What was Jesus writing in the dirt when the Pharisees brought to Him a woman caught in adultery?

It was a clever scheme from the side of the Scribes and Pharisees to tempt Him. The Law of Moses demanded her death by stoning. If He gave as an answer, "let her be stoned!" He would contradict His own testimony that He came not to judge, but to save. If He declared that the guilty woman was not to be stoned, then would He break the law. They appealed to Him as teacher, not as judge. He was silent and stooped down and wrote with His finger in the ground. (The words, "as though He heard them not" are in italics and must be omitted.) It is the only time we read of our Lord that He wrote. The finger which wrote in the ground was the same which had written the law in the tables of stone. What He wrote we do not know; but it was symbolical of the fact that the law against man is written in the dust, the dust of death. Not alone had the woman deserved death, but all were equally guilty. After His demand, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her," the oldest in the company left first till the Lord was alone with the guilty woman. He did not set aside the law, and yet He manifested His marvelous Grace. The self-righteous accusers were condemned and sneaked into darkness, away from Him Who is the Light. The woman addressed Him as Lord, showing she believed on Him; and He told her to go and sin no more. The Grace He shows demands holiness.

The action of Jesus in stooping down and writing on the ground is very significant. Here was, if we may say so, the finger that once wrote the law on two tables of stone — the law that wrote a sentence of doom against Israel. The same finger had written a sentence of doom against a proud Gentile monarchy in the days of Daniel, upon the plaster of the wall. The writing substances are striking. The inflexible law written on inflexible stone; hence the despiser of Moses' law "died without mercy," since the law cannot be twisted as rubber is twisted. Plaster is friable and easily broken, like the strongest and proudest human kingdoms. Jesus wrote on the ground. What He wrote there we are not told, but we do know that He was going "into the dust of death" (Ps. 22:15), where He wrote a full declaration of the love of God.

"And the scribes155 and the Pharisees bring to Him a woman taken in adultery, and having set her in (the) midst, they say to Him, Teacher, this woman was taken in the very act of adultery. Now in the law Moses charged us to stone such:156 Thou, therefore, what sayest Thou? But this they said proving Him, that they might have (whereof) to accuse Him. But Jesus stooped down, and with His finger was writing on the ground" (verses 3-6).

Such is man at his best estate when he sees and hears Jesus, but refuses the grace and truth which came by Him. They were not ignorant men, but learned in the Scriptures; they were not the crowd that knew not the law, but possessed of the highest reputation for religion. Nor could there be a question as to the guilt and degradation of the woman. Why they brought her, and not her paramour, does not appear. But her they brought in the hope, not only of perplexing, but of finding ground of accusation against, the Lord. It seemed to them a dilemma which allowed of no escape. Moses, said they, bade the Jews stone such as she. What did Jesus say? If He only confirmed the decree of the law, where was the grace so much boasted of? If He let her off, did He not evidently set Himself in opposition not only to Moses, but to Jehovah? What profound iniquity theirs! No horror at sin, even of the darkest dye, but an unfeeling perversion of the exposed adulteress to entrap the Holy One of God.

But if the Lord wrote on the ground, it was in no way as if He heard them not. Rather was it to give them time to weigh their guilty question, and guiltier motive, while their hope of entrapping Him betrayed them more and more to commit themselves as He stooped to the ground.

"And when they continued asking Him, He lifted Himself up and said to them, Let Him that is without sin among you first cast the stone at her;156a and, again stooping down, He was writing on the ground. But they, having heard [it], kept going out one by one, beginning from the elder ones until the last; and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in (the) midst" (verses 7-9). The clause translated, "and being convicted by their conscience," in the Text. Rec., and supported by EGHKS, etc., is omitted by still better authority.

In John 8 the eldest had more reputation to save. The writing on the ground was in a certain sense a dignified contempt of their hypocrisy.

All of this the Lord does not mention, but stooped down and with his finger wrote on the ground (v. 6). Of all present, only He would humble Himself at the thought of sin in another. Yet it is the same finger that wrote the ten commandments, and it seems clear that the Lord's finger confirmed the pure justice of the law. Christ had not come to destroy the law. Yet neither had he come to condemn sinners, but to save sinners. In ignorance they continue to press Him for an answer. When He, standing erect, speaks for the first time, it is with words for which they were totally unprepared, and which cut like a knife into their hardened hearts: “He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first” (v. 7). Of course He was not speaking as a judge, for He had not come as a judge, nor was the place a court of law. He spoke in grace and truth, He who deals with the needs of souls in matchless grace, yet in no degree sacrificing righteousness.

For the second time He stooped down and wrote on the ground (v. 8). Does this not teach us that, if the sentence of law was against her, it was also against them, for the law did not condemn only exposed cases of adultery, but sin of every kind. Where then did they stand? Yet, even in writing the sentence against them the blessed Lord of glory humbled Himself!

The Lord does not directly answer the question of these wicked men. He stoops down and writes on the ground as if in disregard of their question. Time is thus given them to weigh their question and motives. Heedless of the warning delay (if this be the significance of the Lord's action) they continue questioning Him, with the result that the Lord, refusing to be the Judge, maintains His place as the Teacher (verse 2), and acts as the Light of the world by which man is exposed and God is revealed.

