What commandments were broken in the story of the woman caught in adultery?

[JustPassingThru]

Personally for me, what I receive from this story is:

And the Word became flesh, and tabernacled among us. And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and of truth. John 1 :14

and:

...according as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, Eph 1:4

...Jesus in His foreknowledge exercised His Divine Grace because He knew He would go to the Cross and pay for her sin with His own blood, ...and, because He also foreknew me, while He was hanging on that Cross I was in His heart and He was also thinking of me!

To God be the Glory, ...Great things He has done, ...for me!

Lord bless

[other one]

written by Kevin Cornette (kevincornette@yahoo.com)
Kevinator Cornbread   Oct 9 2004, 03:08 AM Post #1  

 

 

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 Okay. First a little history. This event takes place in John 8, the day after the events that took place in Chapter 7:37 through verse 53. Let's look there first:

QUOTE  
In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) Many of the people therefore, when they heard this saying, said, Of a truth this is the Prophet.
John 7:37-40   

When Jesus stands and cries in the Temple is, in my opinion, one of the most beautiful and meaningful events in the life of Messiah. In John 7:2, we read that this was during the Feast of Sukkot (Tabernacles), one of the three Feasts of Ascension (when all Jewish men from 12 years old and upward were required to be in Jerusalem). 

On the last day, the great day of the Feast, is Hosannah Rabbah, and a special ceremony took place as long as the Temple of God stood. The priest would be split into three divisions and perform certain functions. 

The first would stay in the Temple and prepare to shout the Hallel and glorify God (along with the Levitical Choir and musicians) when the other two groups got back from their assigned duties. 

The second division of priests would go out to the Kidron valley on the north of the Temple to cut down huge (25-30 foot long) willow branches. The willow branch is a symbol of the resurrection, for when these willow branches were put into the ground, they would take root and grow into trees. These priests would bring the branches into great stands to wave them over the Altar of sacrifice to make the sound of a mighty rushing wind to commemorate the day that God lit the fire of the Altar in Solomon's Temple (2 Chronicles 7:1-4). They would enter the Temple through the Eastern Gate (where the resurrected Jesus will enter at His return) and wait til the appropriate time. 

The last group accompanied the Kohen HaGaddol (High Priest) to the pool of Siloam, where he dipped a silver pitcher into the pool to draw out of the well "Living Waters". As he drew the water out, he would sing/chant chapter 12 of Isaiah:

QUOTE  
And in that day thou shalt say, O LORD, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me. Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. And in that day shall ye say, Praise the LORD, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted. Sing unto the LORD; for he hath done excellent things: this is known in all the earth. Cry out and shout, thou inhabitant of Zion: for great is the Holy One of Israel in the midst of thee.   

 

(can you see the Messianic prophecy here. The underlined part reads in Hebrew "Behold, God is Y'shua. I will put my confidence in and reverence him. YAH, YHVH is my strength, my rejoicing, and has become my Y'shua" -- Y'shua is Jesus name in Hebrew! )

After the water is drawn, the Kohen HaGaddol and his company would come up to the Temple through the Water Gate and wait outside the entrance. (as a quick aside, as soon as the companies of Kohen left, everyone would bow down and wait until the ceremony began)

What these three companies were waiting for is the sound of the flute. The ceremony began with the sound of a flute playing from the pinnacle of the Temple of God. This flute was called "The Pierced One" and had five holes in it (remember Jesus had five wounds: 2 hands, 2 feet and his side!). As soon as the pierced one cried out, the ceremony began. However, in this year, while everyone is bowing and waiting for the Pierced One to cry out, Jesus STOOD and cried instead (for He truly is the Pierced One - Zechariah 12:10, Psalm 22:16, John 19:34-37 & Revelation 1:7!)! HalleluYAH! 

Jesus cries out and tells them "This ceremony we have celebrated together for 1500 years, it is pointing to this: I will cause the Ruach HaKodesh [Holy Spirit] to come and dwell in you, if you will put your confidence in me, just like the Scripture said that the Kohen HaGaddol just quoted!" Many believed on Him on this day. And Jesus spoke with such power and authority that the Levitical Officers (who operated as policemen in the Temple complex and were commissioned to arrest anyone who disturbed the ceremony) could not arrest Jesus but simply said "No man ever spoke like this Man!" (John 7:46). 

