“With that, Y’hoshua struck them and put them to death, hanging them on five trees, where they remained hanging until evening.”-Joshua 10:22
Things just go from bad to worse for the 5-king coalition that had attacked Gibeon.
First, they were humiliated when Joshua’s officers placed their feet on the back of their necks demonstrating just who was boss.
Second, we’re told Joshua executed the kings and hung their bodies on five trees (one each).
Now I need to clarify something here.
Although a lot of Bible translations will say the kings were “hung on a tree”, this does NOT mean they were hung with a rope that was tied around their necks.
Rather, what really happened was their dead bodies were literally impaled on wooden poles.
The Hebrew word being used for “tree” here is עֵץ or ETS.
It’s the exact same word used for Biblical expressions like the “tree of life” or “a tree that bears much fruit” etc.
And just to be a clear, it’s also a word that can mean a “wooden pole”.
Here’s the thing.
In the ancient orient, impaling a dead body on a pole meant that the convicted person had been cursed by God (or gods if we’re dealing with a heathen culture).
And this idea wasn’t foreign to the Torah as we can see from these verses in the Book of Deuteronomy.
“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
Notice the law also points out that the bodies had to be taken down before the sun set.
There’s something else really significant I want to point out.
This idea that a person “hung on a tree” was cursed is carried right over into the New Testament.
Check out this verse from the Book of Galatians.
“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
And no, it didn’t matter whether the wooden “tree” was a pole or a cross or whether they were impaled or crucified like Yeshua was.
A condemned person who was hung on a tree whether by impalement or crucifixion, was considered cursed all the same.
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