FROM COOTER
If this isn't a contradiction, I don't know what is. How could Judas die of both hanging and a fall?
Judas died how?
"And he cast down the pieces of silver into the temple and departed, and went out and hanged himself." (MAT 27:5)
"And falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all of his bowels gushed out." (ACT 1:18)
RESPONSE
The two verses tell about the same suicide. In Matthew, Judas attempts to hang himself. Whether he was successful in killing himself with the hanging, the Bible does not say. There have been many instances of unsuccessful hangings. At any rate, AFTER he hanged himself (whether successful or not), the rope must've slipped or broke or the branch or whatever he tied the rope to broke, and he fell (whether living or dead, we don't know). Perhaps Judas hung for a day or so before his dead body fell, or perhaps he jumped and the branch or whatever broke immediately, and he fell while still alive, we don't know. Though we don't know for certain whether Judas died from the hanging, we can say with great certainty he was dead after the fall. For myself, I tend to lean toward the branch immediately breaking and Judas dying from the fall.