And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be put to death, and thou have hanged him on a tree,
Israel's law reached even to the body of an executed criminal. After death he could be hanged on a tree, but only under strict limits. Two questions follow. Why did God attach such a public brand to certain deaths? And why did the shame last no more than one day?
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In this law the tree is not the instrument of death.
Hanging, or crucifixion — the Jews used the same word for either — was not a way of putting someone to death under the law of Moses. It came after death, to express unusual enormity, and to put a special brand on the one so treated. As "lifting up from the earth" (John 3:14; John 12:32), it expressed rejection from among men. As lifting up toward heaven, it might well challenge heaven's approval of that rejection, and so imply the "curse of God" on the sinner.
The next verse explains the whole rule with one phrase: a hanged man is cursed by God. The Hebrew behind that phrase says "a curse of God," and readers have long argued over what it means.
This is literally "a curse of God." The apostle in Galatians takes it in the same sense. He quotes it as "accursed" (Gal. 3:13), and argues from it that Christ was "made a curse for us." The Septuagint, Syriac, and Vulgate — the ancient Greek, Syriac, and Latin versions — also render it "accursed." But the Jews, since the second century AD, have mostly decided for a different meaning: "an injury, insult, mockery to God." The language allows that meaning, no doubt. Yet it clearly serves an interest of their own, and that cannot commend it to us.
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The curse in this law comes from a named source. It is not the crowd's verdict on the man hanging there.
Galatians 3:13 says, "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us — for it is written, 'Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.'" Were they man's curses that fell on the blessed Jesus on the cross? No: turn to Deuteronomy, and you will find that "a hanged man is cursed by God."
God's reason for taking the body down is the land itself. One writer calls this small detail a matter of holiness.
To all human appearance this would be a detail of no importance, but a heart fed by the word of God could not overlook it. To neglect it would have been to lose sight of the holiness of God... "His body shall not remain all night on the tree... You shall not defile your land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance." And again: "You shall not defile the land in which you live, in the midst of which I dwell, for I the LORD dwell in the midst of the people of Israel" (Num. 35:34). In a word, a holy God could not dwell where there was defilement.
The law allowed other ways to put a criminal to death. Only this one carried the curse.
The curse which the law pronounced was a perfectly just sentence... Many in ancient days, reading Deuteronomy 21:23, may have wondered why the curse was linked with death on a tree. Why not death by some other means, such as stoning or the sword? Now we know. In due time the Redeemer would bear the curse for others by hanging on a tree, and so honour the law. It is another case of how the Scripture sees ahead!
So what is the curse itself?
The hanging on the tree is not itself the curse, but only marks the one on whom the curse falls. The curse itself is no external thing, but a deep reality in the soul of him that bears it. This was the wrath upon sin which Christ bore for us — the forsaking of God. Had He not borne it, no blessing could have come to anyone. So the curse of the law was not borne for Jews alone, or for those under law. Blessing could never have reached the nations outside Israel if Christ had not borne it.
The law required burial the same day. Commentators see the cross in that limit.
It was intended as a public disgrace and a warning to others. But that disgrace was not to continue beyond the day of hanging. Galatians 3:13 shows this applies above all to the Lord Jesus. On Calvary He was made a curse for us, subjected to the most dreadful disgrace for our sakes. But this awful course was confined to that one day. When His great work of atonement was finished, those who loved Him took the body of the Lord Jesus and laid it in a grave (John 19:38-42).
This law closes a chapter that also deals with sin among God's own people, and one writer sees an order in that arrangement.
The bringing together in Deuteronomy 21:18-23 of the two events contained in Joshua 7 and Joshua 8 — the cutting off of the wicked person and the judgment of the enemy — is not without significance... You will find that where evil is tolerated, there is a total absence of that decision and firmness which deals with the enemy as such, without coming to terms.
- Brand. Hanging was not how Israel put a man to death. It came after death, marking unusual guilt and rejection from among men.
- Curse. The words say the hanged man is cursed by God — a verdict from heaven, not the anger of the crowd.
- Sign. The tree only marks the one on whom the curse falls; the curse itself is the wrath on sin, borne deep in the soul.
