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 Judas used the money to buy a field, and "[fell] headlong... burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out." The field became known as "Akeldama", which means "the Field of Blood" in Aramaic, because it was covered in Judas's blood, and it was used to bury strangers. In this account, Judas' death is apparently by accident and he shows no signs of remorse. The early Church Father Papias of Hierapolis ( 60–130 AD) recorded in his "Expositions of the Sayings of the Lord", which was probably written during the first decade of the second century AD, that