"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: 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."

It is interesting to note that the Jewish people did not crucify criminals in the Old Testament but instead used the method of stoning. In fact, Curtis Vaughan, in his commentary on Galatians, notes that the "tree of shame" was used as an after the fact method of reminding the people of the consequence (the punishment) of sin. For after the stoning, the deceased criminal was hung or "gibbeted" (found in Webster's as meaning "an upright post with a projecting arm for hanging the bodies of executed criminals as a warning"; "to expose to infamy or public scorn") for the rest of the day. However, Moses is clear in 21:23 that his body would be taken down at sunset so as to avoid defilement from God for desecrating one of his creations.

So why would Paul use this as a cross-reference in Galatians 3:13 when he wrote, "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us:"? How could a religious Jew such as the Apostle Paul compare the suffering and death of Jesus as a fulfillment of prophecy with a Biblical passage that was originally understood as establishing the parameters for what should be done to a dead criminal? And how could one possibly draw a parallel to the curse (punishment) reserved for criminals to the sacrificial death of Jesus on the cross?

The key to understanding that Galatians 3:13 is the fulfillment of an unexpected prophetic utterance in Deuteronomy is found in the first part of 3:13 when it is written, "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us:". Paul uses this parallel to point out that it should have been all of humanity being "gibbeted" or exposed to scorn and infamy because of our sins. Instead, Jesus redeemed (written in Greek using the past tense form of ?????????) the world by ransoming us from the eternal slavery of our sins. He did this, as Paul explains, by becoming cursed for us.

Should it be considered unexpected or impossible that the Messiah would take our punishment for our redemption? Is Paul using the words of Moses in a distorted manner to justify the worship of a tried, convicted and condemned man? Obviously, the answer is no to both of these questions. Isaiah 53 (see earlier Tzedakah Moment) gives witness to the brutality imposed upon an innocent man for the sins of the world. Paul cross-references Deuteronomy to illustrate via a figure of speech that our sins earned us a place on the "tree of shame" but that Jesus took our place because his redemption (?????????) was once, final and for always.

Deuteronomy 21:22-23 and Galatians 3:13 should bring to mind the first and last lines of He Paid a Debt, "He paid a debt, he did not owe. I owed a debt, I could not pay.... Christ Jesus paid a debt that I could never pay." And aren't we glad He did!