Joseph Barsabbas Eleutheropolis was an important city. Joseph Barsabbas In the Acts of the Apostles, Joseph Barsabbas (also known as Justus) is one of two candidates qualified to be chosen for the office of apostle after Judas Iscariot lost his apostleship when he betrayed Jesus and committed suicide. After the casting of lots he was not chosen, the lot instead favoring Matthias to be numbered with the remaining eleven apostles. Both Joseph and Matthias had been followers of Jesus from the beginning of Jesus' public ministry after the baptism he received from John. He had continued as a member of the larger
Judas Iscariot Nonetheless, various attempts at harmonization have been suggested. Generally they have followed literal interpretations such as that of Augustine of Hippo, which suggest that these simply describe different aspects of the same event – that Judas hanged himself in the field, and the rope eventually snapped and the fall burst his body open, or that the accounts of Acts and Matthew refer to two different transactions. Some have taken the descriptions as figurative: that the "falling prostrate" was Judas in anguish, and the "bursting out of the bowels" is pouring out emotion. Modern scholars reject these approaches. Arie W. Zwiep