Deuteronomy 21:22-23 (Jewish Law) says to bury the corpses of those crucified (before sunset).1 This is relevant because Jews considered the demands of Jewish Law to be morally obligatory.
So? Couldn’t it simply be that…
• …Jews didn’t obey Dt 21 by the 1st century?2
• …Jews only applied Dt 21 to hanging corpses on crosses?
11Q Temple Scroll 64:7-13 (150-75 BC?) instructs Jews to bury corpses before sunset.1
Josephus’s Jewish Wars 3.377 says Jews ensured they were buried before sunset.1
Josephus’s Jewish Wars 4.317 says Jews ensured they were buried before sunset.1
So? Couldn’t it simply be that…
• … Jews then only applied Dt 21:22-23 to those crucified/hung after death (and here Josephus refers to individuals already dead)
Josephus's, Antiquities of the Jews 4.202 & 4.265.1
Philo in De Specialibus Legibus III 151-152 records, “let not the sun set” on the crucified.1 (cf. Post C. 61; Somn. 2.213)
b. Sanhedrin 46b instructs Jews to bury corpses before sunset.1
m Sanh 6:5 (Mishnah) says “whoever keeps his dead unburied overnight transgresses…”.1 This applied in Jesus's time.2
4Q492, 4Q285, & 4Q251 indicate that Jews (historically) did bury corpses before sunset.1
Gospel of Peter 3-5, 15 indicates that Jews did bury corpses before sunset.1
In general, Jews felt obligated to ensure pre-sunset (A.S.A.P.) burial of any corpse (including those not crucified).
• …Jews felt obligated to bury ASAP (e.g. Semahot 9:9)
• …Jews must sleep on the floor until burial was done
• …Finishing burial outweighed reciting the Shema and all Jewish law
Old Testament examples exist which demonstrated burial before sunset.1 This is relevant because Jews would have attempted to pattern themselves after these examples.
Acts 5:6-10 demonstrates burial before sunset, even among Christians.1