What Was Jesus Writing On The Ground With His Finger

What Did Jesus Write on the Ground?

Long a mystery as to what Jesus scribbled on the ground the day the scribes and Pharisees took an adulterous woman before Him, it is now revealed (John 8:3-11). When I was reading in Jeremiah one day, I was shocked to discover the solution buried deep inside the pages of the Old Testament.

Why Did Jesus Write on the Ground?

To comply with the teachings of Leviticus 20:10 and Deuteronomy 22:22-24, the scribes and Pharisees had requested that Jesus condemn the woman to death. If Jesus had told them to stone her, they would have accused Him of hypocrisy, because He was always preaching about mercy and forgiveness. If He had replied that she should not be stoned, they would have accused Him of violating the Mosaic Law. As soon as he saw what they were up to, he bent down and scrawled something on the ground, saying: “If any among you is without sin, let him be the first to cast a stone at her.” (See also John 8:7) Later, he began writing on the ground, following which they all walked away from the area where the writing was taking place.

What Was it That Jesus Wrote on the Ground?

All who turn their backs on You, O Lord, the hope of Israel, shall be put to shame. Whoever turns away from You will have their names engraved in the dust because they have abandoned the Lord, the source of all living water. (Jeremiah 17:13; Isaiah 59:13) As an aside, this chapter appears to imply that Jesus first wrote their names in the dust, and then maybe next to their names, he wrote a sin that they had done in addition to their names. They were humiliated and frustrated as they walked away from Jesus’ presence.

(See 1 Chronicles 28:9, Matthew 12:25, Matthew 22:18, John 2:25, and 1 Corinthians 14:25 for examples.) It has been suggested by the Venerable Bede (as well as St.

Jesus is the Author Who Writes and Fulfills the Law

The people of Israel will be ashamed of those who turn their backs on You, O Lord, the hope of Israel! Forsaking the Lord, who is the source of living water, those who turn away from You will be buried in the dust of eternity. Jeremiah 17:13 explains that As an aside, this chapter appears to imply that Jesus first wrote their names in the dust, and then possibly next to their names, he wrote a sin that they had done in the process. They were humiliated and frustrated after being exposed by Jesus.

See, for example, 1 Chronicles 28:9; Matthew 12:25; 22:18; John 2:25; 1 Corinthians 14.

Augustine) that when Jesus wrote on the ground with His finger, He was alluding to the period on Mt Sinai when He had inscribed the Ten Commandments on stone tablets with His finger (Exodus 32:15-16).

Jesus Is the Only One Who Can Judge Hearts

It is important to note that, because God created man “out of the dust” (Genesis 2:7) and because He had come to “write the law on people’s hearts” (Jeremiah 31:33; Psalm 37:31; Romans 2:14-15; 2 Corinthians 3:3; Hebrews 8:10; 10:16), it is likely that when He wrote on the ground that day in the presence of the scribes and Pharisees, He had in a sense written As he sits there, he sends a warning to people who refuse to be compassionate that they will not be merciful in return (James 2:12-13), and the words, “Be merciful, as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:36).

  • Having done so, we may come full circle to see one final warning to the Pharisees: Do not judge, or else you will be condemned yourself.
  • You are a letter from Christ to the world.
  • 2 Corinthians 3:3 (New International Version) Getty Images/ginosphotos provided the image.
  • David Kyle Foster is the host of thePure Passion Podcast as well as the author of the books Transformed Into His Image and Love Hunger.

He is also the founder and director of Mastering Life Ministries, which he founded and directs. More on his perspective on sin and brokenness may be found in his most recent work, The Sexual Healing Reference Edition.

What Did Jesus Write on the Ground?

We were setting up a trap with this query in order to have something to accuse you of. However, Jesus knelt on the ground and began writing with His finger on the dirt. He stood up as they continued to interrogate Him and replied to them, “If any of you is without sin, let him be the first to hurl a stone at her.” He knelt on the ground and scribbled on the surface once more. —John 8:6–8 (KJV) What was it that Jesus was writing? It’s entertaining to draw messages in the sand, and it may be therapeutic as well.

  1. What was it that Jesus was writing?
  2. Because a crowd had gathered, the Pharisees “reminded” Jesus that, according to Moses’ rule, she should have been stoned, but they were interested in hearing what He had to say about it.
  3. Now, we shouldn’t overlook what Jesus stated in between his stooping — which is very important to the tale — but what exactly was He writing was something else entirely.
  4. This idea is mostly based on Jeremiah 17:13, which states: Because they have abandoned the Lord, the spring of life rivers, those who flee from Me will have their names recorded in the dirt.
  5. As a result, it’s possible that He was fulfilling a prophecy.
  6. What Jesus was writing is unknown to us, as is the identity of those who were exposed to His message.
  7. And whether He or the wind was responsible for wiping out that message, her crimes were pardoned.
  8. Despite the fact that people may attempt to condemn me, You do not.
  9. There is nothing else I can do to help you find salvation.

Your Turn

Have you ever wondered what Jesus wrote on the ground when he was on the cross? Consider the possibility of being one of those who are wielding a stone, ready to condemn the guilty. So, what exactly did they believe they were doing? Now put yourself in the shoes of the accused lady, who is about to be condemned and sentenced to death by hanging by her ankles.

Can you imagine what it was like to be rescued from an unjust execution and to have your sins completely forgotten? Please leave a remark on our blog if you have one. We would much appreciate hearing from you! Devotionals are posted every day.

What Did Jesus REALLY Write in the Sand?

Innumerable hypotheses have been advanced by preachers over the years. That is a question to which I believe I have a rather definitive answer. Here are a few mediocre examples. Was Jesus doodling in order to buy some extra time as He gathered His thoughts? Please give me a break. He claimed to be the Son of God. His thoughts had obviously been gathered by this point. Was He writing in the ancient language of “sandskrit”? (Please excuse the pun.) Were the names of several prostitutes that these religious pretenders had visited in town scrawled on the cross by Jesus Christ?

One intriguing interpretation is that Jesus recorded the names of each “stone-holding accuser” on a scroll, starting with the eldest and working his way down to the youngest.

All of the accusers, from the oldest to the youngest, left the room.

According to a close preacher friend of mine, Jesus knelt on the sand because the lady was present and He wanted to be there for her during those difficult moments.

Let me remind you of a paragraph from John 8:2: “At dawn he appeared again in the temple courts, where all the people gathered around him, and he sat down to teach them.” Just to refresh your memory, here is the text: 3A woman who had been caught in adultery was brought in by the professors of the law and the Pharisees.

  • According to the Law of Moses, such women were to be stoned.
  • However, Jesus knelt on the ground and began writing with his finger on the dirt.
  • ” (8)He knelt on the ground and scribbled something down.
  • Jesus sprang up and questioned her, “Woman, where have they disappeared to?” “Doesn’t anyone think you’re guilty?” 11 “There isn’t nobody, sir,” she responded.
  • “Get out of here, and get out of your sinful existence.” NIV The key to understanding the “finger-writing” verse is found in Jeremiah 17:13.
  • There was a specific procedure that would be performed in order to bring judgment if enough witnesses could be gathered to establish that adultery had truly been committed.
  • In this case, the Oral Law of God had been violated.
  • By doing so, Jesus demonstrated to his accusers that THEY were not abiding by the law, but that He would do so anyway.
  • (And by whom?) The Scribes and Pharisees disregarded the law, brought just the woman, and then proceeded to level allegations against her.
  • The accusers did not want to toss the stone because they wanted Jesus to condemn her, so they persisted in accusing her until they were expelled from the synagogue.
  • During Yom Kippur (the Day of Atonement), the Kohen HaGaddol, or High Priest, would immerse up to 11 times in aMikveh (a baptismal tank) in order to be ceremonially cleaned between each distinct segment of the day’s offerings, a practice that has continued for centuries.

When the party was over and it was time to go home, the High Priest would come out and say this verse: “‘Oh YAHWEH, the Mikvehof Israel.’ just as themikveh (purifying bath) cleansed me on this day, may the Holy One (Messiah), blessed be his name, cleanse all of Israel when He comes.” The High Priest would then leave the room and leave everyone in silence.

Since he was 12 years old, every pious Jewish man had heard the High Priest recite this poem, which he had heard every year since then.

(Even though Yom Kippur was not a Feast of Ascension, many Jews would come up for it nevertheless, due to its near proximity in time to the Feast of Booths (Tabernacles), when they were required to be present.

Jeremiah 17:13 is a Bible verse that says It reads as follows in its exact Hebrew translation: “Oh YHVH, the Immerser (BAPTIZER) of Israel, all those who depart from your ways shall be put to shame (publicly embarrassed), and those who turn aside from my ways will have their names written in the dust blotted out, for they have turned away from YHVH, the spring of life.” As a result, Jesus offered them a second chance—they might have been embarrassed and then repented in front of the Father.

  • Instead, they refused to repent, rejecting the Messiah, and as a result, their names were written in the dust as a punishment.
  • The following verse from John 8:9 is, in my opinion, the most interesting: Those who heard it were convicted by their own consciences, and they walked out one by one, beginning with the eldest and continuing until the last; and Jesus was left alone, with the lady standing in the center.
  • As they walked away, they went in order from the oldest to the youngest, with the older having heard the verse stated more frequently.
  • Jesus had recently said that He was the source of all living rivers (John 4:14).
  • Now it’s time to look at some examples of application.
  • She was well aware that what she was doing was against God’s rules and would result in death.
  • Little girls were betrothed and married by the ages of twelve or thirteen, usually to an older man from the extended family, such as an uncle or grandfather.

Daughters were often kept concealed from the rest of society until they reached adulthood.

They were unable to receive an education or be taught the Torah (the Jewish Bible).

They were seen as belonging to someone else.

He must have informed her that he was displeased with her performance, at the very least.

“All I have is this useless girl!” said the mother.

Embarrassment, dread, and disgrace.

Was her spouse physically or verbally abusive?

Was she in a state of extreme distress?

What was it that Jesus saw through those tear-stained eyes?

Perhaps this man with whom she had an affair was the only one with whom she could communicate.

Possibly he confessed his feelings for her and expressed regret that she had been forced to marry someone she didn’t want to marry.

She had violated the Law of Moses, and the punishment for adultery was stoning, which she had received.

The religious officials apprehended Mary and took her into the Temple grounds, where Jesus was speaking at the time.

Jesus was well-versed in the Scriptures.

So what was it about Jesus’ response to this woman that was so compassionate and forgiving?

They might be able to be redeemed.

The religious authorities, included the Scribes and Pharisees.

The Pharisees belonged to a middle-class family.

They scrubbed their hands till they bled, they were scared of the diseased and wicked in their society, and they were afraid of being exposed to the diseased and sinful.

Their outrage was fueled by the realization that this Rabbi could provide grace-undeserved love and forgiveness to people rather than working for a mean, demanding God.

After claiming to be the Messiah for whom they had been waiting and praying all of their lives, Jesus appeared, performing miraculous deeds and even reviving the dead, yet he did not appear or act in the manner that they had expected.

These religious leaders were ecstatic about how hard they worked to please their “inspection” God, and they were right to be so.

As a result, produce fruits worthy of repentance, and refrain from saying to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our father”” (Mat 3:7-9).

Jesus appeared to the religious leaders as the ray of hope for which they had hoped and longed.

It is impossible to comprehend all of God’s grace.

Pretenders, religious leaders included, who believed that if they were only smart enough, worked hard enough, and prayed hard enough, they would somehow earn their way into Paradise by some miracle.

She believed she was hopelessly entangled in a never-ending cycle of sin.

God would never be able to forgive her.

All three were made available by Jesus.

“Go, and don’t sin any more.” Kevin Cornette, of the Prophecy Fellowship, provided the historical knowledge.

What Words or sentences did Jesus Write on the Ground?

In fact, one of the interpretations in the ancient Church tradition that He wrote each of the presenter’s sins is theologically correct, because He demonstrated His divine feature of knowing hearts – v /Acts 1:24/ – (which feature belongs properly only to three persons: the Father, the Son (Jesus), who knows Father as Father knows Him (Matt 11:27), and the Holy Spirit who “knows the depths of God” (1 Cor.

2:10) – the epis He also forgives her, for by saying, “Neither I condemn you, go and sin no more,” he implies that the previous sin is no longer accounted to her, thus demonstrating another divine feature (again, properly belonging only to the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit) – the sovereign authority of forgiving sins, which ontologically speaking is nothing else than making a healing touch into one’s soul’s/depth, heart’s for sin is nothing but a scathing wound This power He demonstrated in other situations as well, for which He was seen as a blasphemer since He was thought to be a usurper and appropriator of something that should have been reserved exclusively for God (cf.

Mark 2:7 or Matthew 9:3).

With all of this in mind, it may be concluded that the legend of Jesus writing down each of the presenter’s crimes (most likely, it is inferred, the comparable acts of adultery for which they were ready to execute the woman) corresponds well with the Gospels’ teaching about the divine dignity of Jesus.

Whether this tradition is objectively true or not, that is to say, whether they truly looked at Jesus’ words written on the ground and their consciences were pricked already as a result of them before Jesus said those famous words out loud, is unclear, and John purposefully leaves a riddle for us so that we may be free to venture our own interpretations and read the text more attentively and creatively, thereby gaining a greater spiritual benefit for ourselves.

A proposed remedy is outlined below.

Hardly!

The possibility and likelihood is that He inscribed the sins of a small number of the most passionate and zealous among them, the very instigators and leaders of the throng, and when they read their crimes, they dropped the stones, with the others following their example.

What did Jesus write on the ground when a woman was tried for adultery

What did Jesus write on the ground at the trial of the woman who had committed adultery with a married man? Separate things were written by Jesus on the ground. Almost certainly, Jesus wrote: “Either produce the adulterer, or you will be EXECUTED as false witnesses!” (a loose translation of God’s false witness legislation in Deuteronomy19:16-21), and “Two or three eyewitnesses are necessary to put someone to death” (a loose paraphrase of God’s false witness law in Deuteronomy19:16-21) (Deuteronomy17:619:15).

