What can we learn from the story about the woman caught in adultery?

There are many stories in the bible that contain valuable lessons for us, outside of direct teachings of the patriarchs, prophets, apostles and Yeshua himself.  These are either real life events or parables.  One such story, which is not a parable, is the story of the woman caught in adultery.  Here is the story in context:

John 8:2-11
² 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.  
³ Then the scribes and Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. And when they had set her in the midst, 
⁴ they said to Him, “Teacher, this woman was caught in adultery, in the very act. 
⁵ Now Moses, in the law, commanded us that such should be stoned.But what do You say?”  
⁶ 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.
⁷ 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.” 
⁸ And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground. 
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.
¹⁰ 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?”
¹¹ She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said to her, “Neither do I condemn you; go and sin no more.”

There are a few facts we need to establish from this story:

1.  This event happened inside the temple
2.  There were no witness brought forward, only accusers
3. They did not bring the man she was accused of committing adultery with. 
4. At this period in history, the Jews did not have the power to execute a judgement the resulted in death
5. The accusers were scribes and Pharisees
6. Yeshua tells the woman to go and sin no more

Why is the location significant?  This is an obvious attempt at a trial against the woman and yet they bring her to the temple?  Is the purpose of the temple to hold court and accuse someone of sin?  No, absolutely not.

Isaiah 56:7
Even them I will bring to My holy mountain, And make them joyful in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on My altar; For My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations.”

Matthew 21:13
And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.' ”

The purpose of the temple is to bring burnt offerings and sacrifices, and to pray to the holy one of Israel, not to engage in judgement.  The scripture clearly tells us where judgement is to occur:

Deuteronomy 21:18-21
¹⁸ “If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and who, when they have chastened him, will not heed them,  
¹⁹ then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city, to the gate of his city. 
²⁰ And they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’
²¹ Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones; so you shall put away the evil from among you, and all Israel shall hear and fear.

You can see that the place of judgement is in the city gates.  Why?  The reason is because this is where you have the most witnesses and other people going through the gates to participate in the process.

Proverbs 1
21 She cries out in the chief concourses, at the openings of the gates in the city
She speaks her words:
 
Ruth 4
4 Now Boaz went up to the gate and sat down there; and behold, the close relative of whom Boaz had spoken came by. So Boaz said, “Come aside, friend, sit down here.” So he came aside and sat down. ² And he took ten men of the elders of the city, and said, “Sit down here.” So they sat down. 
⁹ And Boaz said to the elders and all the people, “You are witnesses this day that I have bought all that was Elimelech’s, and all that was Chilion’s and Mahlon’s, from the hand of Naomi.  
¹⁰ Moreover, Ruth the Moabitess, the widow of Mahlon, I have acquired as my wife, to perpetuate the name of the dead through his inheritance, that the name of the dead may not be cut off from among his brethren and from his position at the gate. You are witnesses this day.”  
¹¹ And all the people who were at the gate, and the elders, said, “We are witnesses. 

According to Scripture, if you want to decide a legal matter, you need to go to the gates and gather witnesses and elders.  In fact, Boaz gathered a full minion, 10 men, as witnesses to the legal proceeding happening before their eyes.  This was not done in private without any record.  The reason you accuse someone of a crime before so many witnesses is to render true judgement, so that the accuser and the one accused can have a fair and just ruling on the matter.  The accuser is rarely an objective witness.  Dealing with a legal matter one on one is a sure path to failure and destruction.  Those who judge on the matter must be objective without any motivation to rule falsely.  They should hear the evidence, including all witnesses and those accused, and then rule righteously.

Deuteronomy 16
¹⁸ “You shall appoint judges and officers in all your gates, which the Lord your God gives you, according to your tribes, and they shall judge the people with just judgment.  
¹⁹ You shall not pervert justice; you shall not show partiality, nor take a bribe, for a bribe blinds the eyes of the wise and twists the words of the righteous.  
²⁰ You shall follow what is altogether just, that you may live and inherit the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

Deuteronomy 19
¹⁵ “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. 
¹⁶ If a false witness rises against any man to testify against him of wrongdoing, 
¹⁷ then both men in the controversy shall stand before the Lord, before the priests and the judges who serve in those days.
¹⁸ And the judges shall make careful inquiry, and indeed, if the witness is a false witness, who has testified falsely against his brother,
¹⁹ 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. 
²⁰ And those who remain shall hear and fear, and hereafter they shall not again commit such evil among you.
²¹ Your eye shall not pity: life shall be for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot.

