Online online or just a private American university? :)
I’m willing to accept that Judas took a bribe, betrayed Jesus, then died because of that betrayal not long after the crucifixion. I’m even willing to accept the money was seen at the time as blood money and the field was tied in with that.
He does say in Acts though that he fell head first which is a puzzle as his head is much more likely to be the last thing to hit the ground after being hanged.
I think what’s more likely is Matthew and Luke have different sources on this part of the story and the different sources are passing on hearsay from other sources.
The consistency here is that Judas accepted a bribe, then died, there’s silver coins and a field involved that is seen as the field of blood, but the method of death has a big question mark over it. It doesn’t do much for fundamentalism and those of you who believe the Bible is the exact word of God with no mistakes.
It can be translated as if He falls prostrate after landing - most likely first of all on the legs and then falling forward on his face. It doesn't change the sense of the betrayal,Judas' motivation, his subsequent guilt, field of blood as in blood money and blood spilt from his bursting middle.
International Standard Version has this: Now this man bought a field with the money he got for his crime. Falling on his face, he burst open in the middle, and all his intestines gushed out. It doesn't matter where the authors got their sources. Biblical literalism is the method of interpreting Scripture that holds that, except in places where the text is obviously allegorical, poetic, or figurative, it should be taken literally. Biblical literalism is the position of most evangelicals.
Biblical literalism goes hand-in-hand with regarding the Word of God as inerrant and inspired. If we believe in the doctrine of biblical inspiration—that the books of the Bible were written by men under the influence of the Holy Spirit (2 Timothy 3:16–17; 2 Peter 1:20–21) to the extent that everything they wrote was exactly what God wanted to say—then a belief in biblical literalism is acknowledgement that God wants to communicate to us via human language.
It is an extension of the literalism that we all use in everyday communication. If someone enters a room and says, “The building is on fire,” we don’t start searching for figurative meanings; we start to move and exit. No one stops to ponder whether the reference to “fire” is metaphorical or if the “building” is an indirect reference to 21st-century socio-economic theories! So when we open the Bible and read, “The Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left” (Exodus 14:22), we shouldn’t look for figurative meanings for sea, dry ground, or wall of water; we should believe the miracle.
If you deny biblical literalism and try to interpret Scripture figuratively, how are the figures to be interpreted? who decides what is and is not a figure? Were Adam and Eve real people? What about Cain and Abel? If they are figurative, where in Genesis can we start saying the people are literal individuals? Any dividing line between figurative and literal in the genealogies is arbitrary. Or take a New Testament example: did Jesus really say to love our enemies (Matthew 5:44)? Did He say it on a mount? Was Jesus even real? Without a commitment to biblical literalism, we might as well throw out the whole Bible. If part of it is only true then none of it is true.
If biblical literalism is discarded, language becomes meaningless. If “five smooth stones” in 1 Samuel 17:40 doesn’t refer to five aerodynamic rocks, then what did David pick out of the stream? More importantly, if words can mean anything we assign to them, there are no genuine promises in the Bible. The “place” that Jesus said He is preparing for us (John 14:3) needs to be literal, or else He is speaking nonsense. The “cross” that Jesus died on needs to be a literal cross, and His death needs to be a literal death in order for us to have salvation. Hell needs to be a literal place—as does heaven—if we are to have anything to be saved from. Jesus’ literal resurrection from a literal tomb is as equally important (1 Corinthians 15:17). Saved from guilt when Jesus takes away literally every wrong ever done by humanity. Fessing up to Him means that healing and freedom comes. The writer of Ecclesiastes bewails the meaninglessness of worldly pursuits apart from God. When we are spiritually dead, life is ultimately empty. Nothing in this world will fully satisfy the deepest longings of our hearts Psalm 73:25. But, in Christ Messiah Jesus, we have purpose. He said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full”. Yes real Life.(John 10:10). The Christian life is a meaningful life in that life goes on after death but also starts immediately after the bending of the knee , admit sin which we all are prone to and confess that He is Lord. Its liberating.
Even when walking through “the valley of the shadow of death,” we need fear no evil (Psalm 23:4). Our Good Shepherd never abandons us, and our suffering is always purposeful (Psalm 56:8). The Lord can take the broken bits of our lives and create a mosaic that encourages people. He has sent a Helper-the Spirit whom we forget so often. It is often our darkest pain that becomes our brightest light when we entrust it to Him. Joy comes in the morning when we awaken to our purpose and see that even our mistakes, sorrows, and confusion are obliterated in His light. Dark nights can last a very long time, but they are never ultimately permanent for those who are in Christ Jesus.