  • My argument is explained in further detail in the following essay.
  • Please read John 8:2-11 (NIV) before continuing.
  • And, once you understand why the conventional response cannot be accurate, you will be more willing to embrace what I consider to be the only viable solution to the problem.
  • Atdawnhe reappeared in the temple courtyards, where he was greeted by a throng of people who crowded around him to listen to him educate them.
  • They called her up in front of the gathering and told Jesus, “Teacher, this lady was caught in the act of adultery.” Moses told us to stone such women according to the Law.
  • However, Jesus knelt on the ground and began writing with his finger on the dirt.
  • When they heard this, those who heard it began to leave one by one, starting with the older ones, until just Jesus was left, with the lady still standing where she had been.
  • “Doesn’t anyone think you’re guilty?” “There isn’t nobody, sir,” she responded.

“Get out of here, and get out of your sinful existence.” In addition, please keep in mind that when Christ said, “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone,” he was not requiring judges to be sinless in order to sentence anyone to death, nor was Christ requiring the Jewish people themselves to be sinless in order to participate in an execution; otherwise, Christ would be invalidating more than 20 of Jehovah’s Old Testament Civil Laws, which prescribed execution for various capital crimes.

  • ] So, what was it that Jesus was writing on the ground throughout the trial, exactly?
  • There is an issue with the typical argument from the “scholars,” in that it assumes that the Pharisees fled the trial simply because they were embarrassed after reading the list of their numerous faults that Christ had written on the ground.
  • For starters, it would be rather out of character for the Pharisees to leave the trial just because they were feeling a little remorse over their transgressions, as they did in the last trial.
  • Instead, the Pharisees always remained on the scene and were enraged with the situation.
  • Surprise of all, during the trial of the woman who had committed adultery, Christ did not mention any of the faults of the Pharisees aloud whatsoever.
  • As a result, given that the Pharisees were unmoved by Christ’s constant public vocal rebukes, it would be rather out of character for them to be moved by anything Christ scribbled on the ground, especially given that Christ did not speak a single word of admonition in this instance.
  • Second, it is quite possible that the Pharisees had descended to such a level of depravity that they were no longer capable of feeling any guilt in the first instance.
See also:  How To Rebuke In The Name Of Jesus

Among those who were murderers (Matthew 23:34-35) and adulterers (Matthew 12:39), thieves (Matthew 21:13, Luke 19:46), and those who disobeyed their parents (Matthew 15:4), cursed their parents (Matthew 15:4), did the unpardonable sin (Matthew 12:24-32), were unrepentant (Luke 18:10-12), were covet (Matthew 23:5-7) 17.

  1. and they committed a variety of other offenses.
  2. That Christ declared, “For I tell you that until your purity exceeds that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will most surely not enter the kingdom of heaven,” is understandable.
  3. The third point to note is that while Christ accused the Pharisees of different crimes, he had to be careful to avoid the sin of slander in order to maintain his innocent status (as recorded in Leviticus 19:16).
  4. He constantly blamed them as a group, which, as I already stated, just served to enrage them even more.

If the Father told Christ which Pharisee committed which specific offense, it does not automatically make Christ a personaleyewitnessto that sin, because God’s own regulations in Deuteronomy17:619:15 state that you must be an actualeyewitnessto a specific sin in order to offer evidence about that sin in a trial.

  1. Their presence at the trial and continuing pressure on Christ to deliver judgment on the adulteress would not have been tolerated by the defendants.
  2. Because of these three arguments, the Church’s long-held belief that “Christ inscribed the sins of the Pharisees on the ground” cannot possibly be right in its interpretation.
  3. As recorded in Luke 12:13-14, a man approached Jesus and said, “Teacher, please instruct my brother to split the inheritance with me.” “Man, who appointed me to be a judge or an arbitrator between you?” Jesus inquired.
  4. This is exactly what occurred during the trial of the lady who was accused of adultery.
  5. “So, what are your thoughts?” As a result of the Pharisees’ question to Christ, “Now what doYOUsay?” they are effectively appointing Christ to serve as an official judge in the woman’s court case.
  6. the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law).

However, because they did not actually catchthe adulterer while committing adultery, they could not possibly have caught the adulteress while committing adultery either, which means that their claim of catching her while committing adultery is false, and this is strong evidence that the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law are actually FALSE WITNESSES—and the punishment for being a false witness in a capital crime such as adultery is death without mercy!

For as it is written: “If a libelous witness comes forward to accuse someone of a crime, the two parties concerned in the disagreement must appear beforethe priests and judges who are now in office.” After conducting a thorough inquiry, if the witness is found to be a liar who has given false testimony against a fellow Israelite, the judges must do to the false witness what the other party had hoped the false witness would do to them.

You must eliminate the wicked from your ranks.

Show no mercy: “Life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.” “Show no mercy: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.” (Deuteronomy 19:16-21, New International Version) The fact that the adulteress was brought to the trial without the adulterer was strong evidence that the Pharisees had never really caught either of them in the act of adultery in the first place, and that, as a result, the Pharisees and Teachers of the Lawwere false witnesses who deserved to be executed by the entire crowd of Christ’s followers who had gathered in the temple that morning to witness the execution of the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law.

As a result, if Christ had uttered this truth publicly, the vast gathering of Christ’s followers would have surrounded the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law, preventing them from escaping.

all the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law that falsely claimed to have caught the woman in the act of adultery).

So, in order to avoid being forced into ordering the execution of the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law, Christ simply wrote on the ground how the application of God’s false witness law would put the lives of the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law in danger if the trial went ahead as planned.

Just keep in mind that only the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law who were standing up could see what Christ had truly written, whereas Christ’s followers (who were most likely seated on the ground) would not be in the proper position to read what Christ had written.) Consider Christ standing up and saying, “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone,” possibly even referring to what he had just written.

They read something like, “Produce the adulterer, or you will be executed as false witnesses!” as the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law get closer to Christ in order to see what he has written on the ground.

As a result, before the trial began, Christ scribbled something on the ground to serve as a reminder to the Pharisees about what God’s rules demanded of witnesses, giving them the opportunity to retract their allegations before the trial began.

Alternatively, if Christ had not written on the ground, “Produce the adulterer, or you will be executed as false witnesses!” and instead chose to explain out loud to his followers why the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law were indeed false witnesses, Christ (the duly appointed judge) would have been forced to insist that the false witnesses not be allowed to leave, and that they must now remain for their own execution.

In the meantime, Christ knelt on the ground and scrawled something else on the dirt.

In his writing, he presumably quoted Deuteronomy 17:6 and said something along the lines of, “Two or three eyewitnesses are necessary to execute someone!” In addition, because all of the false witnesses had fled the courtroom for fear of their lives, Jesus was able to address the woman with the words “Woman, where are they?” “Doesn’t anyone think you’re guilty?” “There isn’t nobody, sir,” she responded.

  • “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus stated emphatically.
  • And it is for this reason that they withdrew from the trial.
  • Furthermore, he acted in accordance with the spirit of the Law by seeking (and ultimately discovering) a basis to extend mercy to the lady as well!
  • During the trial, Jesus did not abolish or change any of the Mosaic Laws of justice, as some have claimed.
  • It is only because we are ignorant of the specifics of the Old Testament Laws that we might get the incorrect conclusion that Jesus modified the law in this text.

Rather than demonstrating how poorly the Teachers of the Law comprehended the practical applications of God’s laws in the first place, their failure to anticipate the legal paradox of this story and predict the unavoidable outcome of the trial illustrates how poorly they understood God’s laws themselves.

