Deuteronomy 21:22–23: “If a man has committed a sin deserving of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, his body shall not remain overnight on the tree, but you shall surely bury him that day, so that you do not defile the land which the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance; for he who is hanged is accursed of God.”

March 8th, 2023 by Pastor Ed in devotional

Deuteronomy 21 outlines 4 acceptable methods of capital punishment, including strangulation, stoning, death by sword, and burning. But there was a 5th added when the crime was particularly notorious, hanging a man from a tree. One early Rabbi, named Eliezer, wrote, “the wise men say none are to be hanged but the blasphemer and idolater.” The Apostle Paul quotes Deuteronomy 21:23 in Galatians 3:13 as an explanation of why we are now free from the law: “Christ has 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’)”.

Jesus’ hanging on the tree was a proof that He had been made sin and a curse for His people. He bore the curse of the law for our sins. The New Testament emphasizes what God did for us. The church has historically made the mistake of over-emphasizing what we could and should do for God, moving from a life of faith, grace, and spirit to a life of law, works, and fleshly efforts. Whenever we do this we go from a life of blessing and victory to one of defeat. God intended the law to show us our inadequacy and our need of Him. It was never intended to make men feel righteous.

The law is like a mirror or a thermometer. We might look in a mirror and see that our hair is messed up, but we would never try to use the mirror to comb our hair. We might take our temperature with a thermometer and discover we have a fever and are sick, but we wouldn’t try to use the thermometer to cure our sickness. The law reveals our spiritual illness, but it cannot do anything about that illness. Anyone who attempts to have a relationship with God by keeping the law is automatically condemned by the law because every human being breaks the law, which results in the curse or judgment of the law. This is why Jesus took the punishment that we deserved, allowing His creation to hang Him on a tree in order to redeem it—to redeem us. How will we ever thank Him enough?

“We do thank you, LORD, for forgiveness and mercy. Please guide us this day we pray, in Jesus’ name.”

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Deuteronomy 21 KJV

¹ If one be found slain in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it, lying in the field, and it be not known who hath slain him: ² Then thy elders and thy judges shall come forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about him that is slain: ³ And it shall be, that the city which is next unto the slain man, even the elders of that city shall take an heifer, which hath not been wrought with, and which hath not drawn in the yoke; ⁴ And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer unto a rough valley, which is neither eared nor sown, and shall strike off the heifer’s neck there in the valley: ⁵ And the priests the sons of Levi shall come near; for them the LORD thy God hath chosen to minister unto him, and to bless in the name of the LORD; and by their word shall every controversy and every stroke be tried:  ⁶ And all the elders of that city, that are next unto the slain man , shall wash their hands over the heifer that is beheaded in the valley: ⁷ And they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it . ⁸ Be merciful, O LORD, unto thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, and lay not innocent blood unto thy people of Israel’s charge. And the blood shall be forgiven them.  ⁹ So shalt thou put away the guilt ofinnocent blood from among you, when thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the LORD. ¹⁰ When thou goest forth to war against thine enemies, and the LORD thy God hath delivered them into thine hands, and thou hast taken them captive, ¹¹ And seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and hast a desire unto her, that thou wouldest have her to thy wife; ¹² Then thou shalt bring her home to thine house; and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails;  ¹³ And she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in thine house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month: and after that thou shalt go in unto her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife. ¹⁴ And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then thou shalt let her go whither she will; but thou shalt not sell her at all for money, thou shalt not make merchandise of her, because thou hast humbled her. ¹⁵ If a man have two wives, one beloved, and another hated, and they have born him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the firstborn son be hers that was hated: ¹⁶Then it shall be, when he maketh his sons to inherit that which he hath, that he may not make the son of the beloved firstborn before the son of the hated, which is indeed the firstborn: ¹⁷But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath: for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn ishis.  ¹⁸ If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that , when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: ¹⁹ Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; ²⁰ And they shall say unto 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. ²¹ And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear. ²² And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree: ²³ 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 accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance.