prayer of Alexander, the bishop of it, he went out to the seat, to ease nature; when he, on a sudden, fell down headlong, and burst in the middle, and immediately expired: and Epiphanius n compares his exit with this of Judas, who observes, that he went out in the night to the vault, as before related, and burst asunder, as Judas of old did; and came to his end in a filthy and unclean place. Ruffinus says o, that as he sat, his entrails, and all his bowels, came from him into the vault; and so he died in such a place, a death worthy of his blasphemous and corrupt mind. As to the seeming difference between the Evangelist Matthew and the Apostle Peter, it may be reconciled by either of the ways before mentioned;

2 Peter 2:15- : though it seems most likely, that Judas not being able to bear the torments of his mind, he hanged himself, as Achitophel did, and was not strangled by the devil, or by any disease; and that he fell down from the tree on which he hung, either the rope breaking, or the tree falling; and so the things happened to him which are recorded: or he might fall from hence, either through a violent strong wind which blew him down; or through the rushing of wild beasts against the gallows, on which he hung; or by the devil himself, who might throw him down from hence after he had dispatched himself, as some have conjectured: or, which seems best of all, he might be cast down from hence by men, either of themselves, or by the order of the civil magistrates, not enduring such a sight, that one that had destroyed himself should hang long there; and which, according to the law, was not to be admitted; and these not taking him down, in a gentle manner, but using some violence, or cutting the rope, the body fell, and burst asunder, as is here said: and it should be observed, that the Evangelist Matthew speaks of the death of Judas, in which he himself was concerned; and the Apostle Peter reports what befell his carcass after his death, and in which others were concerned. The Vulgate Latin renders it, and being hanged, he burst in the middle; as if this happened to him upon the gallows, without falling.

l T. Bab. Cholin, fol. 56. 2. m Epist. ad. Scrapion, Vol. I. p. 523. n Contra Haeres. l. 2. Haeres. 68. o L. 1. c. 13.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Now this man ... - The money which was given for betraying the Lord Jesus was thrown down in the temple, and the field was purchased with it by the Jewish priests. See Matthew 27:5, Matthew 27:10, and the notes on that place. A man is said often to do a thing when he furnishes means for doing it. Compare Matthew 27:60, “And laid it (the body of Jesus) in his own new tomb, which he had hewn out in the rock.” That is, had caused to be hewn out. John 4:1, “when, therefore, the Lord knew how the Pharisees had heard that Jesus “made and baptized” more disciples than John.” Through his disciples, for Jesus himself baptized not, John 4:2. The same principle is recognized in law in the well-known maxim, “Qui facit per alium, facit per se.”

The reward of iniquity - The price which he had for that deed of stupendous wickedness - the betraying of the Lord Jesus.

And falling headlong - The word here rendered “headlong” - πρηνής prēnēs (Latin “pronus,” whence our English word “prone”) - means properly “bent forward, head-foremost”; and the idea is, that his position in hanging himself was such that when the cord broke he fell headlong, or fell forward on his face. This can easily be supposed if he threw himself from a rock or elevated place. He first hanged himself, and then fell and was burst asunder. See the notes on Matthew 27:5.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Acts 1:18. Purchased a field with the reward of iniquity — Probably Judas did not purchase the field himself, but the money for which he sold his Lord was thus applied, see Matthew 27:6-8. It is possible, however, that he might have designed to purchase a field or piece of ground with this reward of his iniquity, and might have been in treaty far it, though he did not close the bargain, as his bringing the money to the treasury proves: the priests, knowing his intentions, might have completed the purchase, and, as Judas was now dead, applied the field thus bought for the burial of strangers, i.e. Jews from foreign parts, or others who, visiting Jerusalem, had died there. Though this case is possible, yet the passage will bear a very consistent interpretation without the assistant of this conjecture; for, in ordinary conversation, we often attribute to a man what is the consequence of his own actions, though such consequence was never designed nor wished for by himself: thus we say of a man embarking in a hazardous enterprise, he is gone to seek his death; of one whose conduct has been ruinous to his reputation, he has disgraced himself; of another who has suffered much in consequence of his crimes, he has purchased repentance at a high price, c., &c. All these, though undesigned, were consequences of certain acts, as the buying of the yield was the consequence of Judas's treason.

And falling headlong, he burst asunder — It is very likely that the 18th and 19th verses Acts 1:18 Acts 1:19 are not the words of Peter, but of the historian, St. Luke, and should be read in a parenthesis, and then the 17th and 20th verses Acts 1:17; Acts 1:20 will make a connected sense. (ln the case of Judas, and the manner of his death, see the observations at the end of this chapter. Acts 1:26; Acts 1:26.