All of this takes place on the last day of Sukkot, the 21st day of Tishre. The following day is a minor Feast of the LORD called "Simchat Torah", or "Rejoicing with the Torah". It was supposed to be a great day of celebration and rejoicing before the LORD because God had given His people the Living Torah (who is, indeed, Jesus). Instead of rejoicing that Jesus had come bringing salvation, deliverence and the forgiveness of sin, the accusers came to bring accusation. On this day, Jesus was once again in the Temple teaching (John 8:2) -- the common Jews rejoicing with the Living Word, and the leaders bringing the accusation. 

(I am sorry that this is taking so long to set up, but this information is needed to rightly divide the Word here, and have understanding of what Jesus said and did).

QUOTE  
And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, they say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not. So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.  

Now just a little more history: Whenever someone was caught in adultery, both the man and the woman would be brought to the Nicanor gates and accused. If witnesses could be gathered to confirm that adultery had indeed been committed, then there was a certain ceremony that would be done in order to bring judgment. However, in this instance they only brought the woman. This was a violation of the Oral Law of God. Strike One. 

Secondly, the priest was required to then stoop down and write the law that had been broken (na'aph, or 'adultery' would be written in Hebrew), along with the name of the accused, in the dust of the floor of the Temple (which Jesus did) [actually, the priest could write the law and the names anywhere, as long as the marks were not permanent - and the dust of the floor of the Temple was the most common place]. By doing this, Jesus showed these accusers that THEY were not keeping the law, but He would anyway. Strike Two.

So these men ignored the law, brought the woman only, and then continued with accusation. So Jesus stood up (after plainly demonstrating they were violating the law themselves) said "He who is without sin among you, lem him first cast a stone at her" John 8:7). THEY did not want to cast the stone, they wanted Jesus to condemn her, so they continued accusing.

Now to get this last part, lemme throw in just a little more history. Every year on Yom Kippur (The Day of Atonement), the Kohen HaGaddol would immerse up to 11 times in a Mikveh (a baptismal tank) in order to be ceremonially cleansed between each separate portion of the day's sacrifices. At the end of Yom Kippur, there was a celebration at the home of the Kohen HaGaddol, and there would be great rejoicing that God had received the sacrifice, and everyone’s sins had been rolled fore ward another year (as they were waiting on Messiah). To end the day, and announce to everyone the party was over (and it was time to go home), the Kohen HaGaddol would come out and quote Jeremiah 17:13 "'Oh YHVH, the Mikveh of Israel...' just as the mikveh cleansed me on this day, may the Holy One (Messiah), blessed be his name, cleanse all Israel when He comes". 

(The KJV reads "Oh LORD the hope of Israel"... however, if you get your Strong's Concordance out, you can look up the word translated hope, and it is #4723 'mikveh' -- which is a baptismal tank). 

So any religious Jewish man had heard this verse quoted by the High Priest every year since he was 12 years old. At 50, he would have heard it 39 times! (although Yom Kippur was NOT a Feast of ascension, many would come up for YOMA anyway, because of it's close relationship in time to Sukkot, when they had to be there anyway). The entire verse is as follows:

QUOTE  
O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters.
Jeremiah 17:13   

The way it reads in Hebrew is:

"Oh YHVH, the Immerser of Israel, all those who leave your way shall be put to shame (publicly embarassed), those who turn aside from my ways will have their names written in the dust and blotted out, for they have departed from YHVH, the fountain of Mayim Hayim (the waters of life).."

So Jesus gave them a chance -- they could have been just embarassed and then repented before the LORD. but instead they rejected, and in turn had their names written in the dust. This passage in Jeremiah is a Messianic prophecy of what Messiah would do when He came - and in this passage in John, we see Jesus fulfill the prophecy. 

In my opinion, one og the most interesting parts is verse 9:

QUOTE  
And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.   

They heard the voice of God in their conscience, the Spirit of God bringing to their remembrance all the times they heard the Kohen HaGaddol quote the verse -- but instead of receiving the conviction and repenting, they departed from Him (just as it was prophesied!). They left from the eldest to the youngest, the older having heard the verse quoted more often (imho). And Jesus did this on the day following His announcement that HE was the fountain of living waters (John 7:37-39). Strike Three and they were out!

(as one more aside, then Jesus returns to his teaching of the multitude in the Temple, by saying "I am the light of the world"... this was the very morning that the four great lamps of the court in the Temple (which were called "The light of the world" were being extinguished after being kept lit for the entire celebration of Sukkot). 

