Deuteronomy 21:23, commentary and pictures

The law required that a person executed and then hung up in public disgrace for a heinous offense be taken down and buried before sundown on the same day, so that the land God gave Israel would not be defiled. To hang on a tree marked a person as under God's curse, with the curse belonging to the hanging itself as the law's highest shameful penalty of death for disobedience. Jesus, though sinless and obedient, was counted as a sinner when he died by hanging on the cross, bearing in himself as substitute the curse and death due to transgressors of God's law. By enduring that hanging curse he redeemed people from the curse of the law, from sin and death, a finished redemption accomplished at the cross. His suffering the penalty honors and upholds the law rather than abolishing it, so that through faith in him sinners are freed from sin, made righteous, adopted as sons, and receive the Spirit and the blessing promised to Abraham unto everlasting life.

Wording and Legal Setting

Deuteronomy means repetition of the law, and this command belongs to that rehearsal given by Moses just before Israel crossed the Jordan into the promised land. It looked back over the wonderful acts God had done for his people and set out again some of the chief laws connected with Israel. It solemnly recalled the lessons taught through forty years of wandering in the wilderness and pressed home the sacred importance of God's holy law and the necessity of keeping it as Moses cared for the often rebellious people before leaving them.

Hanging did not itself execute the offender but followed execution for a death-worthy offense, with the body lifted up afterward. That public exposure was reserved for especially heinous offenses in order to display the divine curse resting on the condemned. The direction for dealing with such a body was part of Israel's civil law and applied to every hanging. Criminals were in this sense executed upon trees, and one hanged upon a tree stood under the curse of God. Hanging was also a term the Jews used for crucifixion, a cruel and disgraceful form of capital punishment, the death suffered after scourging.

The Hebrew wording is stronger than accursed of God, declaring that the one hanging on a tree is the curse of God. This wording supplies Paul's statement that everyone hanged on a tree is cursed. It stands as part of the book of the law, which is identified as the ceremonial law rather than the Ten Commandments. That law in view is the commandments written in the book of the law, requiring continual obedience to all its precepts.

Same-Day Burial Command

The hanged body must not remain all night upon the tree but must be taken down before sundown and buried that same day, lest the land God gave Israel for an inheritance be defiled. The command applied to every hanging as part of Israel's civil law. The prompt burial was required for the purity and holiness of the land, in harmony with nature and with the reality of death. It was not given to protect belief in the immortality of the soul, nor to keep people from concluding that the soul dies with the body.

In the hanging of Saul's seven sons at Gibeah this law was broken, for the seven bodies were left hanging on the gibbet after sundown and through the night, with only Rizpah remaining beside them. In Judea this same requirement meant that crucified people were buried on the day of execution and not left overnight upon the tree. Their deaths could therefore be hastened by other means, and Jesus died within a few hours, with a soldier piercing His side to confirm that He was dead.

The verse therefore explains why Christ was taken from the cross and buried before the new day began and before the Sabbath. The Sabbath began after His burial. The Jews invoked this requirement to have the crucified men removed before sunset when the Sabbath began, and their stated concern for Sabbath sanctity concealed their fear that the public would dwell further on the events of Jesus' death.

Meaning of the Curse

One hanged on a tree is regarded as accursed and under God's curse. The curse attached specifically to hanging on a tree, not merely to being put to death. To be accursed of God under the divine law means to be subject to punishment imposed by law, the highest and most shameful punishment.

The curse of the law is the penalty of the law, namely death to be suffered by the unrepentant sinner and every transgressor. It is not obedience, which is blessing, but disobedience and its consequence, death. Christ being counted as a sinner and hanged bore that death as humanity's substitute, redeeming from the penalty all who accept His death as their substitute and yield allegiance to Him.

Failure to continue in all things written in the law brings that curse of disobedience and death. Everyone who hangs on a tree being cursed stands together with the curse on everyone who does not continue continually, showing that failure to obey continually brings the curse.

