Question 135: How did Judas really die?

Answer:

Several explanations of the apparent discrepancy between Matthew 27:3-5 and Acts 1:18, 19 have been offered. The first, with relation to the death of Judas is that the word translated as "hanged" in Matthew 27:5 is capable of a different interpretation, i.e., death by a sudden spasm of suffocation, which might have been accompanied by a fall before the spasm spent itself. Another suggestion, which has been made by some eminent scholars, is that the work of suicide was but half accomplished when, the halter parting, Judas fell with the result stated in Acts 1:18.