However, it appears that the Teachers of the Law were simply teaching their pupils how to recite the law, and not how to practice the law in a courtroom in the manner that God intended!

Simple.

on evangelism and other important issues).

(This will only occur during Christ’s coming millennium rule, as prophesied in Ezekiel 44:24.) As a result, both groups are unable to comprehend how the practical application of God’s Old Testament Civil Laws would have been extremely beneficial for the courts of ancient Israel as well as modern America, and how even a basic understanding of how God’s laws function in a courtroom to eliminate false witnesses would have been extremely beneficial for the trial of the woman taken in adultery in John 8.

Why Did Jesus Write With His Finger in the Dust?

While the woman taken in adultery was being tried, Jesus scribbled something on the ground. On the ground, Jesus wrote two distinct things. “Produce the adulterer, or you will be EXECUTED as false witnesses!” Jesus most likely wrote. It takes two or three eyewitnesses to execute someone, according to Deuteronomy 19:16-21 (a loose paraphrase of God’s false witness law), and “Two or three eyewitnesses are required to put someone to death” (a loose paraphrase of God’s false witness law in Deuteronomy 19:16-21).

According to my understanding, the Pharisees fled the trial out of FEAR for their lives, not because they were SHAMED into doing so by the other witnesses.

Almost everyone recalls Jesus’ famous line from the story of the woman who was caught in adultery: “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.” Very few people, however, are aware that Jesus was actually writing something on the ground with his finger both before and after he delivered his famous line.

  • You’ll be more open to accepting what I believe to be the only possible solution once you understand why the traditional answer cannot be correct.
  • An adulteress had been brought in by the teachers of the law and Pharisees.
  • How do you feel about it?
  • In the meantime, Jesus knelt beside the ground and began to write with his finger on the surface of the ground.
  • ” He knelt on the ground and scribbled some more.
  • “Woman, where are they?” Jesus inquired as he straightened up.
  • As a result, Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you.” It is imperative that you leave your sinful life immediately.

Was it a message from God or something else that Jesus wrote on the ground during the trial?

There are three reasons why I believe this is incorrect.

As it turns out, Christ had previously publicly rebuked the Pharisees for their sins during a number of previous encounters, but there is no record of the Pharisees ever becoming ashamed and fleeing the scene at any point.

So even before the woman’s trial began, the Pharisees were mentally preparing themselves for Christ to say something demeaning about their own sinfulness.

In fact, this was one of the most cordial encounters between Christ and the Pharisees that has ever been recorded in the Scriptures!

Furthermore, there was no reason for what Christ wrote on the ground to embarrass the Pharisees in front of the large crowd of Christ’s actual followers, because his closest followers were all likely sitting down (and thus were not at the correct visual angle to read what Christ had written on the ground), and the only followers of Christ who might have been standing would probably have been in the back of the crowd (and thus would not have been able to read what Christ had written on the ground) (and so were too far away to read what Christ wrote on the ground anyway).

  • First and foremost, it is highly likely that the Pharisees had descended to such a level of evil that they no longer felt any sense of shame.
  • 1.
  • were adulterers (Matthew 12:39), and 3.
  • cursed their parents (Matthew 15:4),6.did not love God (John 5:42),7.did not love their neighbor (Luke 10 (Matthew 23:5-7) (17) They were blind guides, whitewashed tombs, and a brood of vipers (Matthew 23:16; 27; 33),18.
  • To put it another way, the Pharisees were most definitely NOT”just by law”.

That Christ said, “For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will most certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven,” is understandable: According to the New International Version of Matthew 5:20, So it is highly likely that the Pharisees and the Teachers of the law had become so evil that they could no longer feel any shame at all, and thus they could not possibly have been shamed into leaving the trial of the woman who was allegedly taken in adultery, as some have speculated.

The third point to note is that whenever Christ accused the Pharisees of various sins, he had to be careful to avoid the sin of slander in order to maintain his sinlessness (as recorded in Leviticus 19:16).

Whenever he accused them individually, it only served to enrage them even further, as I previously stated.

In addition, just because the Father may have told Christ which Pharisee committed which specific sin does not automatically make Christ a personaleyewitnessto that sin, and God’s own laws in Deuteronomy17:619:15 specify that you must be an actualeyewitnessto a particular sin in order to give testimony about that sin in a trial.

  1. Their presence at the trial and continued pressure on Christ to pass judgment on the adulteress would have been indisputable.
  2. The traditional teaching of the Church that Christ “wrote the Pharisees’ sins on his hands and feet” cannot possibly be correct in light of the foregoing three considerations.
  3. The Bible says that a man approached Jesus and said, “Teacher, please tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” Man, who appoints you to be a judge or arbitrator between yourselves?” said Jesus in response.
  4. This is exactly what occurred during the trial of the woman accused of adultery.
  5. Women like this were stoned, according to Moses’ command in the Law.
  6. In asking Christ, “Now what doYOUsay?” the Pharisees are essentially appointing Christ to serve as the official judge during the woman’s trial.
  7. He also had the legal authority to order the execution of liars and liars’ accusers (i.e.
  8. As a result of the fact that the Pharisees did not bringthe adulterer to the trialalong with the adulteress, the duly appointed judge (Christ) would be forced to conclude that the Pharisees did not actually catch the adulterer in the act of adultery.

– For it is written: “If a malicious witness takes the stand to accuse someone of a crime, the two parties involved in the dispute must stand in the presence of the Lord before the priests and judges who are currently in office.” After conducting a thorough investigation, if the witness is found to be a liar who has given false testimony against a fellow Israelite, the judges must do to the false witness what the other party had hoped the false witness would do to him.

You must purge your ranks of the evildoer.

Show no mercy: “life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.” “Show no mercy: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.” According to the New International Version of Deuteronomy 19:16-21, As the appointed judge in the case, Christ could easily have explained to his large group of followers why bringing the adulteress to the trial without the adulterer was strong evidence that the Pharisees never really caught either of them in the act of adultery in the first place, and as a result, the Pharisees and Teachers of the Lawwere false witnesses who deserved to be executed by the entire crowd of Christ’s followers who were all gathered in the temple that morning t In contrast, if Christ had spoken this truth aloud, the large group of Christ’s followers would have immediately surrounded the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law, preventing them from fleeing the scene.

  • Due to the prohibition of giving mercy to false witnesses (Deuteronomy 19:16-21), Christ would have been forced to order the killing of all of the false witnesses in order to avoid committing a sin (Deuteronomy 19:16-21).
  • all the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law that falsely claimed to have caught the woman in the act of adultery).
  • Consequently, to avoid being forced into ordering the murder of the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law, Christ merely scrawled on the ground how the application of God’s false witness law would put the lives of the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law in risk if the trial went on as scheduled.
  • Just keep in mind that only the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law who were standing up could see what Christ had truly written, whereas Christ’s followers (who were most likely seated on the ground) would not be in the proper position to read what Christ had written.
  • Consequently, either they or the adulterer had to be produced promptly, or they would be identified by the judge as false witnesses, and their lives would be put in danger of being taken away from them.
  • The false witnesses would have abandoned their allegations before the trial began, allowing Christ to spare the lives of the false witnesses without really committing a judicial sin in this manner.
  • Between times, Christ knelt on the ground and scrawled something on the dirt.

