Deuteronomy 21:22

22 `And when there is in a man a sin -- a cause of death, and he hath been put to death, and thou hast hanged him on a tree,

Deuteronomy 21:22 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 21:22

And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death
This before mentioned, or any other that deserves death, any kind of death, as strangling, killing with the sword, burning and stoning, to which the Jews restrain it here:

and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him, on a tree;
is condemned to stoning, and after that they hang him, as the Targum of Jonathan; and according to the Jewish Rabbins, as Jarchi observes, all that were stoned were to be hanged, and only men, not women ^F7; for it is remarked that it is said "him" and not "her" ^F8: about this there is a dispute in the Misnah ^F9;

``all that are stoned are hanged, they are the words of R. Eliezer; but the wise men say none are to be hanged but the blasphemer and idolater; a man is to be hanged with his face to the people, a woman with her face to the tree, they are the words of R. Eliezer; but the wise men say, a man is to be hanged, but no woman, to whom R. Eliezer replied, did not Simeon Ben Shetach hang women in Ashkelon? they answered him, he hung eighty women (at once), but they do not judge or condemn two in one day;''

so that this was a particular case at a particular time, and not be drawn into an example: in the same place it is asked,

``how they hang one? they fix a beam in the earth, and a piece of wood goes out of it (near the top of it, as one of the commentator ^F11 remarks), and join his two hands together and hang him;''

that is, by his hand, not by his neck, as with us, but rather in the crucifixion; only in that the hands are spread, and one hand is fastened to one part of the cross beam, and the other to the other end.

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FOOTNOTES:

F7 Misn. Sotah, c. 3. sect. 8.
F8 Maimon. & Bartenora in. ib.
F9 Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 6. sect. 4.
F11 Bartenora in Misn. Sanhedrin, c. 6. sect. 4.

Deuteronomy 21:22 In-Context

20 and have said unto the elders of his city, Our son -- this one -- is apostatizing and rebellious; he is not hearkening to our voice -- a glutton and drunkard;

21 and all the men of his city have stoned him with stones, and he hath died, and thou hast put away the evil out of thy midst, and all Israel do hear and fear.

22 `And when there is in a man a sin -- a cause of death, and he hath been put to death, and thou hast hanged him on a tree,

23 his corpse doth not remain on the tree, for thou dost certainly bury him in that day -- for a thing lightly esteemed of God [is] the hanged one -- and thou dost not defile thy ground which Jehovah thy God is giving to thee -- an inheritance.