What was Jesus writing on the ground when they brought the woman caught in adultery?

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"8 1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning he came again to the temple; all the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst 4 they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. 5 Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such. What do you say about her?” 6 This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7 And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8** And once more he bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground**. 9 But when they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the eldest, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus looked up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and do not sin again.” "John 8:1-11

Here is what I imagine::newidea:

When he bent on the ground he **was starting to write the Ten Commandments **but they press him to answer and Jesus told them that the one that did not have sin to throw the first stone, and then continue to write the Ten Commandments, that in Hebrew will be very short, two words each. But Jesus started to write them from the last commandment, the 10th: you shall not covet then 9th not bear false witness, etc. (Ex 20:3-17)

Since the elders, the Scribes and the Pharisees who brought the woman, pride themselves in not having other gods beside God and not worshiping idols, not taking the name of God in vain and keeping the Shabbat day (the first four commandments), but must probably did not keep so well the others, like not to covet others things, etc. they were the ones to go first. In fact, Jesus warned before the people to “…practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do; for they preach, but do not practice.” Mt 23:3

As Jesus came closer to the first commandments, which the younger will find more difficult to keep, they also left and no one stone the adulterous woman.

What do you imagine??:rolleyes:

In the love of Christ,
Gloria

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Some say - and I think as well - that Jesus was writing down the sins of her accusers in the dust.
 
Gloria_de_G said:
"8 1 but Jesus went to the Mount of Olives. 2 Early in the morning he came again to the temple; all the people came to him, and he sat down and taught them. 3 The scribes and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in adultery, and placing her in the midst 4 they said to him, “Teacher, this woman has been caught in the act of adultery. 5 Now in the law Moses commanded us to stone such. What do you say about her?” 6 This they said to test him, that they might have some charge to bring against him. Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. 7 And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” 8** And once more he bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground**. 9 But when they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the eldest, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. 10 Jesus looked up and said to her, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?” 11 She said, “No one, Lord.” And Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you; go, and do not sin again.” "John 8:1-11

Here is what I imagine::newidea:

When he bent on the ground he **was starting to write the Ten Commandments **but they press him to answer and Jesus told them that the one that did not have sin to throw the first stone, and then continue to write the Ten Commandments, that in Hebrew will be very short, two words each. But Jesus started to write them from the last commandment, the 10th: you shall not covet then 9th not bear false witness, etc. (Ex 20:3-17)

Since the elders, the Scribes and the Pharisees who brought the woman, pride themselves in not to having other gods beside God and not worshiping idols and keeping the Shabbat day (the first three commandments), but must probably did not keep so well the others, like not to covet others things, etc. they were the ones to go first. In fact Jesus warned the people “so practice and observe whatever they tell you, but not what they do; for they preach, but do not practice.” Mt 23:3

As Jesus came closer to the first commandments, which the younger will find more difficult to keep, they also left and no one stone the adulterous woman.

What do you imagine??:rolleyes:

In the love of Christ,
Gloria

.
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I’ve wondered that myself. I imagine He was using the writing as a way to use body language to show He wasn’t at all moved by their passions against the woman. He must have seemed so calm and out of place that His calmness while writing in the sand must have diffused some of them or put them into a different mental state.

However, since whatever He says is such as when He spoke the Truth of the Eucharist into existence, He may have been writing the law as you stated but His writing may have been written on their hearts at the same time. This changed their heart and they saw the error of their ways… A stretch but just a thought.
 
I always thought He was writing down the sins of the lady’s accusers.
 
WhatMeWorry said:
Some say - and I think as well - that Jesus was writing down the sins of her accusers in the dust.
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That will have assumed two main problems:

**First ** That he knew all the private lives of the Scribes and Pharisses that broght the woman

Second it will have been a lot of writting 😃

Gloria

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That has always been very mysterious to me. I haven’t a clue, but I just consult other commentators on questions like this, which the good ones only speculate because nobody knows what He actually wrote.
 
The story of the woman taken in adultery (aka periscope adulterae) wasn’t added to the Gospel of John, 7,8, until the 4th century. It does not appear in either the fourth century Codex Sinaticus or the Codex Vaticanus.

