2: And early in the morning
he came again into the temple and all the people came to him and he sat down
and taught them 3: And the scribes and Pharisees brought to him a woman
taken in adultery and when they had set her in the midst 4: They said to
him Master this woman was taken in adultery in the very act 5: Now Moses
in the law commanded us that such should be stoned but what say you 6:
This they said testing him that they might have [reason] to accuse him But Iesous
stooped down and with his finger wrote on the ground as though he heard them
not[1] 7:
So when they continued asking him he lifted up himself and said to them any who
are without sin among you let them first cast a stone at her[2] 8:
And again he stooped down and wrote on the ground[3] 9: And they which heard it being convicted by their own conscience went
out one by one beginning with the elders even to the least and Iesous
was left alone and the woman standing before him[4] 10:
When Iesous
had lifted up himself and saw none but the woman he said to her Madam where are those thine accusers has any condemned you 11: She said No one Lord
and Iesous
said to her Neither do I condemn you
go and sin no more[5]
[1] Was Jesus writing,
Leviticus 20:10, And the man that commits adultery with another man's wife even
he that commits adultery with his neighbor's wife [both] the
adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death…? Where was the man?
[2] Jesus was not condoning the woman’s sin
in defending her. He was, rather, confronting the greater sin of using the Word of God with self-serving
motives and by only partially applying it to the situation. Those who had
brought this woman before him, had neglected to bring the other guilty
party—the man—who had also been
caught in the very act with her. This
unidentified man had apparently been paid off and released. This was a cruel
political ploy—in which a woman’s life was held in total disregard—aimed at
ridding themselves of, by publicly discrediting, the wildly popular teacher
from Nazareth.
[3] Was Jesus writing,
Hosea 6:6, For I desired mercy and not sacrifice and the knowledge of God more
than burnt offerings?
[4] Jesus and the woman were not completely
alone. Only her accusers had left. Remember, Jesus was on the Temple grounds
teaching the people when they were all interrupted by the Pharisees dragging in
this woman—who the scriptures say had been set up in a sting operation just to
test and discredit Jesus publicly. This had been strategically timed for
maximum exposure, so there was likely a very large crowd present. We cannot
know the exact size of the crowd that witnessed the episode, from beginning to
end, and then remained (after the woman’s accusers had all left) to witness
Jesus exonerating the woman.
[5] Some claim that the story of The Woman
Caught in Adultery is not a true account, but rather an interpolation (inserted [after the 1st
Century] into the text of John’s
Gospel). There is little authority for this, but the evidence that this story
was indeed penned by the apostle—and is true—is overwhelming. 1.) The passage
is contained in over 5000 extant (existing) manuscripts, so there is no doubt
that this episode did happen exactly as the text relates it. 2.) It would be
curious indeed if this account was fabricated and added into the text later, as
it is well-documented that ancient peoples were all misogynistic in the
extreme. Even the early Christian Church—that began as egalitarian—soon fell
back into the misogyny from which it had so recently been set free. So, for an
unknown scribe to imagine and manufacture a story where a woman commits
adultery against her husband (her lord)
and can go unpunished—in a time when all women were considered little more than
property—is near impossible for any thinking person to believe. Even more
difficult to accept, is that such a fabrication would become so popular and
widely accepted that it was then copied into over 5000 extant Greek Texts (and into how many thousands more that are no longer extant?). The story of The Woman Caught in Adultery is
true. It has as much textual evidence to support it as does the story of Nikodemos’ secret visit to Jesus
(recorded in John chapter three) where Jesus told Nikodemos that he “…must be
born again.”
Jocelyn Andersen is best known for her book, Woman Submit! Christians & Domestic Violence.
She is also editor of the Hungry
Hearts Online Bible Commentary
For more information about her work, visit her website at www.JocelynAndersen.com
Iesous Pronounced
Ee-A-Soos G2424 translated Jesus: Yeshua
is the Hebrew name, and its English spelling is “Joshua.” Iesous is the Greek transliteration of the Hebrew name, and its
English spelling is “Jesus.” Thus, the names “Joshua” and “Jesus” are
essentially the same; both are English pronunciations of the Hebrew and Greek
names for our Lord. For examples of how the two names are interchangeable, see
Acts 7:45 and Hebrews 4:8 in the KJV. In both cases, the word Iesous refers to the Old Testament
character Joshua. Because of disparities in English translation of the word, Iesous
will remain untranslated throughout the main body of scripture this commentary.
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