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Jonathan Lipnick
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How did the Field of Blood get so bloody?

28/1/2014

17 Comments

 
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The New Testament contains two different versions of Judas Iscariot's demise: suicide by hanging (Matthew 27:3-10) and spontaneous gastrointestinal explosion (Acts 1:18-19). Despite the significant differences between these two versions, both associate the death of Judas with a place in Jerusalem called Akeldama, the Field of Blood. Since the fourth century this name has been connected with a plot of land south of the Old City, in the Hinnom Valley. Today it is the site of the Greek Orthodox monastery of St Onuphrius (pictured above), which has occupied the site since 1874. Death hangs heavy in the air here. The whole area in and around the Hinnom Valley (aka Gehenna) is full of burial caves cut into the rock face. Many of these belonged to the aristocracy of Jerusalem in the First and Second Temple periods. The site of Akeldama contains Jewish burial caves from the Hellenistic era and was later used as a charnel house during the Crusader period.
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James Tissot, sketch of tombs in the Valley of Hinnom, circa 1888
Let's have a closer look at these two versions of the death of Judas in the NT. In Matthew's version, on the morning of the crucifixion (Friday), Judas regrets having betrayed Jesus and tries to return the 30 pieces of silver to the Temple authorities. They refuse to accept the money, claiming that it is too late: Jesus has already been arrested, tried by both the Jews and Romans and condemned to death by Pilate. This is your problem, not ours, they tell him. Dejected, Judas hangs himself (in an unspecified location). The money that he relinquished is then used by the Temple authorities to purchase a field known as the Potter's Field, which becomes a burial ground for foreigners. It is clear that what is driving this story is Matthew's desire to cite yet another verse from the Old Testament in order to show that the gospel fulfills prophecies in the Jewish Scriptures. Here, the verse cited is Zechariah 11:13, with some additions from Jeremiah 18:2; 32:7-9. So according to Matthew's gospel, Akeldama got its name after it was purchased by the priests using the money that Judas earned by "betraying the innocent blood" of his teacher Jesus.

In the opening chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, we find a rather different version. First, it is Judas himself who purchases the field with the money he received ("the reward of his wickedness"), and not the priests. Secondly, Judas does not hang himself. He does not even seem to commit suicide, nor does he express any regret for betraying Jesus. Rather, the text provides the following mysterious sentence: "and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his bowels rushed out" (Acts 1:18). What does this mean? What caused him to fall so violently that his belly exploded? What message does the author of Acts wish to communicate through this grizzly (perhaps "visceral" is the most apt word) scene? The Greek text of the verse reads as follows:
  • καὶ πρηνὴς γενόμενος ἐλάκησεν μέσος, καὶ ἐξεχύθη πάντα τὰ  σπλάγχνα αὐτοῦ. 
The most puzzling term here is πρηνὴς ("headfirst", "facedown"), from which we get the English word "prone". To be precise, the Greek text never says Judas fell, only that he "became head-first" or "became prostrate" (πρηνὴς γενόμενος). Frankly, this does not make too much sense (why would Judas suddenly prostrate himself with his face to the ground?). This is why most translations say that he "fell headlong" i.e., he fell on his face. Some readers assume that this is a non-explicit reference to Judas hanging himself (presumably from his feet), an attempt to harmonize Matthew's version with this one. According to Glenn Most ("The Judas of the Gospels and the Gospel of Judas"), the fact that Judas is prostrate on the ground is meant to depict him as a snake (cf. Gen 3:14), an image meant to underscore his role as Satan.

I find Most's interpretation fascinating but wonder if there might be a better answer. Another solution to this question might be found in an alternative reading of the verse in question which inserts the word πεπρησμενος ("swelling up") instead of πρηνὴς γενόμενος ("falling headlong"). This reading has been accepted by many NT scholars (see W. Bauer, Lexicon, s.v. πρηνής). This would mean that Judas' belly became distended to the point that it burst open. Could it be that the author of Acts was thinking of another biblical passage in which a betrayer is punished by means of a swollen belly that eventually leads to death? The best candidate for this is the Sotah ritual, an elaborate examination meant to convict a woman suspected of adultery (Numbers 5:11-31). The important verse for our purposes reads as follows:
  • "If she has made herself impure and been unfaithful to her husband, this will be the result: When she is made to drink the water that brings a curse and causes bitter suffering, it will enter her, her abdomen will swell and her womb will miscarry, and she will become a curse."  (Num 5:27)
And now in Greek, the second half of the verse reads: 
  • ...καὶ πρησθήσεται τὴν κοιλίαν καὶ διαπεσεῖται ὁ μηρὸς αὐτῆς καὶ ἔσται ἡ γυνὴ εἰς ἀρὰν ἐν τῷ λαῷ αὐτῆς 
  • "...and her belly will be swelled up and her thigh will fall to pieces, and the woman will be a curse among her nation."
When we compare Acts 1:18-19 to Numbers 5:11-31, we see a similar progression. First, the woman comes before the priest. Judas does this when he agrees to betray Jesus to the chief priests (Lk 22:3-6). Second, the woman swears an oath that she is innocent. Judas does this when he declares "surely not I, Rabbi" at the Last Supper (Mt 26:25). Third, the woman drinks a concoction. Judas drinks from the wine at the Last Supper. Fourth, swelling takes place in the belly of the woman. The same thing happens to Judas. Note the use of the verb "to swell up" (πρήθω) in both passages. Fifth, a violent rupture takes place which causes the contents of the woman's belly (thigh, womb) to become displaced. In the case of Judas, his intestines burst out. Finally, death ensues. In the case of the woman, it is her fetus that dies. In the case of Judas, he himself dies. 

