Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: “Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole.”
Prima facie, it seems that the citation from Deut. 21:23 is evidence against a Jewish god being crucified.
But secunda facie, precisely Deut. 21:23 is part of the Jewish pre-christian tradition that inspired the crucifixion of a god.
For Paul, the crucified Christ is the curse of the curse of the Law.
Said in other terms, the crucifixion is a symbol of the attack, by the demons/archons, of the Tree of Life.
And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither;
(Psalm 1:3)
She [the Wisdom] is a tree of life to those who take hold of her; those who hold her fast will be blessed.
(Proverbs 3:18)
Curiously, a Gnostic tradition has survived about this Tree of Life.
In the Nag Hammadi text The Hypostasis of the Archons we meet with one of many Gnostic interpretations of the early chapters of Genesis. Just after the joyous recognition by Adam of the woman (Eve), the Gnostic text reports that
"when they [the archons] saw his female counterpart speaking with him, they became agitated with great agitation; and they became enamored with her. They said to one another, ‘Come, let us sow our seed in her,’ and they pursued her. And she laughed at them for their witlessness and their blindness; and in their clutches, she became a tree, and left before them her shadowy reflection resembling herself; and they defiled [it] foully.... And they defiled the form that she had stamped in her likeness, ..."
(89:19-29).
We find the same story told in On the Origin of the World:
When they [the authorities] saw Eve talking to him, they said to one another, 'What sort of thing is this luminous woman? ... Now come, let us lay hold of her and cast our seed into her... Then Eve, being a force, laughed at their decision. She put mist into their eyes and secretly left her likeness with Adam. She entered the tree of [knowledge] and remained there. And they pursued her, and she revealed to them that she had gone into the tree and become a tree. Then, entering a great state of fear, the blind creatures fled. Afterwards, when they had recovered from the daze, they came; and seeing the likeness of this woman with him [Adam], they were greatly disturbed, thinking it was she that was the true Eve. And they acted rashly; they came up to her and seized her and cast their seed upon her... And they erred, not knowing that it was their own body that they had defiled; it was the likeness that the authorities and their angels had defiled in every way"
(116:14-117:15)
Hence the source of this legend is the same source of texts as Deut 21:23:
By connecting a criminal with a tree, the symbolism is that the demons, the sinners, the evildoers are attacking the Tree of Life.
The Gnostics texts above quoted make only more explicit the connection of this attack with the Origin of the world:
it was when the Archons attacked the Tree of Life that the world was created.
The crucifixion (or hanging on a tree) symbolizes this Archontic attack against the Tree of Life at the origin of the world.
Hence for Paul the crucifixion of Jesus happened at the origin of the world, agreeing here with Revelation 13:8.
In addition to this, there is a Talmudic tradition that makes the Tau, the last alphabet's sign, in virtue of the his having the force of all the previous 21 signs, the symbol of the power of restart from the beninning of the alphabet, the power of re-birth, of a new creation.
