לתשובת המינים

Deuteronomy 21:23

Who was Hung on a Tree?

Galatians 3:13

"His body shall not remain for the night on the gallows, rather you shall surely bury him on that day, for a hanging person is a curse of God"

In May 20011 President Barak Obama announced that the terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden had been found and killed by U.S. Military. In order to avoid the challenge of finding a location willing to host his remains, and to avoid such a location becoming a magnet for his followers and sympathizers he was buried at sea. It was also noted that out of consideration of Muslim practice his burial was not delayed. While undoubtedly there were those who objected to such a "politically correct" sentiment, the truth is the Muslim and Jewish practice of speedy burial is rooted in Deuteronomy 21:23’s instruction that a criminal should be buried on the self-same day he was executed.

In the book of Galatians, Paul quotes this verse as "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree." He argues that by being executed on a cross, the Nazarene became a curse and therefore redeemed believers from the curse of the Law. (I personally have difficulty understanding how Paul's made the leap from the Nazarene being cursed by being hung on a tree to the Nazarene becoming a curse by being hung on a tree.)

The Torah teaches us in verse 22 that the body of someone who is executed is to be hung from gallows. This is traditionally understood as referring to someone executed for idolatry or blasphemy. But regardless of the crime for which this punishment is imposed the hanging is not a means of execution but rather done after the execution. Then our verse comes in to tell us that we are forbidden to leave the body hanging overnight.

So we are forbidden to leave a person because of this curse. The question is if a person who is hung is cursed by hanging what difference does it make if he is left up overnight? The passage doesn’t suggest that a person will be cursed on if he is left hanging. In fact that would be contrary to Paul's point since the Nazarene wasn't left hanging overnight. The reason he must be removed is that our verse doesn't say that the executed individual will be cursed.

You will notice a subtle difference between the translation given above and that of Paul, or most other Christians for that matter. While Paul says that the one who is hung is cursed, our translation says that the person hung is a curse of God. The Hebrew word for curse here is קִלְלַת, which is a feminine noun (which appears in our verse in the construct.), not a verb. A curse, not cursed.

In reality we do not leave a body hanging because it is a curse, or reproach, of God. The hanging is to serve as a warning to those who would follow in the footsteps of the convict, but after accomplishing this leaving the body hanging provides an unnecessary reminder of the offense against Hashem. This passage refers to a procedure preformed on criminals under Jewish law is considerably different than the crucifixion of the Nazarene under Rome. Certainly the "curse" caused by this criminal cannot by any stretch be taken to mean that someone supposedly perfectly innocent would actually "become" a curse.