Being a Potter, the term "potter's field," as used in "they buried him in the potter's field," always intrigued me. What was, what is, a potter's field? Are there still some today?
Found the term in Matthew 27:7. After betraying Jesus, Judas gave the 30 pieces of silver back to the priests to buy a "potters field to bury strangers in." is that the first use of the term? And why there? Did the potters toss their broken pottery pieces onto this "worthless" field and so it was available for a burying ground?
Webster's says: "a burial ground for paupers or unknown persons."
Anybody have any answers or ideas to share?
As far as I understand, a potters field was a field that was not good for agricultural or even developmental purposes. The potter would use it to dispose of broken, unfixable pottery. The land was purchased with the money because it could not be put into the treasury, but notice, once it became a burial ground, the Bible no longer refers to it as the "potters field" but as the "field of blood"
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