John 8:9, commentary and pictures

Confronted by their own consciences, the woman's accusers slipped away individually from oldest to youngest until only Jesus and the woman remained together in the middle.
Stooping down, He traced their hidden sins in the dust where they could be read, proving He knew their secret guilt and their whole plot against her and Himself.
They had brought her as a snare during His time at Jerusalem, hoping He would condemn her and give them grounds to condemn Him for taking judgment into His own hands.
Not one of them was less guilty than she was, for each stood convicted of greater crimes, showing that those quick to demand punishment for others may themselves be guiltier.
Against their merciless spirit He stood as the pitying Saviour who freed her from her accusers to pardon her and bid her sin no more, teaching that whoever remembers his own heart will not be ready to throw stones at another.

Setting and Exposure

This took place at Jerusalem during the feast, when spies and rulers were seeking to silence Jesus and entrap Him. The scribes and Pharisees brought before Him a woman taken in sin as a snare to trap Him, having even led their victim into sin to lay the snare. They expected Him to pronounce judgment and condemn her, so that they could accuse Him of taking judgment into His own hands and thereby bring about His condemnation.

Stooping down, He traced on the ground in the dust and sand the particular hidden sins and guilty secrets of the accusers in legible characters, beginning with the eldest and ending with the youngest. Drawn by curiosity to see what He wrote, the accusers and many onlookers pressed forward one after another and read there the record of hidden sin inscribed against them. That writing proved He knew the secrets of their past sins and hidden guilt, the character and life-history of every man present, and their whole guilty plot against the woman and against Himself.

Joined to His requirement under the stoning law that he who was without sin should cast the first stone, this exposure tore away their robe of pretended holiness and laid bare their hypocrisy and guilty secrets in the presence of His infinite purity. Convicted by their own conscience and brought to self-condemnation, trembling with fear and shame lest their hidden iniquity be laid open to the multitude, they abandoned their plot. They failed to bring about His condemnation, going out one by one individually from the eldest even unto the last until Jesus was left alone with the woman standing in the midst before Him. They went away speechless and confounded, with suddenly changed countenances and bowed heads and downcast eyes as guilty and condemned before Christ, while the woman remained alone with Him, afraid and trembling with shame as she awaited her fate.

Guilt and Compassion

Not one of the accusers was less guilty than the woman, but every one was more guilty than she, convicted in conscience of greater crimes than hers. She stood trembling with shame as a conscience-stricken woman, while they left hastily in guilty consternation to escape exposure. They had brought her expecting condemnation and had laid a guilty plot against her, but their guilt was known, their hypocrisy was exposed, and though curiosity about what was written in the sand drew them near, they left one by one rather than face rebuke. The scene teaches that people who are quick to accuse others and demand justice and punishment may themselves be guiltier than the people they accuse.

It contrasts the unrelenting and merciless spirit of the Pharisees with the pardoning compassion of Jesus as the pitying Saviour. His compassion toward the repentant sinner leads into peace and security, and by standing against a merciless spirit it draws those who witness it to seek His pardon and peace.

His words both delivered the woman from her accusers and left her alone with Him to hear His pardon and His command to a changed life and to sin no more. The accusers were brought to self-condemnation by the exposure of their own sin, and went out one by one from the eldest even unto the last until He was left alone with the woman standing in the midst. When He bent down and wrote on the ground they pressed forward to see what He wrote and read there the record of their own sins, and convicted, ashamed and confounded they went away one after another. The meaning is that a person who remembers the sin in his own heart and looks at his own defects will not be ready to throw stones at someone else, so people who are merciless, unforgiving and condemnatory should heed His reproof rather than judge others.