Succeeding Judas: Exegesis in Acts 1:15-26 (Essay‪)‬

Acts 1:15-26 describes the election of Matthias to Judas's place among the twelve apostles, an incident to which there is no allusion elsewhere in the NT. (1) Peter, addressing the assembled brethren in Jerusalem, opens his speech on the matter by alluding to a proof-text: "the Scripture had to be fulfilled" ([TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]), that, according to Peter, had been spoken by David concerning Judas (1:16). (2) Peter does not immediately cite a scriptural text, but instead proceeds to describe Judas's death. Judas purchased a "field" ([TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]) out of "the wages of wickedness" and fell in this field and died (1:18-19). Peter then introduces not one but two biblical verses, slightly adapted from their canonical form to suit his purposes (1:20). (3) For it is written in the book of Psalms, "let his habitation [[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]] become desolate, and let there be no one to live in it" [Ps 69(68):26]; and, "his office [[TEXT NOT REPRODUCIBLE IN ASCII]] shall another take" [Ps 109(108):8].