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“Blood Money”
Categories: NEW TESTAMENTHelp me try to harmonize these Scriptures (Matt 27: 3-8 and Acts 1: 18-19) about Judas when one says that he purchased a field, and the other says he left the money.Sincerely,
Questioning Accounts
Dear Questioning Accounts,
Matt 27:3-8 and Acts 1:18-19 are two sides to the same story. Matt 27:3-8 says that Judas threw the thirty pieces of silver back at the chief priests and elders. The chief priests said that they couldn’t put the money back into the temple treasury because it was “blood money” (Matt 27:6), so they instead used the money to purchase the potter’s field (Matt 27:7). In the Acts account, we see that they purchased the field using Judas’ silver, and they purchased it in Judas’ name (Acts 1:18). That particular field was purchased because it was the one that Judas had hung himself in. The field became synonymous with blood money and death because of the grisly details surrounding its purchase and Judas’ demise (Acts 1:19).
