Deuteronomy 21:22,23

i. THE SANCTITY OF THE LAND: MAN HANGED ON A TREE (Deuteronomy 21:22-23)

22 And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree; 23 his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt surely bury him the same day; for he that is hanged is accursed of God; that thou defile not thy land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.

THOUGHT QUESTIONS 21:22, 23

357.

Read Joshua 10:22-27 and Numbers 25:4 to help understand this section

358.

Was the hanging the cause of the death? What purpose was there in hanging on a tree?

AMPLIFIED TRANSLATION 21:22, 23

22 And if a man has committed a son worthy of death, and he is put to death, and [afterward] you hang him on a tree, [Joshua 10:26-27.]

23 His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but you shall surely bury him the same day, for a hanged man is accursed by God; thus you shall not defile your land which the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance. [Galatians 3:13.]

COMMENT 21:22, 23

Note how Joshua carried out this command in Joshua 10:22-27. See also Numbers 25:4. This seems to be not a mode of execution per se, but rather a law concerning exposure after death. Ancient Syrian sculptures show naked men impaled at the top of long poles, and by the time of Esther the gallows (Esther 5:14apparently a similar device) was employed for the same purposepublic exposure of a criminal as an object of warning to the people.

Crucifixion was a terrible method of punishment adopted later by the Romans from the Orient, and used by them only on slaves and the vilest of criminals. The victim was left to die of exhaustion, whereas here the victim was slain first. But it, too, involved hanging on a tree, and Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree (Cf. Galatians 3:13). Thus the death of our Savior by this means was doubly humiliating, simply from a standpoint of the opinion society had of such a criminal.

And Paul's application is that in becoming such a curse for us, we may claim the promise of life.