“.

“Doesn’t anyone think you’re wrong?” “There isn’t nobody, sir,” she said.

Consequently, what Jesus scrawled on the ground that day did not make the Pharisees feel humiliated; rather, it made them fear for their lives!

Christ obeyed the letter of the law in every part of the trial by just writing on the ground the rules of God that were relevant to cases of adultery at that time.

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“Love kindness,” according to Micah 6:8.) During the trial, Jesus did not abolish or amend any of the Mosaic Laws of justice, but rather demonstrated his commitment to them.

Our lack of knowledge about the specifics of Old Testament Laws leads us to draw the incorrect conclusion that Jesus modified the law when he says these words in the verse.

To the contrary, the Teachers of the Law’s inability to foresee the legal paradox inherent in this account and hence to predict the unavoidable conclusion to the trial demonstrates how inadequate their understanding of the practical applications of God’s rules originally was.

However, it appears that the Teachers of the Law were simply teaching their pupils how to recite the law, and not how to practice the law in a courtroom in the manner that God had intended!

” (Matthew 23:23; Mark 12:23) So, what is it about our current Christian intellectuals that prevents them from seeing what Christ wrote on the ground?

For this reason, our contemporary Christian intellectuals and leaders are preoccupied with other matters (i.e.

As a result, neither the ancient Pharisees nor our modern Christian leaders have expressed any interest in ensuring that all of God’s Old Testament Civil Laws are routinely enforced laws in the State of ancient Israel or the State of modern America.

As a result, both groups are unable to comprehend how the practical application of God’s Old Testament Civil Laws would have been extremely beneficial for the courts of ancient Israel and modern America, and how even a basic understanding of how God’s laws function in a courtroom to eliminate false witnesses would have been extremely beneficial for the trial of the woman taken in adultery in John 8.

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What did Jesus write on the ground while the woman accused of adultery was being tried? Jesus scribbled two separate things in the dirt. Most likely, Jesus wrote: “Produce the adulterer, or you will be EXECUTED as false witnesses!” (a loose paraphrase of God’s false witness law found in Deuteronomy19:16-21), and “Two or three eyewitnesses are required to put someone to death” (a loose paraphrase of God’s false witness law found in Deuteronomy19:16-21) (Deuteronomy17:619:15). According to my interpretation, the Pharisees fled the trial out of FEAR for their lives, not because they were SHAMED into doing so.

  1. Everyone remembers Jesus’ famous line from the story of the woman caught in adultery, “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.” However, very few people are aware that Jesus was actually writing something on the ground with his finger both before and after he said his famous line.
  2. You’ll be more willing to accept what I believe to be the only possible solution once you understand why the traditional answer cannot be correct.
  3. Afterwards, Atdawnhe reappeared in the temple courts, where all of the people gathered around him, and he sat down to give them some instruction.
  4. They brought her before the group and told Jesus, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the act of adultery.” Moses commanded us to stone such women, according to the Law.
  5. But Jesus knelt on the ground and began writing with his finger on the ground.
  6. When they heard this, those who heard it began to leave one by one, starting with the older ones, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.
  7. “Has no one pronounced you guilty?” “There isn’t anyone, sir,” she replied.

” “Get out of here, and get away from your sinful life.” In addition, please keep in mind that when Christ said, “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone,” he was not requiring judges to be sinless in order to sentence anyone to death, nor was Christ requiring the Jewish people themselves to be sinless in order to participate in an execution; otherwise, Christ would be invalidating more than 20 of Jehovah’s Old Testament Civil Laws that prescribed execution for various capital crimes.

  1. So, what was it that Jesus was writing on the ground during the trial exactly?
  2. For three reasons, I believe this is an incorrect assumption.
  3. As it turns out, Christ had previously publicly rebuked the Pharisees for their sins during a number of previous encounters, yet there is no record of the Pharisees ever becoming ashamed and fleeing the scene.
  4. The Pharisees were already bracing themselves for Christ to say something insulting about their own sinfulness before the woman’s trial even began.
  5. In fact, this was one of the most civilized encounters between Christ and the Pharisees that has ever been recorded in history.

Furthermore, there was no reason for what Christ wrote on the ground to embarrass the Pharisees in front of the large crowd of Christ’s actual followers, because his closest followers were all likely sitting down (and thus were not at the correct visual angle to read what Christ had written on the ground), and the only followers of Christ who might have been standing would probably have been in the back of the crowd (and so were too far away to read what Christ wrote on the ground anyway).

  • Second, it is highly likely that the Pharisees had descended to such a level of evil that they were no longer capable of feeling any shame.
  • 1.
  • were adulterers (Matthew 12:39), and 3.
  • cursed their parents (Matthew 15:4),6.did not love God (John 5:42),7.did not love their neighbor (Luke (Matthew 23:5-7) (17) They were blind guides, whitewashed tombs, and a brood of vipers (Matthew 23:16,27,33),18.
  • In other words, the Pharisees were certainly NOT “righteous in the eyes of the Law” (even though we are frequently taught that erroneous idea by our Church leaders).
  • Third, whenever Christ accused the Pharisees of various sins, he had to be careful not to commit the sin of slander in order to maintain his sinlessness (as recorded in Leviticus 19:16).
  • He always accused them as a group, which, as I previously stated, only served to enrage them further.

In addition, just because the Father may have told Christ which Pharisee committed which specific sin does not automatically make Christ a personaleyewitnessto that sin, and God’s own laws in Deuteronomy17:619:15 specify that you must be an actualeyewitnessto a specific sin in order to give testimony about that sin in a trial.

  1. They would not have walked away from the trial and would have continued to press Christ to pass judgment on the adulteress.
  2. Because of these three arguments, the Church’s long-held belief that “Christ wrote the sins of the Pharisees on the ground” cannot possibly be correct in its teaching.
  3. As recorded in Luke 12:13-14, a man approached Jesus and said, “Teacher, please tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” “Man, who appointed me as a judge or arbitrator between you?” Jesus inquired.
  4. In fact, this is exactly what occurred during her trial for adultery.
  5. Moses commanded us to stone such women, according to the Law.
  6. The legal authority to order the execution of an adulterous woman came into play only after Christ was officially appointed as judge.
  7. the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law).

However, because they did not actually catchthe adulterer while committing adultery, they could not possibly have caught the adulteress while committing adultery either, which means that their claim of catching her while committing adultery is false, and this is strong evidence that the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law are actually FALSE WITNESSES—and the punishment for being a false witness in a capital crime like adultery is death without mercy!

For as it is written: “If an errant witness takes the stand to accuse someone of a crime, the two people involved in the dispute must stand beforethe priests and judges who are currently in office.” After conducting a thorough investigation, if the witness is found to be a liar who has given false testimony against a fellow Israelite, the judges must do to the false witness what the other party had in mind.

You must expel the evil from your ranks.

Do not show pity: “life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot”; “life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.” (Deuteronomy 19:16-21 New International Version) The fact that the adulteress was brought to the trial without the adulterer was strong evidence that the Pharisees had never really caught either of them in the act of adultery in the first place, and that, as a result, the Pharisees and Teachers of the Lawwere false witnesses who deserved to be executed by the entire crowd of Christ’s followers who had gathered in the temple that morning to witness the trial.

