Who May Serve as a WItness?

THE HALACHAH OF YESHUA
WHO MAY SERVE AS A VALID WITNESS?

By James Trimm

To begin with let us examine an account in John 7:53-8:11

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 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.

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 Qumran 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.

8:8 writing on the ground

It seems Yeshua was implying that these men had been an unfaithful
bride to YHWH and this is implied by his writing in the dust of the
Temple floor of which was used to judge an unfaithful bride (Numbers
5:12-31). He then wrote their names in the dust (Jer. 17:13)
indicating that they were unfaithful brides to YHWH and should be
judged as well and therefore were not valid witnesses.

How might we write this in Talmudic form? It could be presented as
follows:

MISHNA:
We read "The hand of the witnesses shall be first upon him to death"
(Deut. 17:7).
Messiah said "Whichever one of you is without sin may cast the first
stone." (Jn. 8:7)
One morning he came again to the Temple and all the people came to
him. And while he was sitting, he was teaching them. And the scribes
and P'rushim brought a woman who was caught in adultery. And placing
her in the midst, They said to him, Teacher, this woman was caught in
the open in the act of adultery. Now in the Torah of Moshe, he
commanded that we stone those who are like these. Now, what do you
say? 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. 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 . And again after he had stooped down, he was
writing on the ground. 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. And after Yeshua straightened himself he said to
the woman, Where are they? Does no man condemn you? And she said, No
man, Adon. And Yeshua said, Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from
now on do not sin again. (Jn. 8:2-11)

GEMARA:
What is the meaning "Whichever one of you is without sin"?
The House of the Moreh Tzadek taught "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)