"The Field of Blood Purchased"

Matthew 27:6-8: But the chief priests took the silver pieces and said, It is not lawful to put them into the treasury, because they are the price of blood. And they consulted together and bought with them the potter's field, to bury strangers in. Therefore that field has been called the Field of Blood to this day.

As we said yesterday, the priests were unconcerned as to the truth or untruth of the charges brought against Christ. They were determined to condemn Jesus, and that caused Judas in horror and espair to throw down the money in the temple before committing suicide.

In Acts 1:8 there is more information given: "This man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out." From the Matthew account and the Acts account, we might assume that the limb where Judas hung himself broke under his weight, so that his body was so ruptured in falling to the earth that the condition depicted by Peter resulted. It was a sad and terrible end inddeed to a life that once promised so much.

The priests were suddenly careful about putting the blood-money back into the temple treasury. What hypocrites. They had no problem with paying Judas to betray the Lord of Glory, but they have a problem returning the money to the temple treasury. The point is that no one is exempt from the guilt.

After some consultation, they decide to buy with the money a potter's field. For us in the west, a potter's field is a piece of ground from which clay has been extracted for the making of pottery. Thus, Judas purchased the field with the reward of iniquity, even though he himself was already dead. The field gained the name "The Field of Blood" as a reminder of the transaction in which the priests and Judas had participated. Strangers and those who did not have money for a burial spot would be placed in that field.