Hanging

How Nave’s arranged it

• Capital punishment byGenesis 40:19–22Joshua 8:292 Samuel 4:12Esther 7:10
• The curse of death byDeuteronomy 21:22Deuteronomy 21:23Galatians 3:13
• See Punishment

The passages, in Bible order (7)

The same references, sorted Genesis to Revelation. The first 7 are quoted in full; the rest are one click beneath them, book by book.

1. Genesis 40:19–22

   Within three days Pharaoh will lift off your head and hang you on a tree. Then the birds will eat the flesh of your body.”

   ›Commentary on Genesis 40:19–221 voice

   “Lift up thy head from off thee - Thus we find that beheading, hanging, and gibbeting, were modes of punishment among the ancient Egyptians; but the criminal was beheaded before he was hanged, and then either hanged on hooks, or by the hands. See Lam 5:12.

   Everything gathered on Genesis 40:19–22→

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2. Deuteronomy 21:22

   If a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is executed, and you hang his body on a tree,

   ›Commentary on Deuteronomy 21:222 voices

   “22, 23. if a man have committed a sin . . . and thou hang him on a tree--Hanging was not a Hebrew form of execution (gibbeting is meant), but the body was not to be left to rot or be a prey to ravenous birds; it was to be buried "that day," either because the stench in a hot climate would corrupt the air, or the spectacle of an exposed corpse bring ceremonial defilement on the land.

   “There were four methods of execution in use among the ancient Jews; stoning (Exo 17:4; Deu 13:10, etc.), burning Lev 20:14; Lev 21:9, the sword Exo 32:27, and strangulation. The latter, though not named in Scripture, is regarded by the rabbis as the most common, and the proper one to be adopted when no other is expressly enjoined by the Law. Suspension, whether from cross, stake, or gallows, was not used as a mode of taking life, but was sometimes added after death as an enhancement of punishment.

   Everything gathered on Deuteronomy 21:22→

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3. Deuteronomy 21:23

   you must not leave the body on the tree overnight, but you must be sure to bury him that day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse. You must not defile the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.

   ›Commentary on Deuteronomy 21:232 voices

   “He that is hanged is accursed of God - i. e. “Bury him that is hanged out of the way before evening: his hanging body defiles the land; for God’s curse rests on it.” The curse of God is probably regarded as lying on the malefactor because, from the fact of his being hanged, be must have been guilty of a especially atrocious breach of God’s covenant. Such an offender could not remain on the face of the earth without defiling it (compare Lev 18:25, Lev 18:28; Num 35:34).

   “If any of our own people also inquire, not from love of debate but from love of learning, why he suffered death in no other way except on the cross, let him also be told that no other way than this was good for us and that it was well that the Lord suffered this for our sakes. For if he himself came to bear the curse laid upon us, how else could he have "become a curse" unless he received the death set for a curse? And that is the cross.

   Everything gathered on Deuteronomy 21:23→

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4. Joshua 8:29

   He hung the king of Ai on a tree until evening, and at sunset Joshua commanded that they take down the body from the tree and throw it down at the entrance of the city gate. And over it they raised a large pile of rocks, which remains to this day.

   ›Commentary on Joshua 8:292 voices

   “An immense cairn was raised over his grave--an ancient usage, still existing in the East, whereby is marked the sepulchre of persons whose memory is infamous.

   “The king of Ai he hanged on a tree - He had gone out at the head of his men, and had been taken prisoner, Jos 8:23; and the battle being over, he was ordered to be hanged, probably after having been strangled, or in some way deprived of life, as in the case mentioned Jos 10:26, for in those times it was not customary to hang people alive. As soon as the sun was down - It was not lawful to let the bodies remain all night upon the tree. See the note on Deu 21:

   Everything gathered on Joshua 8:29→

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5. 2 Samuel 4:12

   So David commanded his young men, and they killed Rechab and Baanah. They cut off their hands and feet and hung their bodies by the pool in Hebron, but they took the head of Ish-bosheth and buried it in Abner’s tomb in Hebron.

   ›Commentary on 2 Samuel 4:122 voices

   “Ish-bosheth, the son of Saul, is killed through a ruse at the hands of Rechab and Baanah, the sons of Rimmon, the Beerothite. And, when they announced the news to David and showed him the head of his enemy, they were killed by David, who said, "Wicked men have slain a just man in his own house upon his bed." Ish-bosheth was certainly not a just man, and yet he is called a just man because he was innocently killed.

   “And they slew them - None ever more richly deserved death; and by this act of justice, David showed to all Israel that he was a decided enemy to the destruction of Saul’s family; and that none could lift up their hands against any of them without meeting with condign punishment. In all these cases I know not that it was possible for David to show more sincerity, or a stricter regard for justice.

   Everything gathered on 2 Samuel 4:12→

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6. Esther 7:10

   So they hanged Haman on the gallows he had prepared for Mordecai. Then the fury of the king subsided.

   ›Commentary on Esther 7:102 voices

   “So they hanged Haman on the gallows that he had prepared for Mordecai--He has not been the only plotter of mischief whose feet have been taken in the net which they hid (Ps 9:15). But never was condemnation more just, and retribution more merited, than the execution of that gigantic criminal.

   “It is written in Proverbs: "He who digs a pit will fall into it; and when one starts a stone rolling it will roll back upon him" (Proverbs 26). So too Haman was forced to suffer the cross he had prepared for Mordecai. We might, …

   Everything gathered on Esther 7:10→

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7. Galatians 3:13

   Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a tree.”

   ›Commentary on Galatians 3:132 voices

   “In order to redeem us from the curse of the law, Christ became a curse for us. This was demonstrated visibly when He hung on the cross.

   “The curse is the divine condemnation of sin which leads to death. To this curse we lay exposed; but Christ on his cross identified himself with the doom impending on sinners that, through his act, the curse passes away and we go free.

   Everything gathered on Galatians 3:13→

   Verse page →Original language →