Adultery

Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. But early in the morning he arrived again in the temple area, and all the people started coming to him, and he sat down and taught them. Then the scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery and made her stand in the middle. They said to him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in the very act of committing adultery. Now in the law, Moses commanded us to stone such women. So what do you say?” They said this to test him, so that they could have some charge to bring against him.

Jesus bent down and began to write on the ground with his finger. But when they continued asking him, he straightened up and said to them, “Let the one among you who is without sin be the first to throw a stone at her.” Again, he bent down and wrote on the ground. And in response, they went away one by one, beginning with the elders.

So he was left alone with the woman before him. Then Jesus straightened up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” She replied, “No one, sir.” Then Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin anymore.” (John 8:1-11)

What’s Jesus’ message to the scribes and Pharisees?  What did he write on the ground with his finger?  Our focus is on the woman caught in adultery.  But who are the real “adulterers?”  Who among them is without sin, and what kind of sin?  Let’s turn to Ezekiel 23:1-49) for a long and explicit description of the adulterers at whom John seems to hint.  I wager none reading this blog have ever read these R-rated passages.

The word of the LORD came to me: Son of man, there were two women, daughters of the same mother. Even as young girls, they were prostitutes, serving as prostitutes in Egypt. There the Egyptians fondled their breasts and caressed their virgin nipples. Oholah was the name of the elder, and the name of her sister was Oholibah. They became mine and gave birth to sons and daughters. As for their names: Samaria was Oholah and Jerusalem, Oholibah.

Oholah became a prostitute while married to me and lusted after her lovers, the Assyrians: warriors dressed in purple, governors and officers, all of them handsome young soldiers, mounted on horses. She gave herself as a prostitute to them, to all the Assyrian elite; with all those for whom she lusted, she also defiled herself with their idols.

She did not abandon the prostitution she had begun with the Egyptians, who had lain with her when she was young, fondling her virgin breasts and pouring out their lust upon her. Therefore, I handed her over to her lovers, to the Assyrians for whom she lusted. They exposed her nakedness; her sons and daughters they took away, and her they killed with the sword. She became a byword for women because of the sentence carried out against her.

Although her sister Oholibah saw all this, her lust was more depraved than her sister’s; she outdid her in prostitution. She too lusted after the Assyrians, governors and officers, warriors impeccably clothed, mounted on horses, all of them handsome young soldiers. I saw that she had defiled herself—now both had gone down the same path. She went further in her prostitution: She saw male figures drawn on the wall, images of Chaldeans drawn with vermilion, with sashes tied about their waists, flowing turbans on their heads, all looking like chariot warriors, images of Babylonians, natives of Chaldea. 

As soon as she set eyes on them, she lusted for them, and she sent messengers to them in Chaldea. The Babylonians came to her, to her love couch; they defiled her with their impurities. But as soon as they had defiled her, she recoiled from them. When her prostitution was discovered and her shame revealed, I recoiled from her as I had recoiled from her sister. But she increased her prostitution, recalling the days of her youth when she had served as a prostitute in the land of Egypt. She lusted for the lechers of Egypt, whose members are like those of donkeys, whose thrusts are like those of stallions. You reverted to the depravity of your youth, when Egyptians fondled your breasts, caressing your young nipples.

Therefore, Oholibah, thus says the Lord GOD: I will now stir up your lovers against you, those from whom you recoiled, and I will bring them against you from every side: the men of Babylon and all of Chaldea, Pekod, Shoa and Koa, along with all the Assyrians, handsome young soldiers, all of them governors and officers, charioteers and warriors, all of them horsemen…

…Then the LORD said to me: Son of man, would you judge Oholah and Oholibah? Then make known to them their abominations. For they committed adultery, and blood covers their hands. They committed adultery with their idols; even the children they bore for me they burnt as food for them. And they also did this to me: on that day, they defiled my sanctuary and desecrated my sabbaths. On the very day they slaughtered their children for their idols, they entered my sanctuary to desecrate it. Thus, they acted within my house! 

Moreover, they sent for men who had to come from afar; when a messenger was sent to them, they came. On their account you bathed, painted your eyes, and put on jewelry. You sat on a magnificent couch, set before it a table, on which to lay my incense and oil. The cries of a mob! The shouts of men coming in from the wilderness! They put bracelets on the women’s arms and splendid crowns on their heads. I said: “That worn-out one still has adulteries in her! Now they engage her as a prostitute and she…” And indeed, they did come into her as men come into a prostitute. Thus, they came to Oholah and Oholibah, the depraved women. The righteous shall certainly punish them with sentences given to adulterers and murderers, for they committed adultery, and blood is on their hands. 

Indeed, thus says the Lord GOD: Raise up an army against them and hand them over to terror and plunder. The army will stone them and hack them to pieces with their swords. They will kill their sons and daughters and set fire to their houses. Thus, I will put an end to depravity in the land, and all women will be warned not to imitate your depravity. They shall inflict on you the penalty of your depravity, and you shall pay for your sins of idolatry. Then you shall know that I am the Lord GOD. 

Knowing full well the words of the prophets, John appears to have used Jesus as a way to brand Jerusalem’s scribes and Pharisees as adulterers – unfaithful to the LORD and the covenant.  They were faithful more to the Romans and their Empire and benefited from their cooperation with that Empire.

No one knows what Jesus wrote on the ground with his finger.  But, I’ll speculate.  Our Gospel is from John who mentions Moses who “commanded us to stone such women.” Moses’ tablets were made of stone on which the commandments were written.  

Perhaps John is alluding to Proverbs 7:1-3 where it reads: “My son, keep my words, and treasure my commands. Keep my commands and live, and my teaching as the apple of your eye; Bind them on your fingers, write them on the tablet of your heart.” 

The ground is Jesus’ tablet.  Perhaps he wrote from his heart, “Thou shalt not kill” and/or “Thou shalt not commit adultery.”

Deacon David Pierce