The Cursed Man on a Tree
Deuteronomy 21:22–23 is the movement “The Cursed Man on a Tree.” Read it inside Moses’ final covenant instruction to Israel on the eastern side of the Jordan as the people prepare for life in the land. The section opens with: “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:” It closes with: “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.”
Within the book’s larger story, this section advances several important biblical threads. Blessing and Curse: The curse attached to one hung on a tree becomes an explicit Christological text in Galatians 3:13.