Now 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.
Now this man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity. That this verse, and the following one, make no part of Peter's speech, but are a parenthetical piece of information, inserted by the historian, is the opinion of Olshausen, Bloomfield, Humphry, Webster and Wilkinson, etc. But the connecting particles and (as Meyer remarks) the rhetorical form of the passage seem to forbid this view-in regard to Acts 1:18 at least. Accordingly (with DeWette, Meyer, Alford, Baumgarten, Lechler, and Alexander) we regard these two verses as part of the apostle's speech; though some of the critics just mentioned take part of Acts 1:19 as information furnished by the historian himself-and perhaps justly. It my seem unnatural to suppose that the apostle would tell his hearers what 'every dweller at Jerusalem' knew. But Peter's object in this part of his address seems to have been-first, to call attention to the retributive providence which brought Judas to his miserable end in the very field which was purchased with the reward of his iniquity; and next, to point out the remarkable fulfillment of Scripture in his case.
As to the statement itself, it has been selected as an example of manifest contradiction to Matthew 27:7. But if we adopt the causative sense of the middle form of the verb here used х ekteesato (G2932)], and take the meaning to be, 'was the occasion of purchasing' (Kuhner, section 250. 2; Jelf, section 362. 6; Donaldson, 432. (cc) and (Song of Solomon 1), the statement is quite consistent with that of Matthew, where the purchase of the field is ascribed to the chief priests, but with Judas' money. This explanation, as might be expected, is flung aside by DeWette as suggested by 'harmonistic caprice;' and Alford-who is too ready to make concessions of this nature-thinks the two statements, as they stand, and without more information than we possess, irreconcilable. But Beza, Fritzsche, Meyer, Olshausen, Ebrard, Humphry, Webster and Wilkinson, Lechler, etc., see no difficulty in so understanding the historian's meaning.
And falling headlong - the rope, probably, on which he hung suspended giving way.
He burst asunder in the midst - lighting, perhaps, on some sharp rock.
And all his bowels gushed out. The two accounts of the traitor's end differ only in this, that the details are here given from Peter's lips while they were yet fresh, whereas Matthew, writing long after, records the fact only in general terms.