Judas betrayed his friend Jesus for a few bucks and when he saw the results of his betrayal a type of remorse struck him driving him to suicide. Jesus’ buddy Matthew the “ex-mafioso” and first century historian records the following:
Matthew 27:1 Early in the morning, all the chief priests and the elders of the people came to the decision to put Jesus to death. 2 They bound him, led him away and handed him over to Pilate, the governor. 3 When Judas, who had betrayed him, saw that Jesus was condemned, he was seized with remorse and returned the thirty silver coins to the chief priests and the elders. 4 "I have sinned," he said, "for I have betrayed innocent blood." "What is that to us?" they replied. "That's your responsibility." 5 So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself. 6 The chief priests picked up the coins and said, "It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money." 7 So they decided to use the money to buy the potter's field as a burial place for foreigners. 8 That is why it has been called the Field of Blood to this day. 9 Then what was spoken by Jeremiah the prophet was fulfilled: "They took the thirty silver coins, the price set on him by the people of Israel, 10 and they used them to buy the potter's field, as the Lord commanded me." (from New International Version)
Judas was seized with a type of remorse, a destructive variety that caused him to take his own life. He felt guilty for taking the money condemning his friend to a torture-death. Judas tried to give it back but since the priests knew that Jesus would die, they wouldn’t take it. They had laws about taking blood money; strangely they didn’t seem that bothered by paying it though. The knowledge of God when boiled down to laws and rules taught by men becomes a sick soup.
The next moments must have been gutwrenching for Judas. He throws the coins on the floor of the temple and runs out to the sound of silver pieces spinning, high pitched, faster and faster until they finally come to rest on the ground in front of the religious leaders. Judas heart was beating fast, his mouth was dry and his mind was spinning. He ran out of town exhausted and then he lifted himself from the ground to a tree and stopped himself by his neck, the companion of Christ dangling lifeless in the breeze. Judas’ death above the ground on wood accomplished nothing; in contrast Jesus death above the ground on wood accomplished everything.
We find more gruesome detail of his suicide in the book of Acts, recorded by Luke the historian.
Acts 1:18 With the reward he got for his wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out. 19 Everyone in Jerusalem heard about this, so they called that field in their language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood. (from New International Version)
There were no friends to come cut down and bury the lifeless body of Judas the betrayer of Christ; he died fresh out of friends. After a short time in the hot Mediterranean sun the rope or his belt broke or his rotten body tore off from his head and burst open upon the ground. This was a disgraceful unclean death to the people in this time, an ignoble death ended an ignoble life.
The field where Judas hung himself was later bought with his own Messiah blood-money and afterwards made a place for burial of unknowns. The people in that day walked by that deserted field looking at that ground and whispering ”this is The Field of Blood”, and they told the story of sadness to their children.
The Judas of the Gospels is a tragic figure, a man possessed by money, a man destroyed by greed. This is the end of the historic Judas, no book written, no "gospel of Judas" book tour, no autographed copies of National Geographic for the fans. Judas died before Jesus leaving no written memoirs. The gospel of Judas was written much later by an unknown author using Judas' name in an attempt to gain attention (it worked!), there is one partial copy of the non-factual and unsubstatiated gospel of Judas.
