John Calvin Commentary Deuteronomy 21:22

"And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree;" — Deuteronomy 21:22 (ASV)

The object of this precept was to banish inhumanity and barbarism from the chosen people, and also to impress upon them horror even of a just execution. And surely the body of a man suspended on a cross is a sad and hideous spectacle, for the rights of burial are ordained for man, both as a pledge and symbol of the resurrection, and also to spare the eyes of the living, lest they be defiled by the sight of such a horrible thing.

Moses does not speak generally here, but only of those criminals who are unworthy of the honor of burial. Yet, the public good is regarded in the burial even of such individuals, lest people grow accustomed to cruelty and thus become more ready to commit murder.

Moreover, so that they would take more careful heed in this matter, he declares that the land would be defiled if the corpse were left hanging on the cross, since such inhumanity pollutes and disgraces the land. And this was more intolerable in Judea, which God had given as an inheritance to His chosen people, so that He might be worshipped there reverentially and purely, with every profanation excluded.

The man so hanged is called⁴² “the curse of God,” because this kind of punishment is detestable in itself. God, indeed, does not forbid criminals to be crucified, or hanged on a gallows, but rather gives His sanction to this mode of punishment; He only, by His own example, exhorts the Israelites to abhor all atrocity.

Although, therefore, He does not disapprove of the punishment, He still says that He abominates those who are hanged on a tree, so that the offense may be immediately removed. Nor does He call them accursed, as if their salvation were to be despaired of, but because the hanging was a mark of His curse.

Paul applies this passage to Christ to teach us that He was made κατάρα (a curse) for us, so that He might deliver us from the curse of the Law (Galatians 3:13).

For, since all are guilty of transgression, and thus the whole human race is implicated in the curse, there was no other way of deliverance, except that Christ should substitute Himself in our place. Nor was God unmindful of His sentence when He allowed His only-begotten Son to be crucified. Hence it follows that He submitted Himself to our condition, so that we might receive God’s blessing, since He was

made sin for us, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21).

⁴² See margin, A. . V..