  1. However, if Christ had spoken this truth aloud, the large group of Christ’s followers would have immediately surrounded the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law, preventing them from fleeing.
  2. all the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law that falsely claimed to have caught the woman in the act of adultery).
  3. As a result, in order to avoid being forced into ordering the execution of the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law, Christ simply wrote on the ground how the application of God’s false witness law would put the lives of the Pharisees in danger if the trial went forward.
  4. Remember that only the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law who were standing up could see what Christ had actually written, whereas Christ’s followers (who were most likely sitting on the ground) would not be in the proper position to read what Christ had written.
  5. They read something like, “Produce the adulterer, or you will be executed as false witnesses!” as the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law get closer to Christ to see what he has written on the ground.
  6. As a result, before the trial began, Christ wrote something on the ground to serve as a reminder to the Pharisees of what God’s laws required of witnesses, giving them the opportunity to withdraw their charges before the trial began.

However, if Christ had not written on the ground, “Produce the adulterer, or you will be executed as false witnesses!” and instead chose to explain out loud to his followers why the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law were indeed false witnesses, Christ (the duly appointed judge) would have been forced to insist that the false witnesses not be allowed to leave, and that they must now stay for their own execution.

In the meantime, Christ knelt on the ground and scrawled something on the ground.

He most likely paraphrased Deuteronomy 17:6 and wrote something along the lines of “Two or three eyewitnesses are required to put someone to death!” In addition, because all of the false witnesses had fled the courtroom for fear of their lives, Jesus was able to address the woman with the words,”Woman, where are they?

  • “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus said emphatically.
  • And it was for this reason that they walked out of the trial.
  • Furthermore, he acted in accordance with the spirit of the Law by seeking (and ultimately discovering) a reason to show mercy to the woman as well!
  • During the trial, Jesus did not abolish or modify any of the Mosaic laws of justice.
  • It is only because we are ignorant of the specifics of the Old Testament Laws that we can reach the incorrect conclusion that Jesus changed the law in this passage.
  • To the contrary, the Teachers of the Law’s inability to foresee the legal paradox inherent in this story and thus to foresee the unavoidable conclusion to the trial demonstrates how inadequate their understanding of the practical applications of God’s laws had been to begin with.
  • The Teachers of the Law were, however, only teaching their students how to recite the law, and not how to practice the law in a courtroom, as God had intended!
  • Simple.
  • on evangelism and other important issues).

(This will only occur during Christ’s future millennial reign, according to Ezekiel 44:24.) The result is that both groups are unable to comprehend how God’s civil laws, as applied in a courtroom, would have been extremely beneficial for the courts of ancient Israel and modern America, and how even a basic understanding of how God’s laws function in a courtroom to eliminate false witnesses would have been extremely beneficial for a woman taken in adultery’s trial, as depicted in John 8.

What did Jesus write according to John 8?

What did Jesus write on the ground at the trial of the woman accused of adultery? Jesus wrote two separate things on the ground. Most likely, Jesus wrote, “Produce the adulterer, or you will be EXECUTED as false witnesses!” (a loose paraphrase of God’s false witness law found in Deuteronomy 19:16-21), and “Two or three eyewitnesses are required to put someone to death” (a loose paraphrase of God’s false witness law found in Deuteronomy 19:16-21). (Deuteronomy17:619:15). It is clear to me (at least) that the Pharisees fled the trial out of FEAR for their lives, not because they were SHAMED into doing so.

  1. Everyone remembers Jesus’ famous line from the story of the woman caught in adultery: “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.” However, very few people are aware that Jesus was actually writing something on the ground with his finger both before and after uttering his famous line.
  2. And, once you understand why the traditional answer cannot be correct, you will be more willing to accept what I believe to be the only possible solution.
  3. Atdawnhe reappeared in the temple courts, where all of the people gathered around him as he sat down to teach them.
  4. They brought her before the group and told Jesus, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery.” According to the Law, Moses commanded us to stone such women.
  5. However, Jesus knelt down and began writing on the ground with his finger.
  6. Those who had heard this began to leave one by one, starting with the older ones, until only Jesus was left, with the woman still standing there.
  7. “Has no one condemned you?” “No one, sir,” she responded.

“Go now and abandon your sinful way of life.” In addition, please keep in mind that when Christ said, “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone,” he was not requiring judges to be sinless in order to sentence anyone to death, nor was Christ requiring the Jewish people themselves to be sinless in order to participate in an execution; otherwise, Christ would be invalidating more than 20 of Jehovah’s Old Testament Civil Laws, which prescribed execution for various capital crimes.) So, what exactly was Jesus writing on the ground during the trial?

The traditional response is that “no one knows what Christ wrote on the ground because the Bible never tells us.” Most scholars, however, believe that he wrote the sins of the Pharisees on the ground.” The problem with the traditional answer from the “scholars” is that it assumes that the Pharisees left the trial simply because they were embarrassed after reading the list of their various sins that Christ had written on the ground.

  1. There are three reasons why I believe this is a false assumption.
  2. You see, Christ had previously publicly rebuked the Pharisees aloud for their sins during a number of previous encounters, yet there is no record of the Pharisees ever becoming ashamed and fleeing the scene.
  3. As a result, even before the woman’s trial began, the Pharisees were already preparing themselves for Christ to say something insulting about their own sinfulness.
  4. In fact, this was one of the most courteous encounters between Christ and the Pharisees that has ever been recorded.

Furthermore, there was no reason for what Christ wrote on the ground to embarrass the Pharisees in front of the large crowd of Christ’s actual followers, because his closest followers were all likely sitting down (and thus not at the correct visual angle to read what Christ had written on the ground), and the only followers of Christ who might have been standing would probably have been in the back of the crowd (and so were too far away to read what Christ wrote on the ground anyway).

Second, it is highly likely that the Pharisees had become so evil that they were no longer able to feel any shame in the first place.

The murderers (Matthew 23:34-35) and adulterers (Matthew 12:39) and thieves (Matthew 21:13, Luke 19:46) were disobedient to their parents (Matthew 15:4), cursed their parents (Matthew 15:4), did not love God (John 5:42), did not love their neighbor (Luke 10:29-37), demolished widows’ homes (Luke 20:47), (Matthew 23:5-7) 17.

and they committed numerous sins as well.

It is no surprise that Christ said, “For I tell you that unless your righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will most certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:20 NIV) As a result, it is highly likely that the Pharisees and the Teachers of the law had become so evil that they could no longer feel any shame at all, and as a result, they could not have been shamed into leaving the trial of the woman who was allegedly taken in adultery.

Third, whenever Christ accused the Pharisees of various sins, in order for Christ to remain sinless, he specifically avoided committing the sin of slander (as recorded in Leviticus 19:16).

He always accused them as a group, and as I previously stated, all that did was enrage them even more.

In addition, just because the Father may have told Christ which Pharisee committed which specific sin does not automatically make Christ a personaleyewitnessto that sin, and God’s own laws in Deuteronomy17:619:15 specify that you must be an actualeyewitnessto a particular sin in order to give testimony about that sin in a trial.) To summarize, if what Christ wrote on the ground that day was simply a list of the sins of the Pharisees as a group, it would only have enraged the Pharisees even more.