That is my take on it, and I can't wait to see the video of it in heaven.  
 

[Worship Warriors]

Under Jewish law you cannot be a witness in a case if you have committed the same crime. Jesus is quoting from Jewish law: let him who is without sin cast the first stone. All of us have yielded to the spirit of adultery at one point or another in its seed form. Looking at sexual scene on TV and taking pleasure in it stirs up lust in your heart. This is the natural bent of our carnal nature. We are all guilty and not one of us can point the finger.

 

Then under the Torah, you have to have 2 or 3 witness. Since they have ALL yielded to the spirit of adultery, there was no witness, the case was dismissed. Jesus could not condemn the women but he did tell her to go and sin no more.

 

 

[lftc]

14 hours ago, JustPassingThru said:

Personally for me, what I receive from this story is:

And the Word became flesh, and tabernacled among us. And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and of truth. John 1 :14

and:

...according as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, Eph 1:4

...Jesus in His foreknowledge exercised His Divine Grace because He knew He would go to the Cross and pay for her sin with His own blood, ...and, because He also foreknew me, while He was hanging on that Cross I was in His heart and He was also thinking of me!

To God be the Glory, ...Great things He has done, ...for me!

Lord bless

Well said!   I can see that your love of grace empowers you to see his grace in this story.  I share your love of his grace - it is my only hope.  But what a clever, strong and surprising hope it is!

May Jesus bless you too!

[BeauJangles]

14 hours ago, JustPassingThru said:

Personally for me, what I receive from this story is:

And the Word became flesh, and tabernacled among us. And we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and of truth. John 1 :14

and:

...according as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, Eph 1:4

...Jesus in His foreknowledge exercised His Divine Grace because He knew He would go to the Cross and pay for her sin with His own blood, ...and, because He also foreknew me, while He was hanging on that Cross I was in His heart and He was also thinking of me!

To God be the Glory, ...Great things He has done, ...for me!

Lord bless

Nice passages of scriptures @JustPassingThrough, but how does it tie in with any of this?

What commandments were broken in the story of the woman caught in adultery?

[lftc]

13 hours ago, other one said:

written by Kevin Cornette (kevincornette@yahoo.com)
Kevinator Cornbread   Oct 9 2004, 03:08 AM Post #1  

That is my take on it, and I can't wait to see the video of it in heaven. 

Thanks for posting a good analysis by Kevin Cornette.   I agree that understanding the ceremonies that the Jewish leaders had added to the Law brings deeper meaning to the actions of Christ.  I am not saying that they should or should not have added more ceremonies.  I am agreeing with the article that understanding those cermonies that were in existence at the time of Christ brings a greater understanding of the words and actions of Christ as the article you posted observes.  Placing the events in context is good. 

I could go off on a tangent here about the Feast of Tabernacles (as described in the article) being the context for the healing of the man born blind.  Another story that becomes astounding when viewed in the context. (Also heartbreaking when we realize what that man faced).  But I won't go tangental.

One point I would like to clarify from the article, a semantics point.  The article refers to the trial of the woman as a ceremony.  In one sense of the word, that is applicable:  all court systems include a tremendous amount of ceremony.  But the common modern english reader infers a level of insignificance to ceremony.  We must not lose sight of the fact that the woman was on trial for her life, her community standing already permanently destroyed.  The Law of Moses had strict requirements as to the goal of the trial which I already addressed.  The ceremony or capital punishment trial was really intended by the Pharisees to trap Jesus (as the scriptures tell us).  That this woman would be destroyed, psycologically tortured, then killed did not matter to them, as it does not matter to many who profess love today.  My opinion only, yes.  Jesus, expert in the Law, used the Law as written in the Torah, to force the accusers to abandon their EVIL pursuit of her.  I am not calling it EVIL, the Torah calls it EVIL (see the Deut passage quoted previously).  No Witnesses or false witnesses = EVIL. I'll leave you to apply that to the system of Law in whatever country has your allegiance.

Please don't overapply my observation there.  This does not mean Jesus was going to use the Law to save us.  That is not possible as Jesus quite emphatically illustrated over and over.  And then Paul explained quite lucidly numerous times.  Law of of the flesh cannot save, and in fact has no promise of salvation. The Law never says anything about work (obedience) being paid with eternal life, the promise of blessing IF THE WHOLE LAW is kept is earthly blessing - read it towards the end of Deut.  Hence Peter's words "Only you have the words of eternal life".

