Read through the Bible in 2 Years: Proverbs 27, Deuteronomy 20-21
And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree,
Deuteronomy 21:22-23 ESV
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.
The Hebrews understand this not of putting to death by hanging, but of hanging a man up after he was stoned to death; which was done more ignominiously of some heinous malefactors.
We have the examples of Rechab and Baanah, who, for murdering Ish-bosheth, were slain by David’s commandment, their hand and feet cut off, and then hanged up. 2Sa 4:12; See also Jos 8:29; Jos 10:26.
So Num 25:4; we read, “And the LORD said unto Moses, Take all the heads (chief men) of the people, and hang them up before the LORD against the sun, that the fierce anger of the LORD may be turned away from Israel.”
Among the Romans, in after ages, they hanged, or rather fastened to the tree ALIVE; and such was the cruel death of our blessed LORD and Saviour Jesus Christ.
“Treasury of Scripture Knowledge” — accessed via Blue Letter Bible
And in reference to the phrase, “a hanged man is cursed by God,” the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge has this to say,
That is, it is the highest degree of reproach that can attach to a man, and proclaims him under the curse of God as much as any external punishment can. They that see him thus hanging between heaven and earth, will conclude him abandoned of both, and unworthy of either.
Bp. Patrick observes, that this passage is applied to the death of Christ; not only because he bare our sins and was exposed to shame, as these malefactors were that were accursed of God, but because he was in the evening taken down from the cursed tree and buried, (and that by the particular care of the Jews, with an eye to this law, Jhn 19:31,) in token, that now the guilt being removed, the law was satisfied, as it was when the malefactors had hanged till sun-set: it demanded no more. Then he, and those that are his, ceased to be a curse.
And as the land of Israel was pure and clean when the body was buried, so the church is washed and cleansed by the complete satisfaction which Christ thus made.
“Treasury of Scripture Knowledge” — accessed via Blue Letter Bible
Heavenly Father, Thank You for Your mercy. Thank You for Your Son’s sacrifice on my behalf, for taking on the death that I deserved, for becoming a curse for me. Thank You that You are just, and that my account has been marked “paid in full,” that it is indeed finished, that Jesus has already satisfied the penalty for my sin. And now all I can say is Thank You. Father, help me to live a grateful life, a redeemed life, the life of a death-row criminal who has been set free and given a second chance at life. I want to walk in JOY and FREEDOM. Give me the strength, please, by Your Holy Spirit at work in me. I pray in the name of Jesus who took my place. Amen.
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