Taamei Hamitzvos - Hanging an Executed Person
Mitzvos 536-537 in Sefer HaChinuch
Capital punishments serve both to atone for the wrongdoer and to deter the public from following his example. A person who is executed for worshiping idols or for blaspheming is hanged after the execution because these sins call for a greater deterrent. The hanged corpse is clearly visible to the public, and its sight instills fear of punishment within them (Yalkut Mei’am Loez). Since the sinner rejected the Torah, which is called “the Tree of Life,” he is hanged from a wooden beam (Rabbeinu Menachem HaBavli).
The Torah commands us to bury the corpse and not to leave it hanging overnight for several reasons: (a) the atonement has already been completed (Onkelos): (b) it is disrespectful to Hashem for a person created in His image to hang overnight (Rashi); (c) displaying the corpse excessively makes people discuss the blasphemy or the rationale of the idolatry, leading to further sin and desecration of Hashem’s Name (Ramban); and (d) displaying the executed person excessively may lead his relatives to question the judgment and curse the judges (Rashbam).
The Torah is particular about burying the corpse before nightfall to protect it from the influence of forces of impurity, which are more active at nighttime (Rabbeinu Menachem HaBavli). Therefore, the executed person is hanged just before nightfall and then immediately released and buried.
While an executed person is hanging, Hashem says, “My head is heavy; my arm is heavy,” expressing suffering (as it were) over the loss of a Jew. On a deeper level, the commentators explain that the “head” and the “arm” allude to Hashem’s tefillin, in which are written the praises of the Jewish People and which symbolize His bond with them (see Berachos 6a). When a Jew sins so severely that he needs to be executed and even hanged, that bond is “heavy” for Hashem, so to speak (glosses of Nefesh HaChaim 2:11). If this is the love that Hashem feels toward a Jew who has committed severe sins after his atonement, how much more is the love He feels toward Jews who strive to perform His will and who never commit such sins in the first place.
