Deuteronomy 21 outlines 4 acceptable methods of capital punishment, including strangulation, stoning, death by\u00a0sword, 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’)”.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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\u2014to redeem us. How will we ever thank Him enough?<\/p>\n
“We do thank you, LORD, for forgiveness and mercy. Please guide us this day we pray, in Jesus’ name.”<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n =============================================================<\/p>\n\n\n\n Deuteronomy 21 KJV<\/p>\n\n\n\n 1<\/sup>\u00a0If\u00a0one\u00a0<\/em>be found slain in the land which the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God giveth thee to possess it, lying in the field,\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>it be not known who hath slain him:\u00a02<\/sup>\u00a0Then thy elders and thy judges shall come forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which\u00a0are\u00a0<\/em>round about him that is slain:\u00a03<\/sup>\u00a0And it shall be,\u00a0that\u00a0<\/em>the city\u00a0which is<\/em> next unto the slain man, even the elders of that city shall take an heifer, which hath not been wrought with,\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>which hath not drawn in the yoke;\u00a04<\/sup>\u00a0And 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\u2019s neck there in the valley:\u00a05<\/sup>\u00a0And the priests the sons of Levi shall come near; for them the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God hath chosen to minister unto him, and to bless in the name of the\u00a0LORD; and by their word shall every controversy and every stroke be\u00a0tried:\u00a0<\/em>\u00a06<\/sup>\u00a0And all the elders of that city,\u00a0that are\u00a0<\/em>next unto the slain\u00a0man\u00a0<\/em>, shall wash their hands over the heifer that is beheaded in the valley:\u00a07<\/sup>\u00a0And they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen\u00a0it\u00a0<\/em>.\u00a08<\/sup>\u00a0Be merciful, O\u00a0LORD, unto thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, and lay not innocent blood unto thy people of Israel\u2019s charge. And the blood shall be forgiven them.\u00a0\u00a09<\/sup>\u00a0So shalt thou put away the\u00a0guilt of<\/em>innocent blood from among you, when thou shalt do\u00a0that which is\u00a0<\/em>right in the sight of the\u00a0LORD. 10<\/sup>\u00a0When thou goest forth to war against thine enemies, and the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God hath delivered them into thine hands, and thou hast taken them captive,\u00a011<\/sup>\u00a0And seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and hast a desire unto her, that thou wouldest have her to thy wife;\u00a012<\/sup>\u00a0Then thou shalt bring her home to thine house; and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails;\u00a0\u00a013<\/sup>\u00a0And 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.\u00a014<\/sup>\u00a0And 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<\/sup> If a man have two wives, one beloved, and another hated, and they have born him children,\u00a0both\u00a0<\/em>the beloved and the hated; and\u00a0if\u00a0<\/em>the firstborn son be hers that was hated:\u00a016<\/sup>Then it shall be, when he maketh his sons to inherit\u00a0that\u00a0<\/em>which he hath,\u00a0that\u00a0<\/em>he may not make the son of the beloved firstborn before the son of the hated,\u00a0which is indeed\u00a0<\/em>the firstborn:\u00a017<\/sup>But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated\u00a0for\u00a0<\/em>the firstborn, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath: for he\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn\u00a0is<\/em>his.\u00a0 18<\/sup>\u00a0If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and\u00a0that\u00a0<\/em>, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them:\u00a019<\/sup>\u00a0Then 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;\u00a020<\/sup>\u00a0And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice;\u00a0he is\u00a0<\/em>a glutton, and a drunkard.\u00a021<\/sup>\u00a0And 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<\/sup>\u00a0And 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:\u00a023<\/sup>\u00a0His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged\u00a0is\u00a0<\/em>accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the\u00a0LORD\u00a0thy God giveth thee\u00a0for\u00a0<\/em>an inheritance.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Deuteronomy 21 outlines 4 acceptable methods of capital punishment, including strangulation, stoning, death by\u00a0sword, 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5991"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5991"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5991\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16024,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5991\/revisions\/16024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5991"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5991"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packinghouseredlands.org\/devotional\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5991"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}