James Trimm’s Nazarene Commentary on Yochanan Chapter 8
8:1-11
53 Then each of them went to his house
1 And Yeshua went to the Mount of Olives.
2 And in the morning he came again to the Temple and all the people
came to him. And while he was sitting, he was teaching them.
3 And the scribes and P’rushim brought a woman who was caught in
adultery. And placing her in the midst,
4 They said to him, Teacher, this woman was caught in the open in
the act of adultery.
5 Now in the Torah of Moshe, he commanded that we stone those who
are like these. Now, what do you say?
6 They said this testing him so that they would have a reason to
accuse him. But Yeshua, after he had stooped down, wrote on the ground.
7 And when they continued asking him, he straightened himself and
said to them, Whichever one of you is without sin may cast the first
stone at her .
8 And again after he had stooped down, he was writing on the ground.
9 And when they heard [it], they went out one by one having begun
with the elders. And the woman was left by herself being in the midst.
10 And after Yeshua straightened himself he said to the woman, Where
are they? Does no man condemn you?
11 And she said, No man, Adon. And Yeshua said, Neither do I condemn
you. Go, and from now on do not sin again.
(John 7:53-8:11)
The story of the alleged adulteress (John 7:53-8:11) does not actually appear in many of the most ancient manuscripts. It does not appear in the Aramaic Peshita or the Aramaic Old Syraic texts. Those Greek manuscripts which do contain it place it in various places some after Luke 21:38 and some after John 7:36 or after 7:52 or even after 21:24.
According to the “church father” Papias the story also appeared in the Gospel According to the Hebrews (Papias quoted in Eccl. Hist. iii, 39, 17) An apocryphal gospel which was used by the ancient Nazarenes.
But let us look at what this narrative acvtually teaches, John 8:7 says:
Whichever one of you is without sin may cast the first stone at her –
Yeshua was not contradicting the Torah. The Torah required that the witnesses cast the first stone:
At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses,
shall he that is to die be put to death.
The hand of the witnesses shall be first upon him to death,
and afterward the hand of all the people.
So you shall put away the evil from the midst of you.
(Deut. 17:6-7).
According to a Halachah found in the Dead Sea Scrolls:
No one who has knowingly violated a single word of the
commandment will be considered a reliable witness against
his fellow until he is considered fit to return to full fellowship.
(Damascus Document 4Q270 frag. 9 col. 10 lines 2-3)
Yeshua seems to have been agreeing with this Halachic precept regarding witnesses.
Without wtinesses a case of adultery could only be tried by the trial of bitter waters:
[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.
(Num. 5:12-31 KJV)
This could only be done if the matter was pushed forward by the husband. (This was the only type of case that could be brought without witnesses ) This is the meaning of “does no man condemn you” (verse 10) as the word “man” in Hebrew can also mean “husband”.
In Jn. 8:8 it says that Yeshua was “writing on the ground”. Yeshua was is writing in the dust of the Temple floor of which was used to judge an alleged unfaithful bride (Numbers 5:12-31). He probably fulfilled the prophecy when he “wrote their names in the dust” (Jer. 17:13) by writing the names of the unrighteous witnesses in this very same dust:
O YHWH, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken YHWH, the fountain of living waters.
(Jer. 17:13)
8:12
I am the light of the world.
He who follows me will not walk in darkness,
but will find for himself the light of life.
(John 8:12 HRV)
The occasion was Sukkot (see Jn. 7:1). Sukkot was known as the “Festival of Light”. The entire city of Jerusalem was filled with light from giant 75 feet (50 cubit) tall menorahs. (m.Sukkah 5:2–4; b.Sukkah 52b).
AT THE CONCLUSION OF THE FIRST FESTIVAL DAY OF TABERNACLES THEY DESCENDED TO THE COURT OF THE WOMEN WHERE THEY HAD MADE A GREAT ENACTMENT. THERE WERE THERE GOLDEN CANDLESTICKS WITH FOUR GOLDEN BOWLS ON THE TOP OF EACH OF THEM AND FOUR LADDERS TO EACH, AND FOUR YOUTHS DRAWN FROM THE PRIESTLY STOCK IN WHOSE HANDS WERE HELD JARS OF OIL CONTAINING ONE HUNDRED AND TWENTY LOG WHICH THEY POURED INTO THE BOWLS. FROM THE WORN-OUT DRAWERS AND GIRDLES OF THE PRIESTS THEY MADE WICKS AND WITH THEM THEY KINDLED THE LAMPS; AND THERE WAS NOT A COURTYARD IN JERUSALEM THAT WAS NOT ILLUMINED BY THE LIGHT OF THE PLACE OF THE WATER-DRAWING.
