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I'd like to revisit my 5716 in which I quoted a passage out of Galatians. In that post I said that Paul was alluding to a text in Joshua 10 in the OT to the tree curse. But I was mistaken. I misspoke. Both the OT quotes in Gal 3:10-13 were alluding to passages in the Law of Moses -- specifically out of the Book of Deuteronomy. So, here's the passage in Galatians again for reconsideration:

Gal 3:10-13
10 For as many as are of the works of the Law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law, to perform them." 11 Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, " The righteous man shall live by faith. " 12 However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, "He who practices them shall live by them." 13 Christ redeemed 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" —
NASB

In v. 10, Paul was quoting from Deut 27:26, and the second is loosely quoted from Deut 21:22-23, which I will quote.

Deut 21:22-23
22 "And if a man has committed a sin worthy of death, and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree, 23 his corpse shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the same day (for he who is hanged is accursed of God), so that you do not defile your land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance.
NASB

So, what Paul has very obviously done in Galatians is tie the two passages together and apply them ultimately to Christ.

Deut 27:26 is found in the famous Curses Chapter of the Law wherein numerous curses are promised to be pronounced by God upon Israel for various acts of disobedience to God's holy law. God expects his chosen people to confirm the words of his law by continually doing them. James teaches essentially the same thing in different words when he told his Jewish audience that Whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles in one point, he has become guilty of all (Jas 2:10).

Deut 21:22-23 naturally assumes that when someone is stoned or put to the death with the sword for a capital crime that that person was found guilty by the elders or judges and the sentence of death itself was God's curse upon the guilty. Apparently, it wasn't ANE custom to hang people by the neck until dead, but it was a custom to inflict more shame, disgrace and humiliation upon the person by publicly hanging his corpse from a tree. This public hanging was the ultimate curse of God, perhaps to signify that even in death and after death, that soul will never find peace -- that another curse awaits him on the other side of the grave.

Of course, the old rugged Cross is an extension of a tree. And Christ was hung on that Cross. And as Paul told the Galatians, he suffered the Cross to become God's curse on behalf of his people. How did he become this curse? By becoming the elect's sin bearer. As Paul also said elsewhere, "He who knew no sin became sin for us" (2Cor 5:21). How did he "become" sin? By imputation! His Father imputed all the sins of his chosen people onto his holy and righteous Son. The righteous Son of Man became unrighteous, so that the unrighteous might become the righteousness of God in Christ (Rom 3:22). Jesus had to first drink from God's cup of wrath to completely and eternally satisfy his Father's justice before God could bestow his infinite and unfailing love, mercy and grace upon undeserving sinners, thereby legally, lawfully and righteously justifying them for all eternity. In the soteriology of the bible, Friday's Cross always precedes [Easter] Sunday.

One more important point before we tie a couple of loose ends together. I speculated earlier that it would not surprise me to learn (when I see Paul in heaven) that he initially rejected the Jewish messiah because we was unable to reconcile how God's "anointed one" (and all that this entails) could ever incur God's wrath and curse. How could a loving God ever curse the messiah he sent to Israel so that he could restore and deliver them from their enemies -- and by extension, therefore, His enemies, as well? I suspect that it was really tough for Paul to wrap his very Jewish, Pharisaic mind around that. And this Pauline passage comes to mind that lends credence to my theory:

1 Cor 1:23
23 but we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block, and to Gentiles foolishness,
NASB

A STUMBLING BLOCK! Yes, indeed. I can certainly understand how Paul, writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, could think this way! The Cross would become a huge stumbling block to virtually all the Jews. It was UNTHINKABLE to a Jewish mind that their longed for, long awaited, expected, hoped for, prayed for messiah would be found anywhere near a Roman cross, let alone hanging on it! The apostle again refers to the Cross as a stumbling block in Gal 5:11. So, I strongly suspect this "stumbling block" that Paul strongly associates with the Cross would have been the messianic hope -- the promised messiah -- the ANOINTED one of God.

But after Paul's conversion, after he encountered the risen Christ, after Christ opened his heart to understand the mystery of the Gospel, the apostle could do NOTHING but preach the Cross of Christ and His resurrection. In fact, everything else was dung by comparison to knowing Christ and him crucified.

