John 8:5-6

The Woman Taken in Adultery. John 8, 1-11.

The Jewish leaders asked Jesus: V. 5. Now Moses in the Law commanded us that such should be stoned; but what sayest Thou? V. 6. 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.

There could be no doubt as to the guilt of the woman; it was a plain case of a flagrant transgression. But to the scribes and Pharisees the fate of the woman evidently was a secondary consideration, especially since the old church-laws were no longer carried out in all their stringency. They state the ordinance of Moses in a case of this kind, cp. Lev. 20, 10; Deut. 22, 22. 23.; Lev. 21, 9; Ezek. 16, 38. 40, but in a way implying a contrast between the Old Testament teacher and Jesus, for their question is: What now do you say?

It was a malicious temptation, and in no way an innocent questioning; their object was to find some accusation against Him. "Where shall He now go, the poor man Christ, when every avenue of escape is shut off? If He should keep silence, that would not agree. very well. If He says Yes, it is against His preaching; if He says No, it is against Moses" (Luther, 8, 125).

But His enemies were disappointed, for Jesus, having stooped down, wrote on the ground with His finger, not for shame of the deed itself and the brazen hardness of the persecutors, as has been stated, but in order to convey to them, in a most emphatic way, that He wanted nothing to do with this matter, that it in no way concerned Him, but was a matter for their courts. The punishment of adultery was the business of the government: The idea of inveigling Him into an apparent opposition to the Law of Moses did not appeal to Him. It was a deliberate, an accusing silence. Note: If only all people to whose attention the shame and disgrace of a neighbor's sin is brought would assume at once this reproachful silence! It would. effectually stop malignant gossiping.