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.
