Who Bought The Potter's Field?

Does Matthew 27:6 & Acts 1:18 Contradict?

In Matthew 27, it states: "The chief priests took the pieces of silver and said, “It is not lawful to put them into the temple treasury, since it is the price of blood.” And they conferred together and with the money bought the Potter’s Field as a burial place for strangers," (Matthew 27:6-7 NASB1995).

In Acts 1 it states: "Now this man acquired a field with the price of his wickedness, and falling headlong, he burst open in the middle and all his intestines gushed out," (Acts 1:18 NASB1995).

Matthew seems to tell us the priests bought the field while Luke seems to tell us Judas did; however, this is a misunderstanding of the text.

Benson responds by arguing: "This man purchased a field with the reward of iniquity — That is, a field was purchased therewith: for that reward, being restored by him to the chief priests, had been paid by them for the purchase of a field, which, in some sense, he might be said to have purchased, having supplied the money that paid for it," (Benson).

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges also explains: "This may be said not only of him who buys, but of him who becomes the occasion of another’s buying. The field was bought by the chief priests (Matthew 27:5-8) with the money which Judas returned, but as they could not take that money for the treasury, they were likely to look upon what was purchased with it as still the property of the traitor. St Luke’s employment of the unusual word “acquire” in a narrative where he calls the price of the land “the reward of iniquity,” and speaks of the immediate death of Judas, makes it clear that he views (and that the people of Jerusalem did the same) the field Akeldama as the field which Judas acquired, though it became, from the circumstances, a public possession for a burial ground," (Cambridge).

References:

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges. United Kingdom, The University Press, 1905.

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