OK, thank you, I found it.
Quoted from PG-13’s link (just changed the formating to make it easier to read):
1. Apparent Contradiction Due to Lack of Understanding of the Culture
Matthew 27:5 says, [Judas] went away and hanged himself. Acts 1:18 says, and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his bowels gushed out.
An apparent contradiction, but not an actual one. There are at least two possible explanations:
1) A natural explanation: Judas hanged himself over a cliff and the branch to which the rope was tied, or the rope itself, broke.
2) A cultural explanation, as quoted from Dr. Arnold Fruchtenbaum's Messianic Christology, Appendix 8, "The Death of Judas Iscariot," pp. 153-154: "Judas committed suicide [by hanging, NM] at the end of the first night of Passover, before the first day of Passover [the Jewish day begins and ends at sundown, NM] when the morning Passover sacrifice would be offered . . . . According to Jewish law, if there was a dead body in Jerusalem, then the city was to be considered defiled and the morning sacrifice could not be offered. However, Jewish law goes on to say that if the corpse is taken and cast into the Valley of Hinnom . . . then the city is cleansed and the Passover can be offered up . . . . When Judas hanged himself within the walls of Jerusalem, he caused the city to become defiled, thus preventing the morning sacrifice from proceeding . . . . Judas' body would have been taken and thrown over the wall into the Valley of Hinnom, thereby cleansing the city. The fall of Judas' body is what is being described in Acts 1:18."
That is the “tenable chronology”? Please take a look at the complete verses:
Acts 1:18
18 (With the payment he received for his wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out.
Matthew 27:5-7
5 So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself.
6 The chief priests picked up the coins and said, “It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money.” 7 So they decided to use the money to buy the potter’s field as a burial place for foreigners.
1. Where does that cliff came from? In Acts he falls headlong at the field he bought. In Matthew he just “goes away and hangs himself”. Isn’t it a sin to add to scripture? I remember a verse from Revelation about it.
I could understand that the author of Matthew wouldn’t add the rope breaking and bursting open, as the cause of death is more important. But what excuse has the author of Acts? Did he just forget to add the fact that Judas hanged himself before falling down?
2 In Acts he buys the field, and within the same sentence he falls and burst open. And you (or rather Mr. Fruchtenbaum) expect us to believe that in the space of that semi-colon Judas hanged himself, was taken down, transported to the Valley of Hinnom and thrown down (not fell). Also note the use of “there he fell”, referring to the field.
And neither the author of Acts or Matthew bothered to write that up?
And even if one would accept one of these explanations, who bought the field? Did Judas buy it (like in Acts) or did the priests buy it (like in Matthew)?
