If
a man has committed a sin worthy of 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 surely bury him the same day; for he who is hanged is accursed of God; that you don’t defile your land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance.
Deuteronomy 21:22-23
Deuteronomy 21 [20.] They shall tell the elders of his city, “This our son is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard.” All the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall remove the evil from among you. All Israel shall hear, and fear.
Deuteronomy 21 [22.] If a man has committed a sin worthy of 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 surely bury him the same day; for he who is hanged is accursed of God; that you don’t defile your land which Yahweh your God gives you for an inheritance.
Deuteronomy 22 [1.] You shall not see your brother’s ox or his sheep go astray, and hide yourself from them. You shall surely bring them again to your brother. If your brother isn’t near to you, or if you don’t know him, then you shall bring it home to your house, and it shall be with you until your brother comes looking for it, and you shall restore it to him. So you shall do with his donkey. So you shall do with his garment. So you shall do with every lost thing of your brother’s, which he has lost, and you have found. You may not hide yourself. You shall not see your brother’s donkey or his ox fallen down by the way, and hide yourself from them. You shall surely help him to lift them up again.
Meaning:
These two verses deal with the body of an executed criminal. The law seems small and technical, yet it stands behind the haste of Jesus’ burial in the Gospels, and Paul uses it to explain the meaning of the cross.
- “If a man has committed a sin worthy of death … and you hang him on a tree”
In ancient Israel, hanging on a tree was not normally the method of execution. A criminal was first put to death, often by stoning, as in the verses just before. His body could then be hung on a tree or wooden post as a public sign that he had been judged. It was a warning to the community that sin brings serious consequences.
- “his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him the same day”
The law set a strict limit on this display. The body had to be taken down and buried before night. Justice was to be done, but without cruelty or endless humiliation. Even a condemned criminal remained a human being, and his body was to be treated with respect. This is why Joseph of Arimathaea hurried to ask for Jesus’ body before evening (Mark 15:42-45) and laid it in a tomb that same day (Mark 15:46-47).
- “for he who is hanged is accursed of God”
The hanging showed that the person had come under God’s judgment. A body left exposed was a picture of that curse, and leaving it there would “defile your land”, the land Yahweh had given his people as a holy inheritance.
When the crowd cried, “Crucify him!” (Mark 15:13), they were demanding that Jesus die on a tree, the death the law described as accursed. Paul explains the astonishing meaning of this: “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree,”” (Galatians 3:13-14). Jesus did not deserve the curse; he took it on himself so that “the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Christ Jesus”.
The Significance of Deuteronomy 21:22-23
- The curse carried away
Every sinner stands under God’s just judgment. On the cross Jesus bore that judgment in our place. “For him who knew no sin he made to be sin on our behalf; so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21).
- Justice with mercy
Even in punishment, God’s law limited cruelty and protected human dignity. God’s people are called to reflect both justice and mercy in the way they treat others.
Cross-References:
Galatians 3:13-14: "Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us." Paul applies this law to the cross.
Mark 15:42-45: "When evening had now come, because it was the Preparation Day, that is, the day before the Sabbath," Jesus was buried before nightfall.
John 12:32: "And I, if I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself." The one hung on a tree draws all people.
Conclusion: Deuteronomy 21:22-23 commanded that the body of an executed criminal hung on a tree must be buried the same day, because one who is hanged is under God’s curse and the land must not be defiled. The law limited humiliation and protected the land’s holiness. In the New Testament it explains the hurried burial of Jesus and, above all, the meaning of his death: Christ became a curse for us on the tree, so that we might be redeemed and receive God’s blessing.
PIB Scriptures are derived from the World English Bible