#44 — Parshat Ki Tetzei
Devarim 21:10-25:19
Overview
Parshat Ki Teitzei contains a great variety of laws, rules, prohibitions, statutes, and commandments. These cover broadly diverse topics: marrying a female captive; being a good neighbor; even the preservation of birds. Further commands concern sexual immorality; exclusion from the assembly of Israel; purity of the army’s camp; proper treatment of the vulnerable and poor; divorce; levirate marriage; honesty; and finally the commandment to blot out the memory of Amalek.
The Paradox of the Cursed Hanged Man
A detail of great significance
Amidst all the diverse commandments we find in Parshat Ki Teitzei, something in one of the commandments stands out with special significance in the light of G-d’s later acts of redemption.
Here is the commandment:
And if a man has committed a crime punishable by death
and he is put to death and you hang him on a tree,
his body shall not remain all night on the tree,
but you shall bury him the same day,
for a hanged man is cursed by G-d.
You shall not defile the land that the L-RD your G-d is giving you for an inheritance.
The second-to-last phrase, “For a hanged man is cursed by G-d” [1] is something we really should underscore; Both in the light of the Torah’s main theme of curse and blessing, and specifically as it relates to G-d’s amazingly gracious provision as His story of redemption unfolds.
The commandment
What’s this commandment about? It concerns “a man in whom is a sin deserving death” who is hanged. Clearly punishment for serious sin is in view.
A good example of this is found in Numbers 25:4. After the egregious sins of idolatry and sexual immorality at Baal Peor, the L-RD instructed that the chiefs of the people should be hung. [2]
But the commandment further states that the corpse of the criminal should not be left hanging overnight, but surely must be buried the same day. The L-RD doesn’t want the land He gives to Israel as an inheritance to be defiled with slowly decaying corpses that remain on display. For a hanged man is cursed by G-d.
The opposite of the blessed life in G-d’s presence
In thinking about the reason for this commandment, we should remember that in the Torah death and decay are the opposite of holiness and life in G-d’s presence. The land which G-d gives to Israel is the land where He desires to dwell among His people. This death and decay doesn’t fit in the land of His presence. His land is the land of the living.
We see in this commandment a positive message which reveals the heart of the L-RD: a cursed death, which has the signature of G-d’s wrath, should not continue to mar the landscape. [3]
The commandment also illustrates the principle we find in the Psalms: In all G-d’s not-to-be-underestimated severity, “His anger is but for a moment but life is in His favour” (Psalm 30:5).
The L-RD doesn’t want the corpse to remain on display because He also wants to give us the message that “He will not keep His anger forever.” “For a hanged man is cursed by the L-RD” (Deuteronomy 22:23).
Curse and blessing
But there is still more to which we should pay attention. Curse and blessing is a main theme in the Torah. G-d’s heart is clearly to bless, but our rebellion in the presence of His holiness brings the blessing in serious jeopardy. Of note, the Torah is bookended by two curses of death away from G-d’s presence. First, the curse of death after the expulsion from the garden of Eden; and second, the prediction of exile for breaking G-d’s covenant.
In this light, the “hung man in whom sin deserving death is found” is a shocking reminder of where rebellion and sin brought us. Breaking G-d’s law leads to this cursed death.
But then the L-RD gives an amazing turn-around.
The changed perspective of Saul of Tarsus
“A hanged man cursed by the L-RD” was what Saul of Tarsus (a first-century zealous disciple of the famous Gamliel the Elder) concluded about Jesus of Nazareth. He was convinced that the followers of the hanged Jesus of Nazareth, who had been deemed to be a blasphemer, must be opposed to the utmost. He did all he could to persecute them and stop the early movement of the Nazarenes.
But then with blinding light, the resurrected Jesus stopped Saul in his tracks. He revealed Himself to Saul who He actually is: Yeshua, G-d’s salvation.
This encounter radically changed Saul’s perspective. No, he didn’t question what the Torah said about a “hanged man” being “cursed by G-d.” But he now understood what had actually happened to Yeshua when He was hanged. As Saul wrote it: Messiah redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us – for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree” (Galatians 3:13).
Jesus of Nazareth was indeed cursed – but not for His own sins, for He was sinless! Yeshua took the curse for our covenant breaking upon Himself, to redeem us! He was cursed for us!
This is the same change of perspective we find in Isaiah 53:
We esteemed Him stricken, smitten by G-d, and afflicted.
But He was pierced for our transgressions;
He was crushed for our iniquities (Isaiah 53:5).
Amazingly, in fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy, Yeshua is the hanged man who was cursed so we can be blessed.
The ultimate turn around
When Yeshua the Messiah died on the cross, the commandment not to leave a hanged man overnight on the tree was observed. Yes, His sacrificial death, bearing the wrath of G-d for us, was something that had to take place. But also in this case the L-RD didn’t want the punishment to last longer than necessary.
Yeshua will be remembered forever as the Lamb that was slain for us, but He didn’t stay on the cross. Before the sun set, he was given a proper burial – actually in a rich man’s grave (see Matthew 27:57-60; John 19:31-42; compare with Isaiah 53:9).
But the story of this “hung man” didn’t end there. “Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with the morning” (Psalm 30:5). In Yeshua’s case on the morning of the third day: He rose from the dead. The resurrection was G-d’s powerful way to make it abundantly clear: Yeshua did not die for His own sins but for our sins which deserved death. Messiah Jesus died to give us life.
If anything makes it clear that G-d’s heart is to bless us, it is Yeshua’s resurrection. Messiah’s triumph over the grave truly turns our “mourning into dancing” (Psalm 30:11).
When we put our faith in Him, the tension between curse and blessing is resolved for us forever. Yes, we still see the seriousness of G-d’s holy indignation over our sins, but because of Yeshua who was hanged for us we experience in a personal way this reality:
In overflowing anger for a moment I hid my face from you,
but with everlasting love I have compassion on you. (Isaiah 54:8)
Literally, “curse of G-d,” but clearly in the sense of “cursed by G-d.” The Septuagint, the oldest Jewish translation into Greek, similarly understood the phrase קללת אלהים.
According to a minority report in the Mishna, the criminal’s body always had to be hung after stoning; according to the majority report, this had to be done only in the cases of idolatry and blasphemy (Mishnah Sanhedrin 6).
This commandment wasn’t strictly followed when David dealt with the curse on the land because of what Saul and his family had done to the Gibeonites (2 Samuel 21:1-14). In light of the commandment, it is significant that only afterthe hanged men of Saul’s family were given a proper burial that G-d was moved by prayer for the land (2 Samuel 21:14).