 These passages of scripture are key to understand how to uphold justice in a crime.  Deut 19:17 clearly says that both the one accused and the one making the accusation will come before the priests and the judges.  You cannot have a trial without both the one accused and the one making the accusation, and there must be a group, not a single person, investigating the accusation.  These judges should be impartial (Deut 16:19).  Making a false accusation is a very serious crime and results in the accuser receiving the same punishment they intended upon the one they accused.

Going back to the original list, the next item we need to understand from the story is that the Jews did not have the power of capital punishment.  That is, to sentence someone to death and execute them.

John 18:31
³¹ Then Pilate said to them, “You take Him and judge Him according to your law.”
Therefore the Jews said to him, “It is not lawful for us to put anyone to death,”

Asking Yeshua to rule on a capital punishment case and actually execute on that judgement was unlawful at the time this story occurs.  As the Scripture says, "Render unto Caeser's what is Caesars's".  This was clearly a trap meant to ensnare him.  He could not win either way, which is why he chose another path.

Notice who the accusers are in this story who have clearly already rendered judgement.  They are scribes and Pharisees.  The scriptures above clearly identify that it is the role of the judges and priests to render judgement, not the scribes and Pharisees.  At the time of this story, the priestly class was the Sadducees and they are not identified as being present.

Finally, they leave the scene when they are convicted of their own sin and nobody is left to accuse the woman.  What does Yeshua say?  Go and sin no more.  Did he say she was innocent?  No, not at all, but rather he declared that this was an improper trial and no judgement can be rendered in such a case.  Instead, he knew she was guilty, but did not declare a judgement against her other than mercy for her, and to tell her to stop sinning.

Keep in mind that your first resort should not be to bring the person to the city gates where the elders sit in tribunal.  Here is the progression of events as described in the scriptures:

Matthew 18
¹⁵ “Moreover if your brother sins against you, go and tell him his fault between you and him alone. If he hears you, you have gained your brother.  
¹⁶ But if he will not hear, take with you one or two more, that ‘by the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established.’
¹⁷ And if he refuses to hear them, tell it to the church. But if he refuses even to hear the church, let him be to you like a heathen and a tax collector.

Many people think this passage is about excommunication, but where does it say anything about kicking the person out of the church?  Nowhere.  Notice though, what the progression is.  First you speak with the person one on one.  If you cannot resolve the situation with a one on one conversation, you bring other witnesses with you so that you may have witnesses.  If that still does not resolve the problem, bring that person before the entire congregation where the matter can be heard and a judgement rendered.  If the person is guilty throughout all this process, you are to treat them like a heathen and a tax collector.

Please take special note - you cannot simply go through this process of escalation one on one.  The first step is very loving and is one on one.  If that doesn't work, no further communication is to be one on one.  It is always amongst a group.  Any judgement rendered one on one is to be considered invalid and should be considered as suspect as a possible false witness, which takes us back to Deuteronomy 19.  At no place in all of scripture does it allow for a judgement to be rendered one on one.  That interaction is to repair a broken relationship in a loving fashion, not to render judgement against that person, no matter who the people involved are.

Is the story about Lazarus and the rich man a parable?

There are those that say that the story about Lazarus and the rich man is not a parable, usually by those who believe in everlasting torment after we die. The question remains though - is it a parable or isn't it? Here is how dictionary.com defines a parable:

"a short allegorical story designed to illustrate or teach some truth, religious principle, or moral lesson."

This begs the question, what is an allegory? Here is how it is defined at the same source:

"a representation of an abstract or spiritual meaning through concrete or material forms; figurative treatment of one subject under the guise of another."

Does this match up with the idea that the story of Lazarus and the rich man is a parable? Let's find out. What is the point of the story? To teach about the afterlife or to teach another message? Let me quote a few verses from the parable first.

Luke 16

29 Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’

30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’

31 But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’”

This sounds like the core message here is to talk about repentance, not what your fate is after death. Usually in most parables taught by Yeshua, he explains it after he is done telling the story. Let's see if that is the case here as well.

Luke 17

1 Then He said to the disciples, “It is impossible that no offenses should come, but woe to him through whom they do come!

2 It would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea, than that he should offend one of these little ones. 3 Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him.

