Deuteronomy 21:15-23: a reflection

15If a man has two wives, the one beloved and the other hated, and they have borne him children, both the beloved and the hated, and if the firstborn son is hers who was hated, 16then it shall be, in the day that he causes his sons to inherit that which he has, that he may not give the son of the beloved the rights of the firstborn before the son of the hated, who is the firstborn; 17but he shall acknowledge the firstborn, the son of the hated, by giving him a double portion of all that he has; for he is the beginning of his strength. The right of the firstborn is his. 18If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and though they chasten him, will not listen to them, 19then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city and to the gate of his place. 20They shall tell the elders of his city, “This our son is stubborn and rebellious. He will not obey our voice. He is a glutton and a drunkard.” 21All the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones. So you shall remove the evil from among you. All Israel shall hear, and fear. 22If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23his body shall not remain all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him the same day; for he who is hanged is accursed of God. Don’t defile your land which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance.

Among these laws is one that would take on a profound meaning far beyond its original setting. If a man guilty of a capital crime is executed and his body hung on a tree, it is not to remain overnight, for, the law says, he who is hanged is accursed of God. To hang on a tree was to bear a curse, to be marked as accursed. And this is the very thing the New Testament sees fulfilled in Christ: that Christ, hung on the tree of the cross, bore the curse, becoming accursed for us, to redeem us from the curse we deserved.

Notice what it meant to be hanged on a tree: to bear a curse. The one hanged on a tree was, the law said, accursed of God; the tree marked him as bearing a curse. And Christ, crucified, was hanged on a tree; he took that place, bearing the curse. He who was without sin became, on the cross, a curse for us, taking upon himself the curse our sin deserved. What the law marked as the place of the accursed, Christ took, becoming a curse in our place, that we might be redeemed from the curse.

That is the heart of the good news, and worth resting in: that Christ became a curse for us, taking on the cross the curse we deserved. We deserved the curse, having broken God's law; but Christ, hanged on the tree, took that curse upon himself, becoming accursed in our place, that we might be freed from it. Rest not in your own efforts to escape the curse your sin deserves, but in Christ, who became a curse for you, hanged on the tree in your place. When you are burdened by the curse your sin deserves, remember that Christ took it, hanged on a tree, becoming accursed for you, that you might be redeemed. Receive the redemption Christ won by becoming a curse for you, taking on the cross the curse you deserved, as the law marked the one hanged on a tree as accursed, and Christ took that place for us, that we might be freed from the curse and blessed in him.

Lord, among these laws is one that would take on a profound meaning far beyond its original setting. If a man guilty of a capital crime is executed and his body hung on a tree, it is not to remain overnight, for, the law says, he who is hanged is accursed of God. To hang on a tree was to bear a curse. And this is the very thing the New Testament sees fulfilled in Christ: that Christ, hung on the tree of the cross, bore the curse, becoming accursed for us, to redeem us from the curse we deserved. Show me what it meant to be hanged on a tree: to bear a curse. The one hanged on a tree was, the law said, accursed of God. And Christ, crucified, was hanged on a tree; he took that place, bearing the curse. He who was without sin became, on the cross, a curse for us, taking upon himself the curse my sin deserved. What the law marked as the place of the accursed, Christ took, that I might be redeemed. That is the heart of the good news, and worth resting in: that Christ became a curse for me, taking on the cross the curse I deserved. I deserved the curse, having broken your law; but Christ, hanged on the tree, took that curse upon himself, that I might be freed from it. Keep me from resting in my own efforts to escape the curse my sin deserves; help me rest in Christ, who became a curse for me. When I am burdened by the curse my sin deserves, help me remember that Christ took it, hanged on a tree, becoming accursed for me. Help me receive the redemption Christ won by becoming a curse for me, Lord, that I might be freed from the curse and blessed in him.