Again, friend "other one", I liked what you brought to this discussion.  Good insights!

[lftc]

21 minutes ago, BeauJangles said:

Nice passages of scriptures @JustPassingThrough, but how does it tie in with any of this?

What commandments were broken in the story of the woman caught in adultery?

Thanks for keeping the topic on point!

[lftc]

8 hours ago, Worship Warriors said:

Under Jewish law you cannot be a witness in a case if you have committed the same crime. Jesus is quoting from Jewish law: let him who is without sin cast the first stone. All of us have yielded to the spirit of adultery at one point or another in its seed form. Looking at sexual scene on TV and taking pleasure in it stirs up lust in your heart. This is the natural bent of our carnal nature. We are all guilty and not one of us can point the finger.

Then under the Torah, you have to have 2 or 3 witness. Since they have ALL yielded to the spirit of adultery, there was no witness, the case was dismissed. Jesus could not condemn the women but he did tell her to go and sin no more.

Beautifully expressed, sister.  I love your honesty.  If only more would be honest.

I'm not sure that the Law of Moses says that a witness cannot have done the same crime in so many words, but the Law of Liberty implies it quite strongly.  But the Law of Moses indirectly makes it true - I'll illustrate with a hypothetical:

- Joe and Jane have sex, but Joe is married to Aysha

- Aysha's friends at synagogue hear about Aysha's suspicions about Joe's betrayal

- They spread the story until Jane can stand it and admits the sin

- The leaders take Joe and Jane to court

- Possible outcome #1:  the leaders ignore the law about witnesses and convict/kill Joe and Jane.  Now they cannot be witnesses in other similar trials as they are dead.

- Possible outcome #2:  the leaders determine that there are no witnesses and order the community to accept that the Law declares that the crime is not there.  Now Joe and Jane are free to kill their friends by being a witness in their trials.  Because they love law.

- Possible outcome #3: the gossip group goes on the stand and swears that they saw the sex happen. The Leaders ignore the law and do not investigate the validity of the witnesses.  See possible outcome #1

- Possible outcome #4: the gossip group goes on the stand and swears that they saw the sex happen. The Leaders investigate the witnesses and determine that they are lying, they did not see the sex happen.  The leaders feel really bad killing someone for telling a lie, so they just drop the whole thing. The leaders order the community to accept that the Law declares that the crime is not there.  Now Joe and Jane are free to kill their friends by being a witness in their trials.  Because they love law.

- Possible outcome #5:  the gossip group goes on the stand and swears that they saw the sex happen. The Leaders investigate the witnesses and determine that they are lying, they did not see the sex happen.  The leaders love the law, so they kill the gossip group.  Same results as possible outcome #2, except now there are less gossips around.

- Possible outcome #6:  after searching it happens that Joe and Jane commited their crime in an open field and two shepards saw them and recognized them as they were close enough to see accurately.  The shepards are brave enough to face the possible death penalty if their testimony is found invalid, and testify. The leaders determine that their testimony is valid.  Same outcome as Outcome #1.

All of these scenarios take the assumption that Joe and Jane were God Worshippers.  If you decide that they were Baal worshippers then the story gets dramatically different.

Contrast all these with the story of Jesus.  I see Jesus like so many here, full of grace.  Beyond that, I see Jesus showing complete mastery of the Law of Moses and dodging the very clever trap the other experts in the law had set for him while still saving the woman from almost certain death.  And if the just starting group of believers was starting to get the picture, a group of people to live among that would not continue to torture her for the rest of her life.

Praise Jesus the KING

Edited September 1, 2019 by lftc

[JustPassingThru]

4 hours ago, BeauJangles said:

What commandments were broken in the story of the woman caught in adultery?

Morning bro, ...there were many posts before mine that explained what commandments had been broken, so why be redundant? 

...I was just explaining, for me personally, using Scripture to explain Scripture, ...the lesson I received from the story.

Lord bless

Edited September 1, 2019 by JustPassingThru

[other one]

4 hours ago, lftc said:

Law of of the flesh cannot save, and in fact has no promise of salvation

I have thought for decades that the law of the flesh was given to us so we would understand how badly we needed Grace....