“If someone has committed a capital crime and is put to death, then hung on a tree, his body is not to remain all night on the tree, but you must bury him the same day, because a person who has been hanged has been cursed by God — so that you will not defile your land, which Adonai your God is giving you to inherit.”-Deuteronomy 21:22-23
Alrighty folks, put on your concentration caps today because we’re going to be talking about the crucifixion of Yeshua and how it relates to Deuteronomy 21:23 which clearly states that one who has been “hanged” is cursed by God.
First, let me remind you that hanging by the neck until dead was NOT the execution method used by the Hebrews for the death penalty in ancient Israel.
Being “hanged” in this context means being strapped to and hoisted up on a pole.
Also make sure you get that the reason one is hung on a pole is because he has been cursed by God and NOT the other way around.
One is not cursed by God as a result of being hung on a pole.
Before we begin examining one of the most famous verses in the New Testament pertaining to Yeshua being hung on a tree, do you recall what death by execution per the Torah represented?
When one was sentenced to death for a capital crime such as idolatry, adultery or murder, his execution represented a formal separation of that person from Israel and the community of God forever.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at one of the most famous and most misunderstood NT verses ever uttered by an apostle of Yeshua.
“The Messiah redeemed us from the curse
pronounced in the Torah by becoming cursed
on our behalf; for the Tanakh says,
‘Everyone who hangs from a stake
comes under a curse.‘”
-Galatians 3:13
For more familiarity, here’s the King James rendering of this verse:
“Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law,
being made a curse for us: for it is written,
Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree”
-Galatians 3:13
I’m convinced there isn’t a gentile pastor in existence past or present who properly understands this often-quoted verse of Rabbi Saul’s.
Let’s start off with the part where Paul says “it is written”.
When Paul says “it is written”, he is ONLY referring to the Holy Scriptures which is ONLY the Tanach (the books the gentiles refer to as the “Old” Testament).
Not only is Paul referring to the Tanach but he is referring specifically to Deuteronomy 21:23 where it says “Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree”.
When Paul made this statement, you had best believe the Jews at that time understood where he was coming from even if they didn’t quite catch all of the spiritual or redemptive significance of what was being communicated.
What Paul was saying here is that Yeshua took upon himself the “Curse of the Law” as a redemption payment so that if we have faith in him, we do not have to face that curse.
A quick review of what the “Curse of the Law” means is in order here as this difficult phrase is so misunderstood, especially by the gentile church.
Doctrinal Christianity has mistakenly taken the phrase the “Curse of the Law” and interpreted it in the same manner as how we use the phrases “the curse of cancer”, “the curse of old age” or “the curse of taxes” etcetera.
In other words, when you interpret it like that, the law in and of itself is being made out to be a bad thing.
However, that’s not the case.
Why?
Because just as there is a “curse” of the Law, there is also a “blessing” of the Law.
The curse of the Law is DEATH and…
…the blessing of the Law is LIFE.
If the very same law produces both a blessing and a curse, then the law itself can’t be inherently bad now, can it?
Understand that whenever we encounter the phrase “the curse of the law” in the New Testament, it is referring to only one thing.
It is referring to death both physical and spiritual which is a complete separation from God.
Another way the NT refers to the curse of the law is to point out that “the wages of sin is death”.
Understand that both of those statements, “the curse of the law” and “the wages of sin is death” are talking about the very same thing.
So what was Paul telling the Galatians?
He was saying the Father cursed Yeshua.
And what was the proof of that?
The proof was the fact that Yeshua had indeed been hung on a tree (the cross).
While he was nailed to that Roman stake, Yeshua was separated from the community of God.
This was his physical death.
Later Yeshua screamed out…
“Eli! Eli! L’mah sh’vaktani?!”
This means…
“My God! My God!
Why have you deserted me?!”
An apt response to being cursed by God if there ever was one.
Paul’s point was because of Yeshua’s sacrificial substitution, if we accept what Yeshua did for us, we will never have to worry about about uttering the words “Eli! Eli! L’mah sh’vaktani?!” ourselves on our deathbeds.
Why?
Because according to Paul, Yeshua was cursed in our place.
For those coming from a Jewish background, my apologies but if this smacks of “human sacrifice” which we all know the Torah forbids, well then it just does.
Sorry.
The best I can do to explain is to point to Ramchal’s idea of the completed Tzaddik where he says “suffering and pain may be imposed on a tzaddik (righteous person) as an atonement for his entire generation”.
In the same paragraph, he then goes on to say “God arranged matters, however, so that select perfect individuals could rectify things for others…”
You can see the whole quote and read more about it by clicking here.
Alrighty, let’s finish up this chapter because I wanna get cranking on Deuteronomy 22 from tomorrow.
One of my main points with this article is to show how by studying Torah one can get a much better picture of what really took place at Yeshua’s crucifixion.
Per the law in Deuteronomy 21, we’re told that an executed criminal had to be removed from the death stake before sundown.
That’s why the women were rushing to get Yeshua taken down off the cross before the sun set.
The reason usually given as to why the women were in such a mad rush to get Yeshua taken down is because the next day was a Sabbath.
However, that’s secondary to the fact that not to do so would have went against Deuteronomy 21:23 which says “…his body is not to remain all night on the tree, but you must bury him the same day, because a person who has been hanged has been cursed by God —so that you will not defile your land”.
If Yeshua’s body had remained on the cross, the whole land, the local community of Jerusalem including the women disciples would have come under the curse of bloodguilt.
Another interesting point is we can see the sad and depraved state of the Jewish religious leadership during Yeshua’s time.
It seems like the priests didn’t give two hoots about God’s instructions on this matter of a Jewish man (Yeshua) being left to hang on the cross overnight and thus saddle the whole community with bloodguilt.
Instead it was the common Jewish citizens who stood up and did what had to be done per God’s Torah.
NEXT TIME WE BEGIN DEUTERONOMY CHAPTER 22
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