The Hanged Man Deuteronomy 21:22-23

Text Read

Deuteronomy 21:22–23 ““And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, for a hanged man is cursed by God. You shall not defile your land that the Lord your God is giving you for an inheritance.”

Text Explained

Today’s text begins with 3 if’s: 1st) if a man has committed a crime punishable by death. So the first step is someone has committed a crime that warrants capital punishment and is found guilty of that crime. 2nd) if that person is put to death. The most common method of execution according to the Law of Moses was stoning. So the man has committed a crime worthy of death, he is found guilty, and the sentence is carried out. 3rd) If you hang him on a tree. So the person is executed and then community wants to publicly demonstrate the consequences of whatever law was broken, they were allowed to hang the corpse of the dead criminal on a tree. The word tree here could be a tree or even a wooden post. As one scholar points out, “the gruesome sight would then serve as a warning to the population of the results of breaking those laws which were punishable by death...The legislation, however, does not initiate the practice, which seems to be very ancient, but it only imposes certain limitations on the use of the practice.” (Craigie, P. C. (1976). The Book of Deuteronomy (p. 285). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.) The (Law) Code of Hammurabi, written in 1750 BC states “If a man has smashed a way into a house, they shall kill him by hanging him just where he broke in.” (Richardson, M. E. J. (2004). Hammurabi’s laws: text, translation, and glossary (p. 49). T&T Clark.) We also find this method of publicly shaming a deceased criminal in the story of Joseph when he interprets the dream of the baker Genesis 40:19 “In three days Pharaoh will lift up your head—from you!—and hang you on a tree. And the birds will eat the flesh from you.” So the idea of hanging a criminal on a tree in order to demonstrate to all who see that this person had broken the Law was quite an old practice. For Israel, the point was to publicly shame the criminal so that others would see the consequences of breaking the Law of God. This is very much in line with the recurring phrase Deuteronomy 21:21b “...So you shall purge the evil from your midst, and all Israel shall hear, and fear.” The person was executed and then hung for all to witness the penalty of sin/the breaking of God’s Law. As we noticed, this was not a practice initiated by the Israelites, but the practice was given a limitation: his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall bury him the same day, (vs23). So we find that they were allowed to leave the body for only the remainder of the day. At sunset, the person was to be removed and their body buried. The reason for this quick turnaround is simple: for a hanged man is cursed by God. (vs23) The only reason a person is hanged, according to the Law, is because they have committed a sin not only worthy of death, but worthy of being made a public example of. In other words, the crime was so great that executing the person was not enough of a punishment for the Israelites to hear and fear. The judges of the case would have deemed the crime so great that they had to make a spectacle out of the criminal. This is the reason why the text says “a hanged man is cursed by God.” The sinner has been found guilty, condemned, executed, and hung for all to see the consequences/cost of his sin. The hanged one is a public example of God’s judgment upon sin. They had sinned, they had recieved the penalty of sin, and the curse of the Law/curse of God shown the consequences of their sin. As one scholar notes: “The body was not accursed of God (or lit. “curse of God”) because it was hanging on a tree; it was hanging on a tree because it was accursed of God. And the body was not accursed of God simply because it was dead (for all men die), but it was accursed because of the reason for the death.” (Craigie, P. C. (1976). The Book of Deuteronomy (p. 285). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.)

Text Applied

Romans 3:19 “Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God.” Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” and Romans 6:23a “For the wages of sin is death...” You see, the Law tells us exactly where we fall short. It tells us how our pride, lust, conceit, lies, etc are sins and specifically where we have fallen short. The wages of our sin is death. Yet Isaiah 53:3–8a “He/Jesus was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not. Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. We looked on Him as the Jews looked upon any man hung on a tree, cursed by God. But instead of being cursed as a consequence of His own sin, He was pierced for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed, and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth. By oppression and judgment He was taken away...” You see, He became the curse for us. Our place our position was on that cross. Our sin had earned us death and being made a public example. Our sin brought the curse of God upon us. Yet Galatians 3:13 “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”—” You see when Christ hung on the Cross, He took the sin of all the world and became sin for us. 2 Corinthians 5:21 “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” He took our place, He had done nothing worthy of death, we did, we broke the Law. Yet He stood in our place, was hung on the tree, and endured being cursed by God. Matthew 27:35–46 “And when they had crucified him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots. Then they sat down and kept watch over him there. And over his head they put the charge against him, which read, “This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.” Then two robbers were crucified with him, one on the right and one on the left. And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, “You who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, save yourself! If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross.” So also the chief priests, with the scribes and elders, mocked him, saying, “He saved others; he cannot save himself. He is the King of Israel; let him come down now from the cross, and we will believe in him. He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.’ ” And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way. Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”” He was mocked by those who He came to save. He was forsaken by God, and He died in our place. Yet as the Apostle Peter testified Acts 10:39–43“They put him to death by hanging him on a tree, but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as witnesses, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. And he commanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be judge of the living and the dead. To him all the prophets bear witness that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name.”” He suffered, bled, and died, He was smitten by God and afflicted for our sins, yet He has risen indeed and offers forgiveness to any who repent/believe on His name. For whether a person believes or not, Jesus will return, He will come with power and He will judge the living and the dead. As the Apostle John writes in Revelation 20:11–15 “Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it. From his presence earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” Dear one, He is able to forgive because He stood in our place. He is able to offer it freely because He paid your debt. You need only believe. However, if you refuse, He will let you bear your own sins and the consequences of them. He will let you have that which you desire, an eternity apart from Him. He will judge and He will judge perfectly. The consequences of being judged apart from Jesus is to be accursed by God. The choice is simple, accept His payment on your behalf or pay your debt yourself.