Deuteronomy 21:23 NIV

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - Deuteronomy 21:23

Deuteronomy 21:23. He is accursed of God He is in a singular manner cursed and punished by God’s appointment with a most shameful kind of punishment, as this was held among the Jews and all nations; and therefore this punishment may suffice for him, and there shall not be added to it that of lying unburied. And this curse is here appropriated to those that are hanged, to signify beforehand that Christ should undergo this execrable punishment, and be made a curse for us, (Galatians 3:13,)... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 21:1-23

Respect for human life (21:1-23)Murder made the land unclean, and the uncleanness could be removed only by the execution of the murderer (see Numbers 35:29-34). Where the murderer could not be found, the elders of the town nearest the place of the murder had to go to an unpolluted stream nearby and carry out the ritual slaughter of a young cow instead of the unknown murderer. The blood of the cow washed away in the stream symbolized the removal of uncleanness caused by the unlawful bloodshed... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Deuteronomy 21:23

accursed = a curse. Compare Numbers 25:4 . 2 Samuel 21:6 . land = soil. Hebrew. 'adamah. read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Deuteronomy 21:22-23

Ver. 22, 23. He be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree— Or, He be put to death, &c. Calmet and Waterland. Hence it appears, that this punishment was not the same with the Roman crucifixion; for they hanged men alive upon the gibbet, and there let them expire; but this was only hanging up their dead bodies, (see 2 Samuel 4:12.) and exposing them to shame for a time; a day at the longest; for they were to be buried at night: His body shall not remain all night upon the tree. See... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - Deuteronomy 21:22-23

The burial of a hanged person 21:22-23"The preceding law had proceeded from parental to official judicial authority and had prescribed the death penalty. The present case takes the judicial process a step beyond the execution, to the exposure of the corpse as a monitory, public proclamation of the satisfaction of justice." [Note: Kline, "Deuteronomy," p. 185.] The method of public execution prescribed in Israel was normally stoning. After criminals had died, sometimes their executioners hung... read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Deuteronomy 21:1-23

Expiation of Undetected Homicide. Marriage of Captive Women. Punishment of a Rebellious SonThe last sub-section of the Second Discourse begins here, containing a variety of social and domestic regulations.1-9. The Expiation of Undetected Homicide. The cases of accidental and open, wilful murder have been already provided for in Deuteronomy 19. This passage treats the case of undetected homicide. Murder pollutes the land and must be expiated. When the murderer cannot be discovered the... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Deuteronomy 21:22-23

Deuteronomy 21:22-23.—HANGING.(22) And he be put to death.—Better, and he hath been put to death. Hanging followed death in Israel (Joshua 10:26-27).(23) His body shall not remain all night.—Observed by Joshua, but broken by the Gibeonites (2 Samuel 22:9-10; 2 Samuel 22:14).He that is hanged is accursed of God.—In the LXX., “Cursed of God is every one that hangeth upon a tree,” and cited in this form by St. Paul (Galatians 3:13). We cannot see why he should be pronounced cursed, except for the... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Deuteronomy 21:1-23

THE ECONOMIC ASPECTS OF ISRAELITE LIFEIT has often and justly been said that the life of Israel is so entirely founded on the grace and favor of God that no distinction is made between the secular and the religious laws. Whatever their origin may have been, whether they had been part of the tribal constitution before Moses’ day or not, they were all regarded as Divinely given. They had been accepted as fit building stones for the great edifice of that national life in which God was to reveal... read more

Arno Clemens Gaebelein

Arno Gaebelein's Annotated Bible - Deuteronomy 21:1-23

17. The Expiation of an Uncertain Murder and Various Instructions CHAPTER 21 1. The expiation of an unknown murder (Deuteronomy 21:1-9 ) 2. Concerning a wife, who had been a prisoner of war (Deuteronomy 21:10-14 ) 3. The right of the firstborn (Deuteronomy 21:15-17 ) 4. The punishment of a rebellious son (Deuteronomy 21:18-21 ) 5. The burial of one who hanged on a tree (Deuteronomy 21:22-23 ) The expiation of an unknown murder seems to find an interesting application in the case of... read more

John Calvin

Geneva Study Bible - Deuteronomy 21:23

21:23 His body shall not remain {m} 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.(m) For God’s law is satisfied by his death, and nature abhors cruelty. read more