The Curse of the Tree

I wanted to share with you something I read in my quiet time today.  I got so excited about it, I wanted to share it.

(If you have not read Esther, the first paragraph might be confusing...keep reading because you don't have to understand it to hear what I learned. I just telll you that because its how I got to what I learned.)

I was reading the 9th chapter of the book of Esther.  Esther has already appealed to the King to save her people from the edict that Haman, the Jews enemy, had the King (her husband) decree.  The King found favor in Esther and declared another edict that stated the Jews could defend themselves from anyone who would do them harm.  Haman, the enemy of the Jews, is already dead and his ten sons were killed by the Jews defending themselves.  Esther asked the King for the sons of Haman to be hung on the Gallows (verse 13).   Gallows in hebrew is the same word for tree.  I was confused.  If Haman's sons were already dead why would Esther want to hang them on the gallows (tree).  Wasn't that a little excessive?   Thanks to the side notes in my bible...I saw that Deuteronomy 21:22-23 says this:

²² "If a man has committed a sin worthy ^R686 of death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, ²³ his ^R687 corpse shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the same day (for he ^R688 who is hanged is accursed ^F328 of God), so that you do ^R689 not defile your land which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance.  

Esther was following the law.  Haman's sons were hostile toward the Jews, God's chosen people.   The Law in Deuteronomy tells us that a person who is hung on a tree is cursed (or accursed...same thing).She was making a point that anyone who goes against God...anyone who is his enemy...this will be their fate..."accursed of God."   Here is what is crazy.  I then read Galatans 3:13

Christ redeemed ^R121 us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us--for it is written, "CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE"--

Christ saved us from the curse of the law.  We deserve the penatly of death.  We deserve to be hung on a tree.  We deserve to be accursed of God.  Christ, who knew no sin, took that from us, became accursed of God by hanging on a tree for us....and paid the penalty for our sin AND fulfilled the law set back in Deuteronomy.  He said HE would do that in Matthew 5:17

"Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill."

Wow!  Christ not only paid the penalty for our sin...he made sure every little bit of the law was fulfilled. Have you ever wondered why God chose crucifixion for Jesus's death.  The answer is right here in Deut 21:22-23.  Jesus hung on a tree and took upon himself the curse that we should bear.  He was cursed of God so we don't have to be.

This morning I was humbled.