21:22 hang him on a tree. Hanging as a method of execution is not mentioned in the Old Testament. The practice in view here is the exposure of the corpse of a criminal or an enemy (1 Sam. 31:10–13). Such gruesome exposure, symbolizing divine curse (v. 23), was not to be continued more than a day. This verse motivated the Pharisees’ request to have the body of Jesus taken off the cross before nightfall (John 19:31). The point of Gal. 3:13 is that Christ, though innocent, died a criminal’s death, taking the curse that we deserved (cf. Acts 5:30).