“If someone has committed a crime worthy of death and is executed and hung on a tree, the body must not remain hanging from the tree overnight. You must bury the body that same day, for anyone who is hung is cursed in the sight of God” (Deuteronomy 21:22-23 NLT)

This Mosaic law along with the double importance that the Passover Sabbath began at sundown was the motivation behind the Jews’ insistence that Pilate remove the bodies of Jesus and the two thieves from their crosses before sunset. Strange that they cared so much for this minor law, yet willingly broke the commandment not to murder. Also, it is significant that the law says that anyone who is executed on a tree is “cursed.” This emphasizes the degree to which Christ took on our sin and death that he became “accursed” for us. So, the apostle Paul wrote to the Galatians, “Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us” (Gal. 3:13).