The LORD said to Moses, “Take all the chiefs of the people, and hang them up to the LORD before the sun, that the fierce anger of the LORD may turn away from Israel.”
ExplanationCommentary
Verse 4. People. Assemble the judges, and by their sentence, hang them who have been most guilty. Onkelos.—If any of the judges, or princes themselves, have gone astray, let them not be spared. Bible.—The Jews assert, that the malefactor was always killed before his body was hung on a gibbet; and that crucifixion was not known among them. But the contrary is asserted by many. It is not clear whether these criminals were hung by the neck, or crucified, after they had been first stoned, as guilty of idolatry, or whether they were fastened to the gibbet alive, for greater torment and disgrace. Calmet.—Sun; publicly. See 2 Kennicott. 12:11. Menochius.