Vers. 22, 23.-Upon the tree/ These words form part of the criminal code of the Hebrews, and though as such they may be regarded as practically obsolete, yet they contain principles which will never wax old, and are, moreover, so frequently alluded to in the New Testament, that they furnish us with a starting-point of no mean interest for a devout Christian meditation. The case supposed in the text is not that of a man being put to death by crucifixion, but of his having suffered capital punish- ment, and of his body being afterwards hung upon a stake and put to an open shame by the exposure, ns having been one of the vilest of criminals. Such an e:tposure after death was to be, so to speak, the expression of the execration of the people. It woulJ. be their public brand upou detestable guilt. And, when thus the public detestation and horror of wickedness had been expressed, that accursed thing was to be taken down that night and buried out of sight for ever, as a sign that the curse had spent itself. 'l'his vox popul·i was vox Dei. " He that is hanged is accursed of God." Now, it may be asked, "Why take up the time of a congregation by recnllin~ an obsolete ennctrnent like this?" Our reply is, Let us now turn to Acts v. 30. Peter knew how the Jews would regard these words-" whom ye slew and hunyed on a tree." 'l'hey would understand their significance to be, "You put him to a.n open shame, as 3 !-! TllE DOOR OF DEUTEUONOMY. ten. XXI. 1-23,
1ll()ngh he. 1hc best of men, were one of the vilest malefactors." Shall ,ve call this tho "ir, 111~- 0f hi,tory "? How was it that God let the treatment of the basest of criminals be nrrN.lcd to the holiest of our race? We often speak of it as a" mystery of Pro- Yidcnrc" when some great trouble befalls a good man. Ilut of all sur.h mysteries thero 1, n0ne so great as this. As a bare piece of history unexplained, there is no fact which in nll its surroundings is so inexplicable M this, that Jesus Christ of Nazareth should have died amid such deep disgrace and shame. "Hanged on a tree I" Let us go further on. Read 1 Pet. ii. 24. Note the emphasis, "who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree." Here is an explanation of the strange fact. He was pressed down with others' woes, and burdened with the guilt of others' sins, And why? What was the effect of all? Read again. In Gal. iii. 13, 14, the apostle, quoting these words of l\1oses, shows us that in the fact of the ignominious death of the Lord Jesus Christ upon the tree, we are to see at once (1) the Divine execration of sin, and (2) the Divine redemption of the sinner. . I. Under a moral government, a righteous governor will, yea, must append blessing to 1;ood, and affix a curse to evil. If any one asks Why 1 we do not know that any one can answer further than to say that suffering is the desert of ill, and gladness the appropriate consequence of well-doing. No other theory would be workable in any well-ordered family, or nation, or city. In the family, paternal punishment expresses the father's sense of wrong done. ln the State, punishment marks the nalion's sense of wrong done. Anrl these are but echoes of that Divine disapproval of sin to which the conscience of man with certainty points. And it is well known and understood that the disapproral and condemnation of wrong on the part of any government is never to be confounded with, but is very far removed from, personal vindictiveness. No government, indeed, would command the confidence of the people under which crime ,•ould be carried on with impunity. Without branding crime against a State, no government could long exiRt. That brand is "the curse of the law." II. There is a law above all human laws. The latter are partial and defective, and may become obsolete. The everlasting law of righteousness is co-eternal with the Great Supreme. He judges the world in righteousness. Every child of man is answerable to his tribunal. Every deed, word, and thought are scanned by his all-seeing eye, and are estimated rightly by his unerring judgment. And he, the Great Judge, bring,; against each and all the charge of being law-breakers (see Rom. i., ii.). The Jew is so because he has broken a written Law; the Gentile, because he has broken an unwritten one. All the world is guilty before God. Under such circumstances, what is a righteous Ileing to do to secure the stability of his throne? 'l'o connive at sin? 'l'o pass it by, and take no notice of it? To let the sinner have the same grace as if he had never sinned ? No; there must be a declaration, a demonstration, of his righteousness, as Paul calls it. And the demonstration_ of righteousness certainly involves the condemnation of sin. HI. If we are sinners, as we are, the Divine condemnation of sin places us under a curse. We must be careful to understand that in the Divine curse there is nothing vindictire, excessive, defective, or ineffective; there is nothing in it out of harmony with the everlasting love of righteousness which is the bulwark and safeguard of ~he Divine a-overmuent of souls. As many as are of the works of the Law are-contmue to be :....under the curse. .AJ, long as a man's life is unright, by God's law he abides under condenmatiou. IV. Guilty men are under the curse; a Guiltless One comes under it. So Gal, iii, 13, "beincr made a curse for us," rather, "having become a curse." (Let the student note here, a~ in John i., the careful use of, and the distinction between, the words _for" being" and "Lecumi □ cr.") The Son of God, the Law-maker, comes and dwells with the law- 0 breakers, and becomes as one of them. Joyfully taking their place, he bears their Lw·dens and accepts their liabilities as if they were his own! He is pressed down as with a great weight. His sweat is as it were great drops of blood._ He goes to the tree, The deepest indignity the Law knows is his. He is numbered with t_he transgressors. He is put to "an opru sliame." He dies as the worst of malefactors died-on the tree I The One who stands pre-eminent among men for the purity of bis life stands out also conspicuously among men for the humiliation which attends on his death I He hangs on a tree, as if accun;ed of God I on. xxr. 1-23.] 'l'HE BOOK OF Dl!:U'l'ERONO:MY. 345