1 Cor 2:2
2 For I determined to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.
NASB

Talk about a radical post-conversion transformation!

In addition to the Cross being a stumbling block in Paul's mind, the messiah himself was also "stone of stumbling and a rock of offense". (Rom 9:33; 1Pet 2:8), and this was predicted in the OT (Isa 8:14-15; Ps 118:22).

Let's wind this up with everything we have learned. First, let's look at Christ as though he actually existed and died on the Cross and was Resurrected.

Christ Actually Lived, Died, was Buried and But Did Not Rise on the Third Day.

Solution for the Jewish authorities is obvious: Produce the body that was in the tomb. This would have shut down the Jesus movement in a heart beat, for they would have successfully refuted the resurrection lie. It would have taken the wind out of the sails of the rag-tag band of disciples. The Jesus movement would have self-destructed. It would have gone nowhere fast without a resurrected messiah.

Christ was a Myth. He never existed and all the stories about him were fiction.

Again, given what we have learned about the national messianic psyche of first century Israel -- a psyche that was well grounded in the OT and other extra-biblical Hebrew writings -- the solution would have been obvious to all highly offended Jews. These Jews would have looked at the Jesus "rumors" of the day as disgusting, appalling, vile and highly offensive. Not only would the rumors or fictional stories cast aspersions on God's messiah but on God Almighty himself. The Jewish religious establishment would have viewed this Jesus sect, who was spreading false stories, as heretics of the worst sought. They would have considered them blasphemers because their stories would have called into question God's love and faithfulness to his chosen people. It would have also called into question God's veracity. The Jewish authorities would have wanted to defend their covenant God by doing all they could to silence this heretical Jewish sect. And the quickest way to do this was to show the masses in Palestine that this Jesus sect's version of the messiah could not have been the true messiah because God would never curse his Anointed One by allowing him to be crucified. Moreover, it would have been in the vested political interest of the Jewish authorities (indeed the entire nation!) to shut down this Jesus sect and discredit them thoroughly, for in so doing they would have avoided any potential political fallout with Rome. Rome would not turn a blind eye to any province who could not control its own affairs! (And history bears this truth out!) And the establishment had plenty of material to make their case to the general populace against the Jesus sect. But where, where are the refutations? Where are the first century writings that label the Jesus sect's stories as blasphemous legends, or fables or empty babblings, as lies against God and all humanity?

So... the Jewish authorities produced no body of Jesus to easily refute the resurrection if in fact he lived, nor did the religious establishment produce any writings to refute the heresies (as phony as the stories may have been); for we all know that falsehoods can have very deleterious effects (intended and unintended alike) upon all people involved. Actions usually do have consequences. And here's the megabytes of irony: The religious establishment understood this very clearly. In Acts 3, in Peter's second sermon after Pentecost and after healing a lame man, the temple guard came and arrested Peter and John because of the great crowd the two apostles attracted and the commotion they caused. Then they were brought before the Sanhedrin. And this council were so enraged at the two, they wanted to murder them, too. And they would have, it hadn't been for a Pharisee named Gamaliel, a prominent and respected teacher of the Law. Gamaliel addressed the council and this is what he told them:

Acts 5:35-39
35 And he said to them, "Men of Israel, take care what you propose to do with these men. 36 "For some time ago Theudas rose up, claiming to be somebody; and a group of about four hundred men joined up with him. And he was slain; and all who followed him were dispersed and came to nothing. 37 "After this man Judas of Galilee rose up in the days of the census, and drew away some people after him, he too perished, and all those who followed him were scattered. 38 "And so in the present case, I say to you, stay away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or action should be of men, it will be overthrown; 39 but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them; or else you may even be found fighting against God."
NASB

The narrative goes on to tell us that the Sanhedrin heeded this Pharisee's advice. All they did to the apostles was flog them and ordered them to not speak any longer in the name of Jesus, and then they let them go.

History proves, beyond any shadow of a doubt, that the apostles and their successors were very successful in spreading the gospel from Jerusalem to Judea to Samaria and to indeed the remotest part of the earth. The religious establishment was not able to overthrow Christ's rag-tag band of disciples. Even Jesus predicted that the very gates of hell would not be able to prevail against his church (Mat 16:18). This evil world could not, cannot and never will prevail against the Truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.