How did Judas die?

Mat 27:3 Then Judas, who betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, and brought back the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, Mat 27:4 saying, I have sinned in that I betrayed innocent blood. But they said, What is that to us? see thou to it. Mat 27:5 And he cast down the pieces of silver into the sanctuary, and departed; and he went away and hanged himself. Mat 27:6 And the chief priests took the pieces of silver, and said, It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, since it is the price of blood. Mat 27:7 And they took counsel, and bought with them the potter’s field, to bury strangers in. Mat 27:8 Wherefore that field was called, the field of blood, unto this day. Mat 27:9 Then was fulfilled that which was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet, saying, And they took the thirty pieces of silver, the price of him that was priced, whom certain of the children of Israel did price; Mat 27:10 and they gave them for the potter’s field, as the Lord appointed me.

Act 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. Act 1:19 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.) Act 1:20 For it is written in the book of Psalms, Let his habitation be made desolate, And let no man dwell therein: and, His office let another take.

So according to Gospel Matthew, Judas died by hanging himself, and according to Acts (whom Luke is supposed to be its writer)he died by falling on the ground, and all his bowels gushed out. It may be said that he first hanged himself, and when he felt his bowels gushed out, this is actually weird, and I don’t know how did this happen, but anyway this is not the only problem since it seems that every writer is trying to fulfill a prophecy in the Old Testament, and builds his story on the script he chose, so we find that in case of Matthew, the chief priest took the money and bought the field, so that what happens in Jeremiah (Zechariah) is fulfilled, and in case of Acts, Judas is the one who bought the field and he died in it, so that what is written in Psalms be fulfilled.

Josiah’s death:

2Ki 23:28 Now the rest of the acts of Josiah, and all that he did, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? 2Ki 23:29 In his days Pharaoh-necoh king of Egypt went up against the king of Assyria to the river Euphrates: and king Josiah went against him; and Pharaoh-necoh slew him at Megiddo, when he had seen him. 2Ki 23:30 And his servants carried him in a chariot dead from Megiddo, and brought him to Jerusalem, and buried him in his own sepulchre. And the people of the land took Jehoahaz the son of Josiah, and anointed him, and made him king in his father’s stead.

Now let’s see what the Chronicles say:

2Ch 35:23 And the archers shot at king Josiah; and the king said to his servants, Have me away; for I am sore wounded. 2Ch 35:24 So his servants took him out of the chariot, and put him in the second chariot that he had, and brought him to Jerusalem; and he died, and was buried in the sepulchres of his fathers. And all Judah and Jerusalem mourned for Josiah.

This means according to the book of Chronicles that Josiah didn’t die at Megiddo as the book of Kings says, but he died at Jerusalem, or at least in the way to Jerusalem, so what really happened?

How old was Perez when he married?

In Genesis 37:2, it says that Joseph was 17 when he dreamt and his brothers envied him:

Gen 37:2 These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, being seventeen years old, was feeding the flock with his brethren; and he was a lad with the sons of Bilhah, and with the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives: and Joseph brought the evil report of them unto their father.

Then it says that when he stood before the Pharaoh he was 30:

Gen 41:46 And Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt.

Then the 7 years of plenty ended:

Gen 41:53 And the seven years of plenty, that was in the land of Egypt, came to an end.

Then 2 years from the famine passed when he invited his brothers to Egypt:

Gen 45:6 For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and there are yet five years, in which there shall be neither plowing nor harvest.

From the above, we can conclude that the time between when Joseph’s brothers envied him, and when he invited them to Egypt will be= 2+7+30-17=22 years

Let’s see what happened in Jacob’s family within that time:

Judah married and begat Er and Onan (Genesis 38:3-4), this happens at least in 2 years for marrying and conceiving twice, then Er married Tamar, then he died, which nearly happens within 12 years till Er marries and let’s assume that he died immediately after he married, so we can have now about 13 years, then Onan married her and then died, and let’s assume that all this didn’t take one day, then in verse 11 Tamar waited for Shelah to grow up, so that she marries him, but he grew up and didn’t marry her as in verse 14, so let’s assume that all this took two years, so we now have 15 years, then Judah sinned with her, and she begat Perez, this would take about one year. So we can now conclude that Perez was about 6 years old when he went to Joseph in Egypt. The Bible tells that when Perez went to Joseph, he had 2 sons:

Gen 46:12 And the sons of Judah: Er, and Onan, and Shelah, and Perez, and Zerah; but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. And the sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul.

How come that a boy at 6 years old not only that he marries, but he also has 2 sons?

Moses’ Order concerning the sons of Ammon:

Deuteronomy says:
Deu 2:18 Thou art this day to pass over Ar, the border of Moab: 19 and when thou comest nigh over against the children of Ammon, vex them not, nor contend with them ; for I will not give thee of the land of the children of Ammon for a possession; because I have given it unto the children of Lot for a possession.
While Joshua says:
Jos 13:24 And Moses gave unto the tribe of Gad, unto the children of Gad, according to their families. 25 And their border was Jazer, and all the cities of Gilead, and half the land of the children of Ammon, unto Aroer that is before Rabbah;
The main answer by Christian commentators is that the half of the land of Ammonites was referring to the portion of land where the Amorites took, but this is not so clear to me, since the Bible says that when they attacked the Amorites, they didn’t attack the children of Ammon:
Deu 2:32 Then Sihon came out against us, he and all his people, unto battle at Jahaz. Deu 2:33 And Jehovah our God delivered him up before us; and we smote him, and his sons, and all his people. Deu 2:34 And we took all his cities at that time, and utterly destroyed every inhabited city, with the women and the little ones; we left none remaining: Deu 2:35 only the cattle we took for a prey unto ourselves, with the spoil of the cities which we had taken. Deu 2:36 From Aroer, which is on the edge of the valley of the Arnon, and from the city that is in the valley, even unto Gilead, there was not a city too high for us; Jehovah our God delivered up all before us: Deu 2:37 only to the land of the children of Ammon thou camest not near; all the side of the river Jabbok, and the cities of the hill-country, and wheresoever Jehovah our God forbade us.
Also in Joshua itself, in the same chapter, it didn’t say that, but it said concerning the Ammonites’ borders:
Jos 13:10 and all the cities of Sihon king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon, unto the border of the children of Ammon;
This clearly tells that Sihon wasn’t occupying the land of the Ammonites, otherwise, it would have said “unto the land of children of Ammon”, or “unto half the land of children of Ammon”.

This post is also available in: French Spanish

Share this: