Verse-by-Verse Commentary
The Book of Deuteronomy
Chapter 21: Accursed on the Tree
This chapter gathers several laws, and two of them shine with the light of the gospel. When a murder went unsolved, the elders were to make atonement so that the guilt of innocent blood would not rest on the land. And at its close comes a line that would one day carry the weight of the whole cross: 'he that is hanged is accursed of God.' Paul takes that very sentence and shows how Jesus, hung upon a tree, was made a curse for us, so that the curse we deserved fell on Him. It is a chapter about innocent blood, the rights of the firstborn, and a Saviour who bore the curse in our place.
About This Commentary
This is a verse-by-verse study of Deuteronomy chapter 21. For each section you will find the KJV text, the Hebrew words that sharpen the meaning, plain explanation, and a Gospel Focus. The chapter provides atonement for an unsolved murder, protects the firstborn's inheritance, and gives the law of the hanged man, whose curse points to the cross. Every Scripture quotation is from the King James Version.
Setting the Stage
An Unsolved Murder
When a killing went unsolved, the elders made atonement so innocent blood would not defile the land.
Put Away the Guilt
By God's appointed rite the guilt of the blood was put away and forgiven.
The Right of the Firstborn
The firstborn's double portion could not be taken away out of favoritism for another wife's son.
Accursed on the Tree
He that was hanged on a tree was accursed of God, a word fulfilled at the cross of Christ.
Atonement for Innocent Blood (Deuteronomy 21:1-9)
When a murder went unsolved, the elders of the nearest city made atonement so that the guilt of innocent blood would not rest upon the land.
Lay Not Innocent Blood unto Thy People's Charge
"If one be found slain in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee to possess it, lying in the field, and it be not known who hath slain him: Then thy elders and thy judges shall come forth, and they shall measure unto the cities which are round about him that is slain: And it shall be, that the city which is next unto the slain man, even the elders of that city shall take an heifer, which hath not been wrought with, and which hath not drawn in the yoke; And the elders of that city shall bring down the heifer unto a rough valley, which is neither eared nor sown, and shall strike off the heifer's neck there in the valley: And the priests the sons of Levi shall come near; for them the LORD thy God hath chosen to minister unto him, and to bless in the name of the LORD; and by their word shall every controversy and every stroke be tried: And all the elders of that city, that are next unto the slain man, shall wash their hands over the heifer that is beheaded in the valley: And they shall answer and say, Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it. Be merciful, O LORD, unto thy people Israel, whom thou hast redeemed, and lay not innocent blood unto thy people of Israel's charge. And the blood shall be forgiven them. So shalt thou put away the guilt of innocent blood from among you, when thou shalt do that which is right in the sight of the LORD. When thou goest forth to war against thine enemies, and the LORD thy God hath delivered them into thine hands, and thou hast taken them captive, And seest among the captives a beautiful woman, and hast a desire unto her, that thou wouldest have her to thy wife; Then thou shalt bring her home to thine house; and she shall shave her head, and pare her nails; And she shall put the raiment of her captivity from off her, and shall remain in thine house, and bewail her father and her mother a full month: and after that thou shalt go in unto her, and be her husband, and she shall be thy wife. And it shall be, if thou have no delight in her, then thou shalt let her go whither she will; but thou shalt not sell her at all for money, thou shalt not make merchandise of her, because thou hast humbled her. If a man have two wives, one beloved, and another hated, and they have born him children, both the beloved and the hated; and if the firstborn son be hers that was hated: Then it shall be, when he maketh his sons to inherit that which he hath, that he may not make the son of the beloved firstborn before the son of the hated, which is indeed the firstborn:"
Hebrew Study
"be merciful," kaphar (כָּפַר). To cover, to atone, to make reconciliation. It is the great word for atonement, the covering of guilt so that it no longer stands against the guilty. The elders' prayer was that God would kaphar, cover the innocent blood, so that its guilt would not rest on the land or the people.
Explanation
Suppose a body was found in the open country and no one knew who had killed him. The blood of the innocent still cried out, and its guilt could defile the whole land if left unanswered. So God gave a solemn rite. The elders of the city nearest the body took a heifer that had never worked, broke its neck in an uncultivated valley, washed their hands over it, and declared, "Our hands have not shed this blood, neither have our eyes seen it." Then they prayed, "Be merciful, O LORD... and lay not innocent blood unto thy people of Israel's charge. And the blood shall be forgiven them." By this appointed means, "thou shalt put away the guilt of innocent blood from among you."
Gospel Focus
Two truths stand out here. First, God takes innocent blood with utmost seriousness; even a murder no human court could solve was not simply forgotten, for its guilt defiled the land until it was atoned for. God sees every wrong, including the ones that go unpunished among men. Second, notice that guilt could only be put away by a death, the life of the heifer standing in the place of the unknown killer, so that the people might pray, "the blood shall be forgiven them." This is the logic that runs through all of Scripture and finds its answer at Calvary. We were guilty of blood we could never atone for by our own hands, but "ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold... but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish" (1 Peter 1:18-19). What the heifer's death only pictured, the blood of Jesus truly accomplishes: our guilt is covered, put away, forgiven. The God who would not let innocent blood go unanswered provided His own Son's blood to answer for ours.
The Right of the Firstborn (Deuteronomy 21:15-17)
A father could not rob his true firstborn of the double portion to favor the son of a wife he loved more; the firstborn's right was to be honored.
