What did Jesus write on the ground when they brought to him a woman caught in adultery?

I think Jesus wrote the sins of those holding rocks. Maybe that's why He said, "...let he who is without sin cast the first stone."

There's very specific laws concerning a woman suspected of adultery...and the charge must be brought by her husband.

She was to drink water mixed with sand/dirt from the floor of the temple and a whole host of other requirements.
Stoning was not used.

I'm sure that this is what Jesus was writing in the dirt.

TonyChanYT said:

John 8:


Jesus was teaching at the temple when they interrupted him:


They had their agenda. Jesus was facing a dilemma. If he agreed, then the woman would be stoned. If he disagreed, then they would say he did not follow the Law of Moses.


κατέγραφεν (kategraphen)
Verb - Imperfect Indicative Active - 3rd Person Singular
to scratch away

Barnes:


Jesus seemed to be showing his displeasure at their intrusion. Buying some time, he collected his thoughts by scratching on the dirt.


They insisted on a quick answer.


He gave his answer and continued scribbling:


ἔγραφεν (egraphen)
BDAG: to inscribe characters on a surface, write

Note that this is a slightly different Greek word for to write.


I don't think it matters what Jesus wrote. It was what Jesus said that convicted them.


What words or sentences did Jesus write on the Ground?

There is a lot of speculation about what Jesus was writing:

He was writing a list of the sins committed by each of the Jewish leaders present.

Jerome thought Jesus wrote the names of the accusers.

I guess that Jesus wasn't writing anything specific. He was just doodling while collecting his thoughts on resolving the dilemma. Did they have Roman governor's approval to stone her? To cut to the chase, he responded with “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.”

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I think Jesus was writing the names of the Jews who brought the woman to Him, who had committed adultery with her or other women. This fits in with how the accusing Jews left, starting with the oldest who may have had more sin.

As we are not told what Jesus wrote on the ground, just that He did so, any ideas we might put forward are only supposition. As for the accusers leaving, we read that they did so in response to Jesus saying:

Jhn 8:7b NKJV "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first."

Indeed, John writes two verses later that it was in reaction to what they had heard:

Jhn 8:9 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.

David Lamb said:

As we are not told what Jesus wrote on the ground, just that He did so, any ideas we might put forward are only supposition. As for the accusers leaving, we read that they did so in response to Jesus saying:

Jhn 8:7b NKJV "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first."

Indeed, John writes two verses later that it was in reaction to what they had heard:

Jhn 8:9 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.

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But although they heard what Jesus said, they may have also read what He wrote on the ground.

It makes sense to me that Jesus wrote the names of the guys in the accusing crowd, with the headline “You Also Have Sinned by Adultery”.

Honestly I think David has it right, we aren't told, and what stands out to me is how much it quieted the room without a word of accusation back. It reminds me that mercy and truth were both on display. "Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more." (John 8:11)

Anchorite said:

But although they heard what Jesus said, they may have also read what He wrote on the ground.

It makes sense to me that Jesus wrote the names of the guys in the accusing crowd, with the headline “You Also Have Sinned by Adultery”.

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He may have done. All I am saying is that we don't know, because God has not revealed it in His word.

This Thread is what happens when Christian brethren don't study their Old Testament also.

In the law of Moses, when a woman was suspected of cheating on her husband, with no witnesses, the "law of jealousies" would be applied to the woman, and she would be brought before the priest. And one of the things the priest was to do was to write the curses in a book and then blot them out with bitter waters. (See Numbers 5:11 forward).

So when Lord Jesus bent down and starting writing in the dirt after the scribes and Pharisees had accused the woman of adultery, Jesus was showing them to apply the "law of jealousies" per the law of Moses. And at this point one has to think a bit deeper, because what did the scribes and Pharisees do after Jesus wrote in the dirt, and told them he who has no sin to cast the first stone at her? They left, and did not continue to accuse the woman.

That means, were the scribes and Pharisees actually telling the truth that they caught the woman in the very act of adultery, or were they just saying that in order to try and trap Lord Jesus? I believe it is the latter, they were lying about the woman. Because if not, then they were supposed to follow the law of Moses priest requirement of making the woman drink bitter water and let God decide if she was guilty or not. They didn't do that, so that suggests to me they were falsely accusing her just to trap Lord Jesus. And Lord Jesus knew it.

Davy said:

This Thread is what happens when Christian brethren don't study their Old Testament also.

In the law of Moses, when a woman was suspected of cheating on her husband, with no witnesses, the "law of jealousies" would be applied to the woman, and she would be brought before the priest. And one of the things the priest was to do was to write the curses in a book and then blot them out with bitter waters. (See Numbers 5:11 forward).

So when Lord Jesus bent down and starting writing in the dirt after the scribes and Pharisees had accused the woman of adultery, Jesus was showing them to apply the "law of jealousies" per the law of Moses. And at this point one has to think a bit deeper, because what did the scribes and Pharisees do after Jesus wrote in the dirt, and told them he who has no sin to cast the first stone at her? They left, and did not continue to accuse the woman.