4 And if he sins against you seven times in a day, and seven times in a day returns to you, saying, ‘I repent,’ you shall forgive him.”

Clearly the main point that is being made here is to repent, and not to teach a profound new lesson about the afterlife not found in any other scripture. If the point of a parable is to teach a moral lesson, then I think we found the point of this parable - it is to teach about repentance, and that it is important to do so before you die. What is also interesting is that we learn about repentance from the teachings of Moses in the Torah, not from the New Testament.

It is always key to understand what a parable is teaching about and not impose another lesson or teaching upon it. Find the core message and discard the rest. This is much like the story of Peter and the sheet.

Acts 10

11 and saw heaven opened and an object like a great sheet bound at the four corners, descending to him and let down to the earth.

12 In it were all kinds of four-footed animals of the earth, wild beasts, creeping things, and birds of the air.

13 And a voice came to him, “Rise, Peter; kill and eat.”

14 But Peter said, “Not so, Lord! For I have never eaten anything common or unclean.”

15 And a voice spoke to him again the second time, “What God has cleansed you must not call common.”

16 This was done three times. And the object was taken up into heaven again.

Is this passage talking about eating unclean animals? How does Peter interpret the vision?

28 Then he said to them, “You know how unlawful it is for a Jewish man to keep company with or go to one of another nation. But God has shown me that I should not call any man common or unclean.

Peter clearly says the message of the vision was not about eating unclean animals but rather about keeping company with Gentiles. If we can see in this example of how the vision says one thing in the literal sense but is actually teaching something at the allegorical level, how much more so in the example of the parable of Lazarus and the rich man?

Scripture is interpreted on multiple levels:

1. Peshat (literal)

2. Remez (symbolic)

3. Derash (allegorical)

4. Sod (hidden)

In the case of a parable, it resides within the realm of a Derash interpretation, not a Peshat one. You will not get the primary focus of the story if you dwell on the Peshat. For example, in the parable of the sower, are we to focus on the literal meaning and learn how to plant seed properly in the ground so that it will grow, or are we to focus on the actual allegorical meaning of the story? It is clear we are to focus on the allegorical meaning of the story.

One thing to keep in mind is that Yeshua even told us early in his ministry that he spoke in parables to disguise the real meaning and thus, we should not be looking at the literal meaning of the text to understand what he is saying:

Matthew 13

11 He answered and said to them, “Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.

12 For whoever has, to him more will be given, and he will have abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him.

13 Therefore I speak to them in parables, because seeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand.

The two primary objections I have heard against the story being a parable are:

1. It doesn't say it is a parable in the text

2. It talks about a specific man (the rich man in this case)

Let's examine these one at a time. Does it matter if the story says it is a parable? Are other parables also not identified as a parable in the text? Look at the parable of the prodigal son. Everyone agrees this story is a parable. Read the entire text of Luke 15 and you will not see one sentence that says this story is a parable. You can even read chapter 16, and it doesn't summarize the story by saying it is a parable - it simply goes on to the next parable.

Does it matter that it talks about a specific man? Here is the verse in question:

Luke 16

19 “There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day.

Are there any other parables that start the same way? Let's take a look into the scriptures:

Luke 16

1 He also said to His disciples: “There was a certain rich man who had a steward, and an accusation was brought to him that this man was wasting his goods.

Luke 15

11 Then He said: “A certain man had two sons.

Both of the above stories are parables and talk about "a certain man". Clearly the fact that it talks about a certain man has no bearing on whether it is a parable or not.

For those who say the problem is it names Lazarus, Abraham and Moses by name and so it clearly cannot be a parable, please look at this parable from the Torah:

Ezekiel 23

1 The word of the Lord came again to me, saying:

² “Son of man, there were two women,
The daughters of one mother.
³ They committed harlotry in Egypt,
They committed harlotry in their youth;
Their breasts were there embraced,
Their virgin bosom was there pressed.
⁴ Their names: Oholah the elder and Oholibah her sister;
They were Mine,
And they bore sons and daughters.
As for their names,
Samaria is Oholah, and Jerusalem is Oholibah.

This story is clearly a parable, and there are several names listed.

Some other things to consider about the story. If this story is talking about the typical belief that righteous people go to Heaven and the unrighteous go to hell, we need to realize that Lazarus is never described as a righteous man - he simply was poor and unable to care for himself. Yeshua also never says the rich man was unrighteous and guilty of sin. He simply says that the man was rich and lived a good life. If we are to take the standard interpretation about the story, then we must have the position that rich people go to hell and suffer eternal torment and poor people go to heaven.