I think this similarities are too numerous to ignore. The author of Acts constructed this vignette of Judas' death with the Sotah ritual in mind. His goal was not simply to vilify Judas but to demonstrate his guilt in an objective manner. The Akeldama episode serves as Judas' trial. The fact that he is tried in the manner of an adulterous woman demonstrates that Luke-Acts is not only interested in satanizing Judas (Lk 22:3), but also in feminizing him (Lk 22:47-8)
 
What these two versions of Judas' death have in common is that they are aetiological in nature. That is, they are intended to explain the origin of a name, in this case a place name (toponym). The name of the place associated with these two stories, Akeldama (Greek - Ἁκελδαμάχ) comes from two Aramaic words, field (חקל) and blood (דמא). Presumably, the original reason for this name was the reddish color of the soil. This is somewhat similar to the name of the "red ascent" (Maale Adumim) and the "red inn" (Khan el Ahmar) which are located on a stretch of the Jericho-Jerusalem road famous for its exposed pink limestone (see picture below). Both stories of the demise of Judas make the case that redness of the soil in Akeldama is due to the spilling of human blood; for Matthew it is Jesus' blood, while for Luke it is Judas' blood (not to mention his intestines). 
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17 Comments
gobi honig
28/1/2014 05:53:56 am

Fascinating!

Reply
JL
28/1/2014 05:08:32 pm

תודה רבה, גובי

Reply
Orr Viznitser
28/1/2014 03:30:09 pm

Thank you! Very interesting, well written.

Reply
JL
28/1/2014 05:09:23 pm

ותודה גם לך יקירתי

Reply
Revd V. David
19/1/2015 09:06:37 pm

can you point out the exact place of land of blood where the money was thrown

Reply
John Corbin
20/6/2017 07:28:38 am

It's called the "Field of Blood" because it was purchased with the 30 pieces of silver paid to Judah Iscariot foe delivering Jesus to the priests that ultimately had Christ crucified. Judas sorrowed for his betrayal & tried to return the silver, which the priests rejected. It was unlawful for them to put the money to their treasury bcz it was blood money, so they purchased the field "to bury strangers," meaning Gentiles. The Field is not "bloody" per se.

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Hanok
25/5/2018 09:50:46 am

Previously i have some confusion on both versions. but now have some clarity thank you very much brother...

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Andrew
14/9/2018 03:34:40 am

Actually, I think there may be a very simple explanation here that allows the Gospels to be synoptic in this account. People in that day weren’t often hung on trees with rope by the neck—it happened, but it was very much a Western culture thing and grew in popularity later in history. Maybe because a good piece of rope still had some value to most people and seemed like a waste. However, in ancient cultures in that area, impalement was rather common. In fact, it was a common form of execution in the Middle East that eventually was overshadowed by the Roman use of crucifixion until the Muslim empires started bringing it back into popularity later on. I think we just don’t think of how easily this form of death might fulfill the Gospel accounts (as well as OT curse). Hanging on a tree back then was not an Old West rope-around-the-neck hanging. You literally dropped a person on a tree that had branches with points—probably dead and worn away from wind and sand—like driftwood. Or you sharpened a big stake and dropped them on it. Judas may have just jumped from a height, onto dead brush/trees and it pierced his abdomen. —thus he is hanging, he is disemboweled, AND he is prone, just elevated. AND he fulfills the same prophecy that Christ does (cursed is he who hangs from a tree) albeit in a very hopless sense without redemption. If he died in the red field or if the field was bloody or if the field that was purchased was bloody—a potter’s field is barren and dry if the soil has too much clay. Was it near the Temple? Hundreds of thousands of sacrifices every year on specific days... hundreds of thousands of gallons of blood every year. where does all that blood wash off to? Would certainly be symbolic if...

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HisGoodThing
3/6/2020 07:43:02 pm

Very good point and insightful

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RD
14/4/2021 09:07:48 pm

This really clears it up for me well done!

Reply
Heather A Burns
6/5/2019 12:10:53 pm

Perhaps he fell headfirst to the ground from a high point?

Still, very interesting.

Reply
Gary link
31/10/2019 02:05:09 am

I too think he jumped off the cliff and hit the bottom and burst open at the bottom of the cliff !!

Reply
Aurora Zepeda Ybarra
14/9/2020 06:16:02 pm

Thank everyone for all the li
Point of views

Reply
Henri link
23/12/2020 11:17:19 am

Loove this

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    I am Jonathan Lipnick, tour guide and educator specializing in Christianity and Judaism. In this blog I explore questions (historical, linguistic) that come up in the course of my teaching and reading.

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