That means, were the scribes and Pharisees actually telling the truth that they caught the woman in the very act of adultery, or were they just saying that in order to try and trap Lord Jesus? I believe it is the latter, they were lying about the woman. Because if not, then they were supposed to follow the law of Moses priest requirement of making the woman drink bitter water and let God decide if she was guilty or not. They didn't do that, so that suggests to me they were falsely accusing her just to trap Lord Jesus. And Lord Jesus knew it.

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There is a lot more to the law of jealousies than just writing and drinking.

If Jesus meant, by writing in the dust, that they should apply the law of jealousies to this woman, why would Jesus forgive her? Jesus did not dispute the fact that they caught her in the very act of adultery.


Numbers 5

12 Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, If any man's wife go aside, and commit a trespass against him,

13 And a man lie with her carnally, and it be hid from the eyes of her husband, and be kept close, and she be defiled, and there be no witness against her, neither she be taken with the manner;

14 And the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be defiled: or if the spirit of jealousy come upon him, and he be jealous of his wife, and she be not defiled:

15 Then shall the man bring his wife unto the priest, and he shall bring her offering for her, the tenth part of an ephah of barley meal; he shall pour no oil upon it, nor put frankincense thereon; for it is an offering of jealousy, an offering of memorial, bringing iniquity to remembrance.

16 And the priest shall bring her near, and set her before the Lord:

17 And the priest shall take holy water in an earthen vessel; and of the dust that is in the floor of the tabernacle the priest shall take, and put it into the water:

18 And the priest shall set the woman before the Lord, and uncover the woman's head, and put the offering of memorial in her hands, which is the jealousy offering: and the priest shall have in his hand the bitter water that causeth the curse:

19 And the priest shall charge her by an oath, and say unto the woman, If no man have lain with thee, and if thou hast not gone aside to uncleanness with another instead of thy husband, be thou free from this bitter water that causeth the curse:

20 But if thou hast gone aside to another instead of thy husband, and if thou be defiled, and some man have lain with thee beside thine husband:

21 Then the priest shall charge the woman with an oath of cursing, and the priest shall say unto the woman, The Lord make thee a curse and an oath among thy people, when the Lord doth make thy thigh to rot, and thy belly to swell;

22 And this water that causeth the curse shall go into thy bowels, to make thy belly to swell, and thy thigh to rot: And the woman shall say, Amen, amen.

23 And the priest shall write these curses in a book, and he shall blot them out with the bitter water:

24 And he shall cause the woman to drink the bitter water that causeth the curse: and the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, and become bitter.

25 Then the priest shall take the jealousy offering out of the woman's hand, and shall wave the offering before the Lord, and offer it upon the altar:

26 And the priest shall take an handful of the offering, even the memorial thereof, and burn it upon the altar, and afterward shall cause the woman to drink the water.

27 And when he hath made her to drink the water, then it shall come to pass, that, if she be defiled, and have done trespass against her husband, that the water that causeth the curse shall enter into her, and become bitter, and her belly shall swell, and her thigh shall rot: and the woman shall be a curse among her people.

28 And if the woman be not defiled, but be clean; then she shall be free, and shall conceive seed.

29 This is the law of jealousies, when a wife goeth aside to another instead of her husband, and is defiled;

30 Or when the spirit of jealousy cometh upon him, and he be jealous over his wife, and shall set the woman before the Lord, and the priest shall execute upon her all this law.

31 Then shall the man be guiltless from iniquity, and this woman shall bear her iniquity.

Anchorite said:

There is a lot more to the law of jealousies than just writing and drinking.

If Jesus meant, by writing in the dust, that they should apply the law of jealousies to this woman, why would Jesus forgive her? Jesus did not dispute the fact that they caught her in the very act of adultery.

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Jesus said neither did He "condemn" her. So the since the law of jealousies was not applied to her, with her drinking the bitter waters and letting God decide condemnation or not, the question of her guilt was left open. And remember, at that time Lord Jesus had not brought The New Covenant yet, they were still under the law of Moses.

David's point settles it well. Scripture never reveals those words, and that silence carries its own lesson. What John records is conviction landing through what Jesus said, stones dropping, and accusers leaving oldest first. Then grace reaches the woman with nowhere else to go. Beautiful restraint from the Lord.

David Lamb said:

As we are not told what Jesus wrote on the ground, just that He did so, any ideas we might put forward are only supposition. As for the accusers leaving, we read that they did so in response to Jesus saying:

Jhn 8:7b NKJV "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first."

Indeed, John writes two verses later that it was in reaction to what they had heard:

Jhn 8:9 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.

Click to expand...

In the liturgy of a Catholic mass, a priest actually said the same explanation.

St. Jerome and St. Augustine point to a prophetic link in the Old Testament. Jeremiah 17:13 states: 'Those who turn away from you shall be written in the earth, for they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living water.' By writing their names in the dirt, Jesus may have been visually identifying the religious leaders as those who had forsaken God.