The Torah says (Deuteronomy 21:23), His body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but thou shalt in any wise bury him that day; for he that is hanged is accursed of God. The Mishnah, reading this command carefully, produced a debate about how the hanging was to be done at all.
After a criminal had been stoned to death, his body was briefly hanged as a public sign. Rabbi Eliezer said every executed criminal was hanged. The sages disagreed: only two categories of offender were hanged — the blasphemer and the idolater. Rabbi Eliezer said a man was hanged with his face toward the people and a woman with her face toward the gallows. The sages answered: a man, yes, but a woman is not hanged at all.
How did they hang the man? A post was sunk firmly into the ground, and an arm of wood projected from it. The hands of the corpse were tied together and it was suspended briefly. Rabbi Yossi described it differently: the beam leaned against a wall, and the body was hung as a butcher hangs an ox or a sheep — and it was brought down almost immediately.
Why the rush? Because of Deuteronomy's warning. A body left through the night would prompt passers-by to ask, "Why was this one hanged?" The answer would come, "Because he blasphemed God" — and the Name, spoken in that context, would itself be desecrated. The punishment would have bred more of the offense it punished.
Even in judgment, the rabbis insisted, the Name must be guarded.