John 8:6, commentary and pictures

The leaders brought Jesus a woman caught in adultery while He was teaching, demanding His judgment on Moses' command to stone her in order to trap Him and find grounds to publicly accuse Him. Their snare left Him no safe answer, for freeing her would bring a charge of despising Moses' law, while condemning her to death would bring a charge before Rome of usurping its sole authority to execute. Knowing their plot, their thoughts, and the life history of every man before Him, He refused to be hurried, and stooped to write on the ground as though He had not heard them while they pressed Him for a decision. What He traced in legible characters in the dust was the hidden sins and guilty secrets of the accusers themselves, from eldest to youngest, until shame and conviction drove them out one by one and left the woman alone with Him. The act exposed their hypocrisy with divine wisdom, teaching that those quickest to accuse others are often guiltier themselves, and contrasting His pardoning compassion for the repentant sinner with their merciless spirit.

The Snare and Writing

The rulers, scribes and Pharisees brought to Jesus while He was teaching a terror-stricken woman taken in adultery, set before Him Moses' command that such should be stoned and asked what He said, saying this to tempt Him so they might have cause to accuse Him and publicly humble Him. The snare was a double bind upon whatever answer He gave, for if He acquitted her they would charge Him with despising the law of Moses, and if He declared her worthy of death they would accuse Him to the Romans of stirring up sedition and assuming authority belonging to Rome alone. Those accusers had themselves led the woman into violating the seventh commandment in order to lay the snare for Him.

Jesus knew their thoughts, purpose and plot, read the secrets of their hearts, and knew the character and life-history of every man in His presence. He also beheld the whole arrogance of those who arranged it, discerning intents and purposes and knowing their lives as men themselves worthy of condemnation and punishment. He refused to be hurried into judgment and deliberately delayed, stooping down and writing with His finger in the dust and sand and ground with His eyes fixed upon the ground. He said nothing and gave no sign He had heard their question, as though He had not heard them though He had heard, while they talked and pressed around Him for a decision.

What He wrote without apparent design yet in legible characters was the particular sins, guilty secrets, hidden sins and record of the accusers' own lives. The tracing began with the eldest and ended with the youngest.

Exposure and Its Lessons

The impatient accusers drew nearer from curiosity, their eyes following His down to the ground at His feet, and as the people pressed forward they too read the record of hidden sin written against the accusers. What silenced them was the guilty secrets traced before them, and after silencing them He stooped and continued writing. Fear and surprise and shame took hold of them, with a sudden change of countenance that exposed their pretended holiness. When they realized He knew their lives they went out one by one and left the woman with Him, so their attempt to condemn Him failed.

His act met the enemies' trap with wisdom and gave evidence of His divine character. It pressed conviction home upon the guilty consciences of the very men seeking to destroy Him and revealed their hypocrisy. His response did not set aside the Mosaic law or violate Rome's authority, but defeated the plot and left the accusers guilty before His purity. His stainless purity shrank from the spectacle of the trembling victim in shame before hard-faced dignitaries devoid of even human pity.

The scene teaches that those who are forward to accuse others, quick to find wrong and zealous to bring them to justice, are often guiltier in their own lives than those they accuse. It contrasts the pardoning compassion of Jesus with the unrelenting, merciless spirit of the Pharisees. It turns beholders to Jesus as the pitying Saviour who leads the repentant sinner into peace and security. The verse means to look at defects in one's own heart instead of defects in someone else and, following His word that he without sin should cast the first stone, to remember sin in one's own heart so as not to be ready to throw stones at someone else. The verse also shows the constant watch for an occasion to accuse Him, in which His words and motives were misrepresented and used against Him.