Yeshua bent down and wrote on the ground. Why?

Caught in the act (part 3)- THE ACUSSERS OF PEOPLE

Bible Texts (New Testament with keywords Concordance-CLNT: Text: John 8:1-9; Matthew 7:1-5

John 8:1-9

1 Yet Jesus went to the mount of Olives.
2 Now early He again came along into the sanctuary, and the entire people came to Him. And, being seated, He taught them.
3 Now the scribes and the Pharisees are leading a woman who has been overtaken in adultery, and, standing her in the midst,
4 they are saying to Him, "Teacher, this woman has been overtaken and detected committing adultery.
5 Now in the law, Moses directs us that such are to be stoned. You, then, what are you saying?"
6 Now this they said to try Him, that they may have something to accuse Him of. Now Jesus, stooping down, wrote down something with a finger in the earth.
7 Now as they persisted asking Him, He unbends and said to them, "Let the sinless one of you first cast a stone at her."
8 And, again stooping down, He wrote in the earth.
9 Now those hearing it came out one by one, beginning with the elders, to the last. And Jesus was left alone, the woman also being in the midst. 

Matthew 7:1-5

1 "Do not judge, lest you may be judged,
2 for with what judgment you are judging, shall you be judged, and with what measure you are measuring, shall it be measured to you.
3 "Now why are you observing the mote that is in your brother's eye, yet the beam in your eye you are not considering?
4 Or how will you be declaring to your brother, 'Brother, let me extract the mote out of your eye,' and lo! the beam is in your eye?
5 Hypocrite! Extract first the beam out of your eye, and then you will be keen-sighted to be extracting the mote out of your brother's eye.

The Accusers and the Accused

What Satan loves to do most is accuse people before Yahweh because of their sins. He delights in bringing accusations against people. Please, be sure to read my previous blog on “Lucifer” for more details.

In this week’s account, the Pharisees acted in a similar way. They accused a woman who had been caught in adultery and brought her to Yeshua. Interestingly, they referred to him as “Teacher.” However, their reference to him was not coming from a pure heart. They were setting a trap for him.

With the scenario they had created, they were hoping to make Yeshua incriminate himself. They wanted him to say something that could be used against him. These Pharisees were crafty—just as Satan is crafty. A kind of a ha! We caught you!

The accusation against this helpless woman became even more intense as they pressured Yeshua to respond publicly to the case they had brought before him.

But Yeshua did something that I encourage everyone to do whenever we find ourselves at a crossroads:

Calm down.

Do not succumb to pressure from your accusers. Do not be quick to respond. James 1:19 reminds us to be swift to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. Do not make judgments based purely on emotion.

Sometimes, your mind may agree with what appears obvious, but your heart may tell you something completely different. This is one reason we need the holy spirit every day of our lives—to guide us and help us make good decisions.

Ask Yahweh to allow his spirit to work through you.

Humans are prone to make erroneous judgments. We see actions, but Yahweh sees intentions. We see deeds, but Yahweh sees the heart. This is why his ways are not our ways, and his thoughts are not our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8–9).

Until we understand this, we may struggle to understand how Yeshua handled this case.

Anyone could have judged this situation differently. But the way Yeshua handled it makes me stand in awe of his wisdom!

How Did Yeshua Handle the Case?

Yeshua stooped down and said to them:

“Let the sinless one of you first cast a stone at her.”

Then he stooped down again and wrote on the ground.

The Scripture does not tell us exactly what Yeshua was writing. I have often wondered about this. Could he have been writing the sins committed by some of these accusers for them to see? It was not found in this bible text, so I can only hope and imagine that possibility.

However, I believe there is something else worth considering about his posture.

Yeshua did not become confrontational. He did not stand before them as though he needed to prove that he was right. He was not punitive either. He stooped down and continued writing.

Perhaps, in doing so, he deliberately removed himself from the intensity of looking directly into the faces of those who were demanding judgment. He was not there to participate in their punitive display.

Remember, Yeshua did not come to judge the world at that moment, but to save the world (John 3:17).

I hope you understand my drift.