But is was a good story of Jesus so someone added it… Note that it not in any of the other gospels.
 
wcknight said:
I always thought He was writing down the sins of the lady’s accusers.
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It was a crowd and will have taken a lot of writing from Jesus’s part. The Ten Commandments in Hebrew are just two words each!
Otherwise Jesus will have had to write the name of the sinner and his sin, believe me not easy 🙂

Gloria

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Boniventure said:
The story of the woman taken in adultery (aka periscope adulterae) wasn’t added to the Gospel of John, 7,8, until the 4th century. It does not appear in either the fourth century Codex Sinaticus or the Codex Vaticanus.

But is was a good story of Jesus so someone added it… Note that it is not in any of the other gospels.
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Saint John was the beloved Apostle, the one closest to Jesus, and many things that he says in his gospel are not reported in the others gospels, not only this one, and also in matters of direct speech from Jesus. In fact Saint John’s Gospel is not included in the Synoptic Gospels.👍

In the love of Christ,
Gloria

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Gloria_de_G said:
It was a crowd and will have taken a lot of writing from Jesus’s part. The Ten Commandments in Hebrew are just two words each!
Otherwise Jesus will have had to write the name of the sinner and his sin, believe me not easy 🙂

Gloria

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Well, every sin is at heart a sin against one or more of the Commandments. And there really aren’t all that many ways to sin, so He could have been very brief. It’s not like He had to write all the sins of all the accusers.

I find the fact that they went away ‘one by one’ interesting - I can imagine Him writing, in a word or two, the worst and most shameful sin of each and so convicting each in his heart.

On the other hand, He could really have simply been doodling rather than properly writing - expressing the ultimate unconcern with the issues which were so preoccupying the accusers.
 
Could have been anything, one of the things about Jesus and what is written about Him is that we should ponder things, not just let others ponder for us, such as it is written about Mary, “She pondered these things in her heart”.

Could have been, “Here is the woman, where is the man? Takes at least two for adultery, doesn’t it?”
 
This question has always amused me. The answer is, we don’t know, though many people guess, as you all have.

It is definitely profitable food for thought, however.
 
C. S. Lewis had the best answer, I wish I had the source right at hand, probably in one of his essays.

WE DON’T KNOW what Jesus wrote. The author of the gospel apparently did not know either. But he observed it; so he recorded it.

Lewis uses this to illustrate a point about the accuracy of the gospels. In the “Realistic” genre of literature, writers would often put in little details that don’t fit into the theme of the narrative, because that’s how it is in real life. There’s always a dog barking, some irrelevant conversation in the background, or it happened to be raining out at the time, or something else that does not seem to matter. You find these non-relevant details in short stories and novels, but not before the 1800s.

Ancient books that were fiction or semi fiction, or elaborated public relations works to impress readers about some religious figure - did not do that. This attention to detail - which adds nothing impressive to the reader’s understanding of Jesus - points to the literal accuracy of the gospels themselves. These were written by people trying to accurately record what they observed, even if they couldn’t make a particular theme about it. This argues against the Bible studies that reduce Jesus to just a teacher, and that the gospel writers felt free to make up miracle stories, or put words into Jesus’ mouth.
 
Tom_Baum said:
Could have been anything, one of the things about Jesus and what is written about Him is that we should ponder things, not just let others ponder for us, such as it is written about Mary, “She pondered these things in her heart”.

Could have been, “Here is the woman, where is the man? Takes at least two for adultery, doesn’t it?”
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The man was not dumb, when he heard them coming in where they were, he jumpted out of the window and run away, even naked!! But a woman could not do that…😃

In Leviticus says that they should both be stoned to death.

mmmm…

Gloria

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LilyM said:
Well, every sin is at heart a sin against one or more of the Commandments. And there really aren’t all that many ways to sin, so He could have been very brief. It’s not like He had to write all the sins of all the accusers.

I find the fact that they went away ‘one by one’ interesting - I can imagine Him writing, in a word or two, the worst and most shameful sin of each and so convicting each in his heart.

On the other hand, He could really have simply been doodling rather than properly writing - expressing the ultimate unconcern with the issues which were so preoccupying the accusers.
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OK, what about a combination of the two ideas?

He wrote the commandment and then the name of the one who someone of the ones present sinned against.🙂 , and continue one by one, like you said ‘convicting each in his heart’. No body else will know the meaning.

But I really think Jesus was writing something intelligent not just doodling. He did not need that kind of behavior.

In the love of our Church,
Gloria

.
 
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