The potter’s house. — The place was probably identical with the “potter’s field” of Zechariah 11:13, the well-known spot where the workers in that art carried on their business. The traditional Aceldama, the “potter’s field” of Matthew 27:7, is on the southern face of the valley of Hinnom, south of Jerusalem. The soil is still a kind of clay suitable and employed for the same purpose (Ritter, Palestine, iv. 165, Eng. Trans.). The purchase of the field to “bury strangers in” (Matthew 27:7) implies, however, that it was looked upon as a piece of waste ground, and that its use had been exhausted.

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