Christ Bearing the Curse

Jesus hanging on the tree of the cross fulfilled the picture of one hanged as accursed, for though He was sinless, guiltless, obedient and cursed by nothing of His own, He was counted as a sinner and a malefactor and was made a curse and sin for humanity, bearing in His own person the curse due to transgressors of God's law. The wording is even stronger than accursed of God, for it declares that the one hanging on a tree is the curse of God, and Christ was made that curse for those under the law and its condemnation so they could be redeemed. At Calvary the Son of God was thus made accursed by God's law so that pardon could reach repentant sinners, showing both how deeply God hates sin and how earnestly He desires to save the sinner.

His being hanged meant He bore God's punishment in place of others as their substitute, suffering the law's penalty of death for human sin against God's law. Public exposure on the tree was reserved for especially heinous death-worthy offenses to display the divine curse upon the condemned, and as applied to Christ it meant He bore that curse of the law in the place of others. That curse is the penalty of the law, namely death to be suffered by the unrepentant sinner, and the curse belonging to transgressors fell on Christ when He was hanged on the cross and endured death for sinners. He bore it voluntarily, and His suffering corresponds to the curse due to human sin under the law. Suffering the penalty in this way honors rather than removes or weakens the law, meeting its claims while leaving it still in force.

Crucifixion was therefore the fitting manner of His death, because only by hanging could He bear in His own person the curse due to transgressors. As the accursed One lifted up He is fitly represented by the brazen serpent on the pole, for though the serpent is the symbol of Satan, looking to Him on the cross brings salvation to all bitten by sin, that sinners might be made the righteousness of God in Him. By enduring that hanging curse He redeemed people from the curse of the law and from sin, disobedience and death, for the cross is what removes the curse in a finished redemption already accomplished. That hanging curse is itself the evidence that He was made a curse for us, and this redemption becomes ours when His death is accepted by faith as the substitute and allegiance is yielded to Him.

Because He died under the curse He also won the right to destroy the devil, who has the power of death, redeeming humanity from the curse of death that came through sin. He bore the curse of the earth through the wooden cross from the forest, the crown of thorns forced into His temples, the reed used to strike Him, and the hyssop that lifted vinegar to His mouth, representing the two extremes of vegetation. The redemption price for the land and dominion was being paid when His sweat fell as blood to the ground in the garden and was fully paid when His blood forced out by the nails fell upon the ground beneath the cross. Because a hanged person appeared under God's curse, the Jews regarded His crucifixion as proof He was cursed, making belief in Him as Messiah and Saviour seem scandalous and foolish, so the cross was regarded with horror and repulsion rather than honor.

Law Upheld and Blessing Given

Enduring the prescribed penalty leaves the law intact rather than removing, weakening, abolishing or setting it aside, for the suffering honors the law, acknowledges the justice of its sentence and meets its claims without weakening them, so that God can justify believers while remaining just and upholding the honor and integrity of his throne. The law with its curse against transgression still stands, its death sentence on transgressors cannot be annulled, and redemption from the curse leaves the law still in force so that further transgression again brings its penalty.

Redemption from the curse removes the barrier that stood between transgressors and the blessing, which is the blessing of the gospel, so that the blessing promised to Abraham can come to the Gentiles through Jesus Christ. That curse rested on Gentiles as well as others, and Christ bore it by hanging on the tree to redeem believers from it and even from the Sinai covenant, a finished redemption already accomplished where the cross is what removes the curse. Through him all may receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.

This redemption becomes effective for those who accept his death as their substitute and yield allegiance to him, for through faith in the crucified Christ sinners are freed from sin and its curse, made the righteousness of God in him, clothed with his righteousness and complete in him, adopted as sons and heirs of God unto everlasting life. His death makes mercy and pardon available to those who repent and believe, bringing freedom from sin through the Spirit and hope of the sinless inheritance, the new earth where righteousness dwells.

At Calvary the Son of God was made accursed by God's law so that pardon could reach repentant sinners, showing both how deeply God hates sin and how earnestly he desires to save the sinner. He was nailed to the accursed tree and bore suffering for humanity, giving himself to save the lost and rebellious and to make atonement through his blood. Wood, hammer and nails were not what truly held him there, for human hatred and sin brought the cross and his love held him fast.