And then something remarkable happened.

No one was bold enough to cast a stone at the woman.

Not one!

Yeshua was not looking at them, trying to encourage them to punish this woman. He simply gave them a standard by which they could judge themselves: Let the sinless one cast the first stone.

Then he stooped down again.

I can imagine his disciples waiting to see whether any of these accusers would actually throw a stone.

But alas!

None was able to do so.

The Accusers Could Not Accuse Themselves

What astonished me most was that the elders were the ones who left that mountain before the younger ones.

They all left in shame.

Think about that for a moment.

They came with confidence.

They came with an accusation.

They came with a woman they wanted condemned.

They came expecting Yeshua to be trapped.

But they ended up leaving one by one.

The accusers became the ones exposed.

They came to examine the woman, but Yeshua's response caused them to examine themselves.

Isn't that powerful?

Sometimes, the person we are most eager to expose is not the person Yahweh wants us to examine.

Why Did Yeshua Bend Down and Write?

Why did Yeshua bend down?

Why did he not engage them in a heated argument?

Why did he not look them in the face and challenge them aggressively?

Why did he simply say, “Let the sinless one of you first cast a stone at her,” and then bend down?

Yeshua was not confrontational on this issue. He did not stand with a posture of superiority to prove himself right. He did not appear eager to punish.

What a humble Judge Yeshua was!

These people silently walked away from the mountain and left the woman there with Yeshua. They did not bother to take her to their own court to be judged.

Why?

Because they had been confronted—not by an angry judge, but by their own conscience.

They were indeed ashamed of themselves. They were not even ready to sit among people on the mountain to learn from Yeshua. Their minds were still sealed against the truth. They were still blind spiritually. They did not learn from their mistakes. They walked away defeated. Wow!

See the picture below.

                                                     

                           The accusers walked away shamefully and silently...

What About You?

Now let me bring this closer to home.

You see, Yeshua is not condemning you either.

He came to pay for your sins. He completed the task of paying for your sins in full, as recorded in John 19:30:

“It is finished.”

The same Yeshua who refused to participate in the condemnation of this woman is the one who gave himself for humanity.

This should make us stop and think.

Yeshua was essentially telling these accusers that they should not be looking at the mote in another person's eye while ignoring the beam in their own eyes.

If these accusers understood that no one is righteous (Romans 3:10), perhaps they would have removed the beam from their own eyes before addressing the mote in the eyes of this woman.

In other words:

So please, stop being hypocritical!

Words of Admonition for you:

I would admonish you to stop being judgmental and self-righteous.

It is easy to identify another person's failure.

It is easy to point fingers.

It is easy to expose someone else's weakness.

It is easy to become an accuser. 

Sometimes, we do not notice it. 

Sometimes, we ignore this notice because it does not prick our hearts that it is a bad thing to do. 

Here is the uncomfortable question:

What would happen if Yeshua asked you to examine yourself before examining someone else?

Would you still be holding your stone?

Would you still feel qualified to condemn?

Would you still be as confident in your judgment?

Religion can promote judgmentalism and self-righteousness. This is one reason Yeshua and the Pharisees were not on the same page. They were looking at righteousness from completely different perspectives.

Ponder on Psalm 130:3:

“ If You should keep account of depravities, O Yah, O Yahweh, who should stand?”

The Pharisees were focused on the stone.

Yeshua was focused on the heart.

The Pharisees were focused on the offense.

Yeshua was focused on the person.

The Pharisees wanted condemnation.

Yeshua demonstrated mercy.

So, before we pick up a stone against someone else, perhaps we should pause and ask ourselves:

What is Yahweh seeing in me that I am refusing to see in myself?

That question alone should make us put the stone down.

Let us learn from this week's blog.

I hope this week's blog has blessed you too.

I also hope to complete this great topic next week by the special grace of Yahweh.

Stay tuned. Stay blessed.

Grace and Peace!

 

References:

https://www.concordant.org/version/read-concordant-old-testament-online

https://www.concordant.org/version/read-concordant-New-testament-online

https://chatgpt.com/