Laying a Trap for Jesus
(John 8:1 NKJV) But Jesus went to the Mount of Olives.
(John 8:2 NKJV) Now early in the morning He came again into the temple, and all the people came to Him; and He sat down and taught them.
(John 8:3 NKJV) Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst,
(John 8:4 NKJV) they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act.
(John 8:5 NKJV) “Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned. But what do You say?”
(John 8:6 NKJV) This they said, testing Him, that they might have something of which to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down and wrote on the ground with His finger, as though He did not hear.
It did not appear Jesus was given hospitality 8:1 The people went to their own houses (7:53). Jesus, who had no place to lay His head (see Luke 9:58), spent the night on the Mount of Olives.
The people stayed because Jesus was considered a Prophet 8:2 Early in the morning literally means “at dawn.” all the people came: Because the Feast of Tabernacles had concluded the day before (7:2, 37), many visitors were still in Jerusalem. Attracted by the appearance of a noted rabbi, a crowd rapidly gathered. He sat: Teachers in ancient Israel sat when they taught. Jesus assumed the position of an authoritative teacher.
8:3 Abruptly bringing the adulterous woman into the midst of the proceedings was a rude disruption. The Pharisees were bent on confounding Jesus (7:45).
8:4, 5 such should be stoned: Stoning was specified in certain cases of adultery (see Deut. 22:23, 24), though not all.
(Deu 22:23 NKJV) “If a young woman who is a virgin is betrothed to a husband, and a man finds her in the city and lies with her,
(Deu 22:24 NKJV) “then you shall bring them both out to the gate of that city, and you shall stone them to death with stones, the young woman because she did not cry out in the city, and the man because he humbled his neighbor’s wife; so you shall put away the evil from among you.
If she were caught in the very act of adultery then why wasn’t the man brought as well? This shows the motive of the accusers. They may have set up the woman as well as Jesus.
In the Greek text, the pronoun You is emphatic. The religious leaders were trying to trap Jesus into saying something that was contrary to the Law.
8:6 testing Him: If Jesus had said not to stone her, He would have contradicted Jewish law. If He had said to stone her, He would have run counter to Roman law, which did not permit Jews to carry out their own executions (18:31). They probably thought they had finally baffled Jesus.
Caught in their own trap
(John 8:7 NKJV) So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first.”
(John 8:8 NKJV) And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.
(John 8:9 NKJV) Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning with the oldest even to the last. And Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.
(John 8:10 NKJV) When Jesus had raised Himself up and saw no one but the woman, He said to her, “Woman, where are those accusers of yours? Has no one condemned you?”
(John 8:11 NKJV) She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”
The witnesses were normally the first to throw the stones, but false witnesses were to pay the same penalty they had hoped to inflict on their victim (Deut 17:7; 19:19).
(Deu 17:7 NKJV) “The hands of the witnesses shall be the first against him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So you shall put away the evil from among you.
8:6–8. God wrote the Ten Commandments with his finger (Ex 31:18; Deut 9:10); perhaps Jesus writes the first line of the tenth commandment in the Septuagint of Exodus 20: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife.” This text would declare them all guilty of adultery (Mt 5:28).
This proposal is at best speculation, but we have here the continuing irony of John. Here is the picture. These men are attempting to stone this woman based on the law of God that was written by the finger of God. Jesus who is God manifested in the flesh is writing on the temple stone with His finger convicting these men one by one. They did not realize that they were demanding Jesus take a stand on the very law He wrote with His finger in stone 1,400 years earlier.
This turned the trap on the scribes and Pharisees because if they have not cast the first stones they would be violating God’s law. If they had they would be violating Roman law.
Jesus did not violate the God’s law because there were not two witnesses to accuse her.
(Deu 19:15 NKJV) “One witness shall not rise against a man concerning any iniquity or any sin that he commits; by the mouth of two or three witnesses the matter shall be established.
(Deu 19:16 NKJV) “If a false witness rises against any man to testify against him of wrongdoing,
(Deu 19:17 NKJV) “then both men in the controversy shall stand before the LORD, before the priests and the judges who serve in those days.
(Deu 19:18 NKJV) “And the judges shall make careful inquiry, and indeed, if the witness is a false witness, who has testified falsely against his brother,
(Deu 19:19 NKJV) “then you shall do to him as he thought to have done to his brother; so you shall put away the evil from among you.
8:11 Sin no more implies that Jesus forgave her. He did not condemn her, but neither did He condone her sin.
This is a great example of how the Father responds to us when we are caught in our sin.
