The Pharisees dragged a woman "caught in adultery" before Jesus to entrap him. If Jesus declared that the Mosaic Law held He would be going against the dictates of Rome. If He said the Mosaic law should not be observed He would likely been accused of being of the devil.
The woman was accused of adultery but the man that she was accused of sinning with was not present. There was no mention of adherence to the requirement for two witnesses. In their eagerness to destroy Jesus, the Pharisees we're using a helpless woman who appeared had no one to defend her. However, there was Jesus, who saw through the pathetic attempt by the Pharisees to discredit him and their breaking of the law in soliciting His judgment.
As for what it Jesus wrote on the ground, it is unknown. John 8:7, “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.”
Jesus wrote twice and again it is unknown just what he did write. However it has been suggested that Jesus may have written the commandment dealing with adultery, the name of the specific adulterous man, the sins of those who were accusing her and more. The accusers seem to morph into those who were convicted of their own sins. It’s interesting it was the oldest who first dropped their stones and went away; perhaps their sins were of the greater duration? Soon the crowd dissipated.
John 8:9, “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.” Jesus turned to the woman and said “Where are your accusers?” John 8:11, “She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more."
So the woman caught in sin referred to Jesus as Lord and those learned of the temple sought to entrap and kill Jesus. Someday I’ll stand in judgment before Jesus myself and will be shamed by the reiteration of my many sins.
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