A brother asks me to explain the evident contradiction as to the manner of the death of Judas, as found in Matt. 27:5 and Acts 1:18. There, is no contradiction. Luke says that Judas fell headlong and burst asunder, while Matthew says that he hanged himself. If he had not first hanged himself, he would not have burst asunder when he fell. I have never heard of a man bursting wide open because he fell from stumping his toe; but if a man were to hang himself in a hot climate, and remain hanging for a day or two, and then fall, he would be almost certain to burst asunder. So the two accounts are not contradictory, but the one explains the other.

[SEBC 457-458]