- Substitute. Of all the deaths the law allowed, the curse attached to this one. It was the death the Redeemer would die, made a curse for us — and no blessing could reach us any other way.
- Limit. The disgrace lasted one day, then came burial. When His work was finished, those who loved Him laid His body in a grave.
his body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day (for he that is hanged is a curse of God); and thou shalt not defile thy land, which Jehovah thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.
Israel's law added a strange rule to executions: a body left hanging on a tree had to go into a grave before sunset, because it lay under God's curse and would defile the land. Centuries later that one rule explained the death of Christ.
The command was not about tidiness or public health. It guarded the land God was giving as an inheritance.
As soon as the sun went down, Joshua commanded them to take the body of the king of Ai down from the tree. To all human appearance this would be a detail of no importance, but a heart fed by the word of God could not overlook it. To neglect it would have been to lose sight of the holiness of God... In a word, a holy God could not dwell where there is defilement.
The wording is exact: the hanged man is cursed by God. That settles whose sentence fell at the cross.
Were they man's curses that fell on the blessed Jesus on the cross? No. Deuteronomy says that "a hanged man is cursed by God," for the believer can say, "The LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all" (Isa. 53:6).
Israel also put people to death by stoning and by the sword. Only death on a tree carried the curse, and for centuries no one could say why.
The curse the law pronounced was a perfectly just sentence. It rested on the Jew who had been placed under the law, and it had to be borne in righteousness before it could be lifted off him. In the death of Christ the curse was borne, and so the believing Jew is set free from under it. Many people long ago read Deuteronomy 21:23 and may have wondered why the curse was tied to death on a tree, rather than to death by any other means, such as stoning or the sword. Now we know. At the right time the Redeemer was to bear the curse for others by hanging on a tree, and so honour the law. It is another case of how Scripture sees ahead!
Man's cruelty did not defeat God's purpose:
This calls for solemn reflection and deep thankfulness. Man heaped the deepest shame and suffering on Jesus, and in grace God turns it to the purposes of redeeming love. For who does not know that Jesus took this place of the curse on the cross, to bear our judgment in the sight of God?
The tree was visible. The curse was not.
The hanging on the tree is not itself the curse, as should be obvious, though to some it is not. It only marks the one on whom the curse falls. The curse itself is no external thing, but a deep reality in the soul of the one who bears it. This was the wrath on sin which Christ bore for us, the forsaking of God. If He had not borne it, no blessing could have been for anyone.
The curse did not simply vanish. It fell — but not on us.
Think of the curse as a great sword hanging by a thread over my head. It may fall at any moment and destroy me. Christ came above me, between me and the sword. The sword fell on Him; He received the blow that must have taken us down to hell; He took us out from under the curse.
The verse limits the shame to one day. That limit held at Calvary.
Only certain crimes called for hanging the body, for this showed a man dying under the curse of God. It was meant as a public disgrace and a warning to others. But that disgrace was not to go on beyond the day of hanging. Galatians 3:13 shows this applies above all to the Lord Jesus, who on Calvary was made a curse for us, put through the most dreadful disgrace for our sakes. But this dreadful course lasted only that one day. When His great work of atonement was finished, those who loved Him took the body of the Lord Jesus and laid it in a grave (John 19:38-42). We will never understand the depths of agony He suffered under the curse of God for our sakes. But we thank God that His work was done so perfectly. God raised Him from the dead, and He is alive forevermore, and this assures believers of their eternal redemption.
- Curse named. The hanged body marked a man under God's own sentence, not just human disgust. The land God gave could not carry that defilement.
- Curse foreseen. God tied the curse to the tree long before any cross stood. Scripture looked ahead to the death Christ would die.
- Curse borne. The nails were the outward sign. The curse itself was the wrath on sin and the forsaking by God, and He bore it in His soul.
- Curse transferred. He was made a curse for us — the blow that would have destroyed us fell on the One who stood over us.
- Curse ended. It lasted one day. The body came down, the grave received Him, and God raised Him — proof that the work is done and the blessing sure.