The Relationship of Jewish and Gentile Believers to the Law Between A.D. 30 and 70 in the Scripture

177 for Christ) and neither was it the cause for the cursing. Rather, when one was put to death because of a heinous crime and thereby incurred the judgment and wrath of God he could be hung on a tree as a graphic illustration of God's curse upon that individual . Two passages in particular demonstrate the practice of hanging corpses upon the tree in the case of capital crimes , Numbers 25, and 2 Samuel 21. The first instance involves the harlotry of Israel at Baal Peor. The solution offered by God for the problem was to publicly display the executed victims in order to propitiate God's wrath: "and the LORD said to Moses , 'Take all the chiefs of the people , and hang them in the sun before the LORD , that the fierce anger of the LORD may turn away from Israel "' (Num 25:4 , RSV). Thus , the execution of the guilty parties and the public display of the curse of God upon them was the means by which God's wrath was removed from the nation. The situation in 2 Samuel 21 was precipitated by a famine in the land , the result predicted in Deuteronomy for sin. God revealed to David that the cause of the famine was Saul 's execution of certain Gibeonites in violation of the covenant made with them in the days of Joshua . The solution demanded by the Gibeonites was the death and public display of seven descendants of Saul , " let seven men from his sons be given to us, and we will hang them before the LORD in Gibeah of Saul " (2 Sam 21:6). David complied with their reque t and the even were "hanged ... in the mountain before the LORD" (21:9) o that 'after that God wa moved by entreaty for the land" (21: 14). Once again, the death of a guilty part hi h a cu ed by God and publicly di played bore th wrath that fell upon the re t of the nation . Thi eem to be the ense in which Paul under tand the quotation from Deut ronom 1: a h u e it in alatian 3. hri t ha redeemed tho e und r th ur of th I b ming ur e f aTapa ) . ub titut ho b r th f d h uld e e th ur