  1. They would not have abandoned the trial and would have continued to press Christ to pass judgment on the adulteress.
  2. As a result of these three considerations, the Church’s traditional teaching that “Christ wrote the sins of the Pharisees on the ground” cannot possibly be correct.
  3. In Luke 12:13-14, a man approached Jesus and said, “Teacher, please tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” “Man, who appointed me as a judge or an arbitrator between you?” Jesus inquired.
  4. In fact, this is exactly what happened during her trial for adultery.
  5. “How do you feel now?” The Pharisees’ question to Christ, “Now what doYOUsay?” is tantamount to them appointing Christ to preside over the woman’s trial as the official judge.
  6. the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law).
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However, because they did not actually catchthe adulterer while committing adultery, they could not possibly have caught the adulteress while committing adultery either, which means that their claim of catching her while committing adultery is false, and this is strong evidence that the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law are actually FALSE WITNESSES—and the punishment for being a false witness in a capital crime such as adultery is death without mercy.

For it is written: “If a malicious witness takes the stand to accuse someone of a crime, the two people involved in the dispute must stand in the presence of the Lord before the priests and judges who are currently in office.” The judges must conduct a thorough investigation, and if the witness is found to be a liar who gave false testimony against a fellow Israelite, thendo to the false witness as that witness intended to do to the other party.

You must purge your ranks of the evil.

Show no mercy: “Life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.” (Deuteronomy 19:16–21, New International Version) The fact that the adulteress was brought to the trial without the adulterer was strong evidence that the Pharisees had never really caught either of them in the act of adultery in the first place, and that, as a result, the Pharisees and Teachers of the Lawwere false witnesses who deserved to be executed by the entire crowd of Christ’s followers who had gathered in the temple that morning t However, if Christ had uttered this truth openly, the vast gathering of Christ’s disciples would have promptly surrounded the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law, preventing them from escaping.

And because God’s Law forbids offering mercy to false witnesses (Deuteronomy 19:16-21), Christ would have been forced to order the killing of all of the false witnesses in order to avoid committing a sin (i.e.

Of course, inciting the crowd to slay the Pharisees would have undoubtedly interfered with the historical record of the crucifixion.

By simply writing on the ground, “Produce the adulterer, or you will be EXECUTED as false witnesses,” no one else would notice that Christ was providing the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law with a way to escape the trial with their lives without the crowd of Christ’s followers realizing what was actually happening.

So imagine Christ standing up and (possibly even referring to what he had just written) saying, “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.” And when the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law get closer to Christ in order to see what he has written on the ground, they read something along the lines of “Produce the adulterer, or we will be executed as false witnesses!” This meant that the Pharisees needed to deliver the adulterer as soon as possible, or else they would be recognized by the judge as false witnesses and sentenced to death.

As a result, before the trial began, Christ scribbled something on the ground to remind them of what God’s rules demanded of witnesses, giving the Pharisees an opportunity to retract their allegations before the trial began.

Alternatively, if Christ had not written on the ground, “Produce the adulterer, or you will be executed as false witnesses!” and instead chose to explain out loud to his followers why the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law were indeed false witnesses, Christ (the duly appointed judge) would have been forced to insist that the false witnesses not be allowed to leave, and that they must now stay for their own execution.

  1. In the meantime, Christ knelt on the ground and scribbled something on the dirt.
  2. He most likely quoted Deuteronomy 17:6 and wrote something along the lines of, “Two or three eyewitnesses are necessary to put someone to death!” And because all of the false witnesses had fled the courtroom for dread of their lives, Jesus could now say to the woman, “Woman, where are they?
  3. “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus said emphatically.
  4. And it was for this reason that they decided to leave the trial.
  5. Furthermore, he acted in accordance with the spirit of the Law by searching for (and then discovering) a cause to extend mercy to the lady as well!
  6. For if Jesus had disobeyed any of God’s rules throughout the trial, he could not have remained sinless himself, and hence his death on the cross could not have atoned for our sins!
  7. And, just as misunderstanding of God’s Law leads Christians to incorrectly assume that Christ altered the Law, ignorance of God’s Law led the Pharisees to incorrectly conclude that Christbroke the Law!

For it should have been obvious to any first-year Israelite law student that any time a group of supposed “witnesses” brings a woman before a judge and claims they caught her in the act of adultery (without also bringing the man) that the eyewitnesses must quickly produce the adulterer or else the judge will naturally accuse them of being false witnesses and they will be executed!

It’s no surprise that Jesus responded to them, “You tithe of your mint, dill, and cumin, but you disregard the weightier elements of the Law: justice, kindness, and faith.” (Matthew 23:23) As a result, how come our modern Christian intellectuals have never been able to discern what Christ wrote on the ground?

It is because the attention of our contemporary Christian intellectuals and leaders is diverted elsewhere (i.e.

As a result, neither the ancient Pharisees nor our current Christian leaders have expressed any interest in ensuring that all of God’s Old Testament Civil Laws are routinely enforced laws in the old state of Israel or the modern state of America.

John 8

What did Jesus write on the ground at the trial of the woman who had committed adultery with a married man? Separate things were written by Jesus on the ground. Almost certainly, Jesus wrote: “Either produce the adulterer, or you will be EXECUTED as false witnesses!” (a loose translation of God’s false witness legislation in Deuteronomy19:16-21), and “Two or three eyewitnesses are necessary to put someone to death” (a loose paraphrase of God’s false witness law in Deuteronomy19:16-21) (Deuteronomy17:619:15).

  1. My argument is explained in further detail in the following essay.
  2. Please read John 8:2-11 (NIV) before continuing.
  3. And, once you understand why the conventional response cannot be accurate, you will be more willing to embrace what I consider to be the only viable solution to the problem.
  4. Atdawnhe reappeared in the temple courtyards, where he was greeted by a throng of people who crowded around him to listen to him educate them.
  5. They called her up in front of the gathering and told Jesus, “Teacher, this lady was caught in the act of adultery.” Moses told us to stone such women according to the Law.
  6. However, Jesus knelt on the ground and began writing with his finger on the dirt.
  7. When they heard this, those who heard it began to leave one by one, starting with the older ones, until just Jesus was left, with the lady still standing where she had been.
  8. “Doesn’t anyone think you’re guilty?” “There isn’t nobody, sir,” she responded.

“Get out of here, and get out of your sinful existence.” In addition, please keep in mind that when Christ said, “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone,” he was not requiring judges to be sinless in order to sentence anyone to death, nor was Christ requiring the Jewish people themselves to be sinless in order to participate in an execution; otherwise, Christ would be invalidating more than 20 of Jehovah’s Old Testament Civil Laws, which prescribed execution for various capital crimes.

  • ] So, what was it that Jesus was writing on the ground throughout the trial, exactly?
  • There is an issue with the typical argument from the “scholars,” in that it assumes that the Pharisees fled the trial simply because they were embarrassed after reading the list of their numerous faults that Christ had written on the ground.
  • For starters, it would be rather out of character for the Pharisees to leave the trial just because they were feeling a little remorse over their transgressions, as they did in the last trial.
  • Instead, the Pharisees always remained on the scene and were enraged with the situation.
  • Surprise of all, during the trial of the woman who had committed adultery, Christ did not mention any of the faults of the Pharisees aloud whatsoever.
  • As a result, given that the Pharisees were unmoved by Christ’s constant public vocal rebukes, it would be rather out of character for them to be moved by anything Christ scribbled on the ground, especially given that Christ did not speak a single word of admonition in this instance.
  • Second, it is quite possible that the Pharisees had descended to such a level of depravity that they were no longer capable of feeling any guilt in the first instance.