The Right of the Firstborn Is His
"But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn, by giving him a double portion of all that he hath: for he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his. If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear. And if a man have committed a sin worthy of death, and he be to be put to death, and thou hang him on a tree:"
Hebrew Study
The firstborn's right is protected even against a father's favoritism: he must receive "a double portion" — literally "the mouth of two," two shares of the inheritance — because he is "the beginning of his strength." A man may not disinherit the true firstborn to favor a beloved wife's son. The birthright was a sacred order, not a matter of preference — which is why Jacob's grasping for it, and Esau's despising of it, ran so deep in the story of Genesis.
Explanation
The law addressed a common family tension. If a man had two wives, one loved and one less loved, and the firstborn son belonged to the less-loved wife, the father might be tempted to give the birthright to the favored wife's son instead. God forbids it. The father "shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn, by giving him a double portion," because "he is the beginning of his strength; the right of the firstborn is his." Personal preference could not overturn a God-given right. The double portion belonged to the true firstborn, and justice would not bend to favoritism.
Gospel Focus
Behind this family law lies a principle God honors and a picture He fulfills. The firstborn held the birthright, the place of honor and the double inheritance, and Scripture lifts that title to its highest use in Christ. He is "the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence" (Colossians 1:18), and "the firstborn among many brethren." The birthright that no favoritism could take away belongs supremely to Him, the rightful Heir of all things. And there is grace in it for us: joined to Christ the Firstborn, we become "the church of the firstborn," sharing by grace in the inheritance that is His by right. The law also carries a plain lesson about fairness in the home, a father was not to let love for one child rob another of what was rightly his. God is not partial, and He teaches His people to deal justly even where their affections are unequal. Give Christ the preeminence that is His, and in Him receive the inheritance you could never have earned.
Accursed on the Tree (Deuteronomy 21:22-23)
A body hung on a tree was under God's curse and was not to remain overnight; Paul reveals how this word was fulfilled when Christ was made a curse for us.
He That Is Hanged Is Accursed of God
"His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; (for he that is hanged is accursed of God;) that thy land be not defiled, which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance."
Hebrew Study
"He that is hanged is accursed of God" — a body must not stay on the tree overnight, for it defiles the land. Paul seizes this very verse to explain the cross: "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree" (Galatians 3:13). The Sinless One took the place of the accursed, hanged on a tree to bear the curse we had earned — and was buried the same day, as this law required.
Explanation
When a criminal guilty of a capital crime was executed and his body hung on a tree as a public sign of judgment, it was not to be left there overnight but buried the same day. The reason given is weighty: "for he that is hanged is accursed of God." To hang upon a tree was to be marked out as under God's curse, bearing the visible sign of divine judgment. The body was to be taken down and buried so "that thy land be not defiled." It was a grim picture of the curse that sin brings, displayed for all to see and then quickly put away.
Gospel Focus
Paul reached back to this very verse to explain the deepest meaning of the cross. Jesus was crucified, hung upon a tree, and Paul writes: "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree" (Galatians 3:13). The law pronounced a curse on everyone who failed to keep it, and that curse hung over us all. But on the cross, Jesus took the place of the accursed. He who knew no sin was hung on the tree, made a curse in our stead, so that the judgment we had earned fell on Him. The curse pronounced in Deuteronomy became the doorway of our redemption, for by bearing the curse Himself, He set us free from it. And notice the detail even His burial fulfilled: the body was not to remain on the tree overnight, and Jesus was taken down and buried that same day. Every line of this ancient law was quietly pointing toward Calvary. The curse we deserved, He carried; the blessing He deserved, He gives to us. Look to the One made a curse for you, and be free.
Chapter 21 in Review
Deuteronomy 21 gathers several laws, and through them shines the gospel. When a murder went unsolved, atonement was made with the death of a heifer so that "the blood shall be forgiven them" and the guilt of innocent blood be put away. The firstborn's double portion could not be stolen by favoritism, for "the right of the firstborn is his." And a body hung on a tree bore God's curse, "he that is hanged is accursed of God," and had to be buried that same day.
For the Apostolic reader, two of these laws point straight to Christ. The atonement for innocent blood foreshadows the precious blood of Jesus, by which our guilt is covered and forgiven. The right of the firstborn is fulfilled in Christ, the Firstborn who has the preeminence and shares His inheritance with us. And the curse of the tree became the very ground of our redemption, for "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us." God's seriousness about innocent blood and His answer to the curse both meet at the cross, where the sinless Son bore what we deserved. Trust the blood that forgives, honor the Firstborn who saves, and rest in the One who was made a curse to set you free.
- God takes innocent blood seriously; even an unsolved murder required atonement (21:8-9).
- Guilt is put away only by a death, fulfilled in the precious blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:18-19).
- The firstborn's right could not be stolen by favoritism (21:17).
- Christ is the Firstborn who has the preeminence and shares His inheritance (Colossians 1:18).
- "He that is hanged is accursed of God" was fulfilled when Christ was made a curse for us (21:23; Galatians 3:13).
Questions for Reflection
- Do you rest in the blood of Christ, by which your guilt is covered and forgiven?
- Have you given Christ, the Firstborn, the preeminence that is His in your life?
- Do you grasp that the curse you deserved fell on Jesus, hung on the tree in your place?
References & Sources
Scripture is quoted from the King James Version (KJV). The Hebrew terms are standard and can be checked in any Hebrew lexicon. Supporting passages are listed so every claim can be verified in its own setting. If anything here does not look right, a verse, a reference, or a wording, please tell us at info@FruitBearers.net. Thank you for helping us keep Bible Learning error free.
- Atonement for innocent blood, fulfilled in Christ's blood: Deuteronomy 21:1-9; 1 Peter 1:18-19.
- The right of the firstborn, fulfilled in Christ: Deuteronomy 21:15-17; Colossians 1:18.
- Accursed on the tree; Christ made a curse for us: Deuteronomy 21:22-23; Galatians 3:13.