(m.Sukkot 5:2-3)
FOUR LADDERS etc. A Tanna taught, the height of a candlestick was fifty cubits.
(b.Sukkot 52b)
It was for this reason that Sukkot was the original festival of lights. Channukah became a festival of lights partly because the first Channukah was a belated Sukkot celebration.
With this backdrop Yeshua makes this beautiful proclamation.
Yeshua’s statement here may be aimed as Essenes because it draws from the language of certain of the Dead Sea Scrolls which read:
…Thus will grow and understand and be glad
in the light of the world; you will not be a disowned vessel…
(The Words of Levi 4Q541; Frag. 24 line 7)
For only through the spirit pervading God’s true society
can there be atonement for a man’s ways, all of his iniquities;
thus only can he gaze upon the light of life and be joined
to His truth by His holy spirit, purified through all iniquity. …
He created humankind to rule over the world,
appointing for them two spirits in which to walk
until the time ordained for His visitation.
these are the spirits of truth and falsehood.
Upright character and fate originate with the
Habitation of Light; perverse, with the Fountain of Darkness.
The authority of the Prince of Light
extends to the governance of all righteous people;
therefore, they walk in paths of light.
Correspondingly the authority of the Angel of Darkness
embraces the governance of all wicked people,
so they walk in the paths of darkness.
(Manual of Discipline 1QS col. 3, 6-7; 17-21)
This is a reference to Isaiah 8:20-9:2:
To the Torah and to the testimony;
if they speak not according to this word,
it is because there is no light in them…
…the people who walked in darkness have
seen a great light…
For a deeper understanding of this passage in relation to Yeshua see comments to Matthew 4:14-16. For more comments on “light” see comments to Jn. 1:4
There is a spiritual battle taking place between light and darkness. Paul writes:
…what communion has light with darkness?
And what concord has Messiah with Belial…
(2Cor. 6:14b-15a)
Throughout the New Testament there are extended metaphores revolving around light and darkness. Believers are called “sons of light” (Lk. 16:8; Jn. 12:36; Eph. 5:8; 1Thes. 5:5 see comments to Jn. 12:36). The full armor of Elohim is also called the “armor of light” (Rom. 13:12). The New Testament speaks of those “who walk in darkness” (Jn. 8:12; 12:35; 1Jn. 1:6; 2:11).
But what does this idiomatic use of the terms light and darkness mean? For the answer let us turn to the Tanak:
For the commandment is a lamp;
and the Torah is light…
(Prov. 6:23)
Your word is a lamp to my feet,
and a light to my path.
(Psalm 119:105)
To the Torah and to the testimony;
if they speak not according to this word,
it is because there is no light in them.
(Isaiah 8:20)
…for a Torah shall proceed from me,
and I will make my judgment to rest
for a light of the people.
(Isaiah 51:4)
So according to the Tanak the Torah is a light for our paths. Those that walk in the Torah walk in the light. This is why the New Testament speaks of those who walk in darkness (Jn. 8:12; 12:35; 1Jn. 1:6; 2:11). These are those who do not walk by the light of Torah. Of these John writes:
And if we say that we have fellowship with him,
and walk in darkness,
we are liars and we do not walk in truth.
(1Jn. 1:6)
Notice that John equates “walking in truth” with walking in the light. As we noted previously “the Torah is truth” (Ps. 119:142) thus if “walking in the light” means “walking in truth” then both phrases refer to walking in the Torah. This takes us back to our passages from the Tanak given above. John also confirms this by writing the parallel statements:
…walking in truth.
…walk according to his commandments.
(2Jn. 1:4, 6)
As we have noted Paul also calls the armor of Elohim the “armor of light” (Rom. 13:12). According to Paul we are involved in a spiritual battle with “the rulers of the darkness of this world.” (Eph. 6:12) and thus he instructs us to put on this “armor of light” (see comments to Eph. 6:13 & Rom. 13:12)