Among those who were murderers (Matthew 23:34-35) and adulterers (Matthew 12:39), thieves (Matthew 21:13, Luke 19:46), and those who disobeyed their parents (Matthew 15:4), cursed their parents (Matthew 15:4), did the unpardonable sin (Matthew 12:24-32), were unrepentant (Luke 18:10-12), were covet (Matthew 23:5-7) 17.

  • and they committed a variety of other offenses.
  • That Christ declared, “For I tell you that until your purity exceeds that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will most surely not enter the kingdom of heaven,” is understandable.
  • The third point to note is that while Christ accused the Pharisees of different crimes, he had to be careful to avoid the sin of slander in order to maintain his innocent status (as recorded in Leviticus 19:16).
  • He constantly blamed them as a group, which, as I already stated, just served to enrage them even more.

If the Father told Christ which Pharisee committed which specific offense, it does not automatically make Christ a personaleyewitnessto that sin, because God’s own regulations in Deuteronomy17:619:15 state that you must be an actualeyewitnessto a specific sin in order to offer evidence about that sin in a trial.

  1. Their presence at the trial and continuing pressure on Christ to deliver judgment on the adulteress would not have been tolerated by the defendants.
  2. Because of these three arguments, the Church’s long-held belief that “Christ inscribed the sins of the Pharisees on the ground” cannot possibly be right in its interpretation.
  3. As recorded in Luke 12:13-14, a man approached Jesus and said, “Teacher, please instruct my brother to split the inheritance with me.” “Man, who appointed me to be a judge or an arbitrator between you?” Jesus inquired.
  4. This is exactly what occurred during the trial of the lady who was accused of adultery.
  5. “So, what are your thoughts?” As a result of the Pharisees’ query to Christ, “Now what doYOUsay?” they are effectively appointing Christ to serve as an official judge in the woman’s court case.
  6. the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law).

However, because they did not actually catchthe adulterer while committing adultery, they could not possibly have caught the adulteress while committing adultery either, which means that their claim of catching her while committing adultery is false, and this is strong evidence that the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law are actually FALSE WITNESSES—and the punishment for being a false witness in a capital crime such as adultery is death without mercy!

For as it is written: “If a libelous witness comes forward to accuse someone of a crime, the two parties concerned in the disagreement must appear beforethe priests and judges who are now in office.” After conducting a thorough inquiry, if the witness is found to be a liar who has given false testimony against a fellow Israelite, the judges must do to the false witness what the other party had hoped the false witness would do to them.

You must eliminate the wicked from your ranks.

Show no mercy: “Life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.” “Show no mercy: life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.” (Deuteronomy 19:16-21, New International Version) The fact that the adulteress was brought to the trial without the adulterer was strong evidence that the Pharisees had never really caught either of them in the act of adultery in the first place, and that, as a result, the Pharisees and Teachers of the Lawwere false witnesses who deserved to be executed by the entire crowd of Christ’s followers who had gathered in the temple that morning to witness the execution of the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law.

As a result, if Christ had uttered this truth publicly, the vast gathering of Christ’s followers would have surrounded the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law, preventing them from escaping.

all the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law that falsely claimed to have caught the woman in the act of adultery).

So, in order to avoid being forced into ordering the death of the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law, Christ merely scrawled on the ground how the application of God’s false witness law would put the lives of the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law in risk if the trial went through as planned.

Just keep in mind that only the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law who were standing up could see what Christ had truly written, whereas Christ’s followers (who were most likely seated on the ground) would not be in the proper position to read what Christ had written.) Consider Christ standing up and saying, “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone,” possibly even referring to what he had just written.

They read something like, “Produce the adulterer, or you will be executed as false witnesses!” as the Pharisees and the Teachers of the Law get closer to Christ in order to see what he has written on the ground.

As a result, before the trial began, Christ scribbled something on the ground to serve as a reminder to the Pharisees about what God’s rules demanded of witnesses, giving them the opportunity to retract their allegations before the trial began.

Alternatively, if Christ had not written on the ground, “Produce the adulterer, or you will be executed as false witnesses!” and instead chose to explain out loud to his followers why the Pharisees and Teachers of the Law were indeed false witnesses, Christ (the duly appointed judge) would have been forced to insist that the false witnesses not be allowed to leave, and that they must now remain for their own execution.

In the meantime, Christ knelt on the ground and scrawled something else on the dirt.

In his writing, he presumably quoted Deuteronomy 17:6 and said something along the lines of, “Two or three eyewitnesses are necessary to execute someone!” In addition, because all of the false witnesses had fled the courtroom for fear of their lives, Jesus was able to address the woman with the words “Woman, where are they?” “Doesn’t anyone think you’re guilty?” “There isn’t nobody, sir,” she responded.

  • “Then neither do I condemn you,” Jesus stated emphatically.
  • And it is for this reason that they withdrew from the trial.
  • Furthermore, he acted in accordance with the spirit of the Law by seeking (and ultimately discovering) a basis to extend mercy to the lady as well!
  • During the trial, Jesus did not destroy or amend any of the Mosaic Laws of justice, as some have claimed.
  • It is only because we are ignorant of the specifics of the Old Testament Laws that we might get the incorrect conclusion that Jesus modified the law in this text.

Rather than demonstrating how poorly the Teachers of the Law comprehended the practical applications of God’s laws in the first place, their failure to anticipate the legal paradox of this story and predict the unavoidable outcome of the trial illustrates how poorly they understood God’s laws themselves.

However, it appears that the Teachers of the Law were simply teaching their pupils how to recite the law, and not how to practice the law in a courtroom in the manner that God intended!

Simple.

on evangelism and other important issues).

(This will only occur during Christ’s coming millennium rule, as prophesied in Ezekiel 44:24.) As a result, both groups are unable to comprehend how the practical application of God’s Old Testament Civil Laws would have been extremely beneficial for the courts of ancient Israel as well as modern America, and how even a basic understanding of how God’s laws function in a courtroom to eliminate false witnesses would have been extremely beneficial for the trial of the woman taken in adultery in John 8.

What did Jesus write on the ground?

When this passage was written, Jews had brought a woman who had been caught in adultery to Jesus, pleading with him to pass judgment on her. This scenario was plainly a ruse: if Jesus stated they should stone her, the Jews would immediately report Him to the Romans, who would then prosecute Him for such an act in the courts of law. If Jesus stated that they should not stone her, the Jews would accuse Him of disobeying the law of Moses, and He would be executed. The religious authorities were hypocrites who orchestrated the entire scenario in order to try to capture Jesus in their trap.

That this is one of the only written documents by Jesus is significant.

In the Mishnah, the practice of writing in the sand is mentioned several times (Shabbath12.

of the Talmud, p.

This is most likely since, once He had finished writing on the ground, He invited those who were there to throw the first stone at Him.

The fact that Jesus wrote on the ground of the woman’s accusers’ misdeeds demonstrated His divinity and His ability to discern the hearts of people.

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