AKELDAMA

(A·kelʹda·ma) [Aramaic, field of blood].

The name applied by the Jews to the plot of land whose purchase resulted from “the wages for unrighteousness” paid to Judas Iscariot for his betrayal of Christ Jesus. (Acts 1:18, 19) At least since the fourth century C.E. it has been identified as the Hakk-ed-Dumm on the S side of the Valley of Hinnom, on the “Hill of Evil Counsel,” which is a level plot of land a short distance up the slope. As Barnes’ Notes on the New Testament points out, the statement at Acts 1:18 that Judas “purchased a field” does not mean that he made the contract and payment but, rather, that he furnished the means, or was the occasion of purchasing the field. The record at Matthew 27:3-10 shows that the priests used the thirty pieces of silver thrown into the temple by Judas to make the actual purchase and that this “Field of Blood” was previously a potter’s field and was obtained by them “to bury strangers.” The suggested location has been used as a burial site from early centuries.

The fulfillment of prophecy recorded by Matthew is based on “what was spoken through Jeremiah the prophet.” Jeremiah was at times placed first in the “Book of the Prophets,” and this section of prophecies therefore included not only Jeremiah’s writings but also those of Zechariah. (Compare Luke 24:44.) The quotation made by Matthew appears to be drawn principally from Zechariah 11:12, 13, but paraphrased by Matthew and applied to the circumstances fulfilling it, this under inspiration by God’s spirit. As a “potter’s field” the land would be considered as worn out and of little value, worth only the price of a slave.