Referring to Deuteronomy 21:22-23, Paul says in 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.'" The historical context given in the Deuteronomy People's Bible helps to bring out the symbolism:
"It was customary after lawbreakers had been executed to expose their dead bodies by hanging them from a tree or impaling them on a pole . . . By exposing an executed dead man's body, a leader heralded that justice had been done and circulated a warning to potential lawbreakers . . . Just as the exposed corpse of a condemned criminal carried God's curse, so the Father allowed his Son to be put on public display as the one who carried God's curse over sin. As Paul put it in another letter, 'God made him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God' (2 Corinthians 5:21)."
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