Also, the word that is translated as torment in Luke 16:23 is the Greek word βάσανος. This word has several meanings, but this is the first definition:

"a touchstone, which is a black siliceous stone used to test the purity of gold or silver by the colour of the streak produced on it by rubbing it with either metal"

In other words, it is a word that means a trial or testing. God does not cause us to sin, but he clearly puts us through trials.

James 2
² My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, 
³ knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. 

The word torment also appears in Luke 16:24 which comes from the Greek word ὀδυνάω. This word is described as anguish or pain, but in the vein of letting scripture interpret scripture, we find the same word in Luke 2:48

Luke 2

48 So when they saw Him, they were amazed; and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You done this to us? Look, Your father and I have sought You anxiously.”

The word translated as anxiously here is the same word that is translated as torment in Luke 16:24. The word means an emotional distress or pain and not a literal physical pain.

Given all of the above information, I can only conclude that this is indeed a parable which was told to teach a lesson of repentance and had nothing to do with your fate once you die.

Why do we count the Omer

Counting of the Omer (Hebrew: ספירת העומר, Sefirat HaOmer, sometimes abbreviated as Sefira or the Omer) is a verbal counting of each of the forty-nine days between the moedim of Passover and Shavuot.

It is noted specifically by the following blessing, which we are to recite in order to count the days leading up to Shavuot:

Baruch atah YHVH Elohenu melech haolam asher kideshanu b'mitzvotav
vetzivanu al sefirat haomer.

Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who has
sanctified us with His commandments, and commanded us concerning the
counting of the Omer.

Today is the 21st day of 50 of counting the Omer.  Shabbat Shalom.

This mitzvah ("commandment") derives from the Torah commandment to count forty-nine days beginning from the day on which the Omer, a sacrifice containing an omer-measure of barley, was offered in the Temple in Jerusalem, up until the day before an offering of wheat was brought to the Temple on Shavuot. The Counting of the Omer begins on the second day of Passover (the 16th of Nisan) for Rabbinic Jews (Orthodox, Conservative, Reform), and after the weekly Shabbat during Passover for Karaite Jews, and ends the day before the holiday of Shavuot, the 'fiftieth day.'

An omer is a unit of measure which respresent one sheaf of grain and is the same amount of manna gathered daily for each person by the nation of Israel while there were in the wilderness.

The idea of counting each day represents spiritual preparation and anticipation for the giving of the Torah which was given by God on Mount Sinai at the beginning of the month of Sivan, around the same time as the holiday of Shavuot. The Sefer HaChinuch (published anonymously in 13th century Spain) states that the Hebrew people were only freed from Egypt at Passover in order to receive the Torah at Sinai, an event which is now celebrated on Shavuot, and to fulfill its laws. Thus the Counting of the Omer demonstrates how much a Hebrew desires to accept the Torah in his own life.

The scripture for this commandment is derived from Leviticus 23:15-16

15 And you shall number to you from the next day after the Sabbath, from the day you bring in the omer of the wave offering; they shall be seven complete Sabbaths;
16 to the next day after the seveth Sabbath, you shall number fifty days; and you shall bring near a new food offering to YHVH;

This is directly related to the Jubilee from Leviticus 25:8-13

8 And you shall number to yourself seven Sabbaths of years, seven years times seven, and all the days of the seven Sabbaths of years shall be to you forty nine years.
9 And you shall let a ram's horn resound, a signal in the seventh month, in the 10th of the month; in the day of atonement, let a ram's horn pass throughout all your land;
10 and you shall make the fiftieth year holy, one year.  And you shall proclaim liberty in the land to those living in it; He shall be a jubilee to you.  And you shall return every man to his possession; yea, you shall turn back to his family.
11 It is a jubilee year, the fiftieth year; it is to you.  You shall not sow, nor reap that which grows of itself, nor gather from the unkempt vines;
12 for it is a jubilee, it is holy to you; you shall eat its increase out of the field.
In the year of jubilee you shall return each one to his possession.
13 In the year of jubilee you shall return each one to his possession.

Counting the omer also represents the unification and completion of both Salvation and Sancitification.  YHVH rescued the people of Israel from Egypt (Salvation), led them through the Red Sea (Baptism) and gave them the Torah on Mount Sinai (Sanctification).