John 8:7-9. First, the Lord maintains the authority of the law to which these men have appealed. Let it be carried out; only let those who execute the law see that they themselves are not condemned by the law. "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." Again the Lord stoops down and writes upon the ground. His action may indicate that He would record His words in writing, that those who hear Him may have the testimony of the written word as well as the spoken word.

In chapter 8 the Pharisees bring to Him a woman taken in adultery. What was He to do? Condemn her and deny the grace in which He approached the sinner? Justify her, and show His disrespect for the law of Moses? Stone her? They could do that themselves, so they might think; but could they? But Jesus stooped down, and with His finger wrote on the ground, as though He heard them not. The finger of God had written the demand of God on two tables of stone, but He was here tracing upon the dust of this earth, in His walk and in His ways with sinners, unfathomable grace. This He indicates by His writing on the ground. “So when they continued asking Him He lifted up Himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again He stooped down, and wrote on the ground.” He was not to be interrupted in His work of grace by their wicked hypocrisy. But can their self-righteousness bear the test that He applies to it? No. The oldest must first go, but the youngest cannot remain. The only One who could have thrown the stone at her had come to call sinners to repentance. He does not condemn her, but tells her to sin no more.

The Scribes and Pharisees, who brought the woman and accused her, declared that "Moses in the law commanded that such should be stoned;" but they are not in the current of His own thoughts about the deeper trespass which had been brought to light by His own presence in their midst. How could He judge or condemn the woman, and not in righteous jealousy curse them? They had set her "in the midst," and demanded "what sayest thou?" To His eye they had by their own act set themselves in the midst with her, and passing beyond the statute laws of Moses (see Num. 5:17) into the depths of His own feelings about them, He refused to take their accusation. Long ago He had sent Jeremiah, saying, "Go and cry in the ears of Jerusalem, saying, thus saith the Lord, I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not sown;" and now one greater than a prophet is come to win her heart back to Himself by His own grace. If He applied the law of Moses to the nation, as the accusers wished Him to do towards the adulteress, He must have taken "holy water in an earthen vessel, and of the dust that is in the floor, and put it into the water, and as a priest of the tabernacle bring up the question before the Lord." This He refuses to do, and now mark how He passes into His own heights and depths of love (cost what it may in the end) to justify Himself in not condemning either the woman in her sin, or the nation in its greater trespass. "Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground [as though he heard them not];" for in the love which had brought Him amongst them, and in which He was come to work, the sin of her who was taken in the act, and the sin of Israel, though equally under "the eye of the sun" for righteous judgment, was written on His heart in grace. He who came out from God came not to put her away, but to put away her sin, and to cleanse her and make her whiter than snow. Viewed in this light, how significant of their state, and of His own purpose in love, are the words which He spake unto them, "he that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her; and again he stooped down and wrote on the ground!" He rolls the sin and the accusers away from the floor, and thus purges it; nor will He gather up the dust thereof in any earthen vessel or prepare "the bitter water of jealousy" between Him and them. He walks in a higher path of His own, which none but He could make; and so goes out of the midst, and away from all their accusations and questionings, saying to them, "I am the light of the world, he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life." He was left alone and the woman standing in the midst. "When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?" She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, "Neither do I condemn thee, go and sin no more."

This is just what the Lord does. Therefore, when the charge was brought thus heartlessly against outward evil, He simply stoops down, and with His finger writes on the ground. He allowed them to think of the circumstances, of themselves, and of Him. As they still continued asking, He lifted up Himself, and said unto them, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast the stone at her." And again, stooping down, He writes on the round. (Verses 6-8) The first act allows the full iniquity of their aim to be realized. They hoped, no doubt, it might be an insuperable difficulty to Him. They had time to weigh what they had said and were seeking. When they continued to ask, and He lifted Himself up and spoke to them those memorable words, He again stoops, that they might weigh them in their consciences. It was the light of God cast on their thoughts, words, and life. The words were few, simple, and self-evidencing. "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast the stone at her." The effect was immediate and complete. His words penetrated to the heart. Why did not some of the witnesses rise and do the office? What! not one? "They which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last; and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst." (v. 9) The law had never done this. They had learnt and trifled with the law up to this time; they had freely used it, as men do still, to convict other people. But here was the light of God shining full on their sinful condition, as well as on the law. It was the light of God that reserved all its rights to the law, but itself shone with such spiritual force as had never reached their consciences before, and drove out the faithless hearts which desired not the knowledge of God and His ways. And this a waif tossed haphazard on the broken coast of our gospel! Nay, brethren, your eyes are at fault; it is a ray of light from Christ, and shines just where it should.

Having brought the woman taken in sin the scribes and Pharisees set her in the midst, and said to Jesus, “Master…Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?” The answer of Jesus was to stoop down and “with His finger” write on the ground. The finger that once wrote on the tables of stone the words of the law was now writing something else, something of a very different character in this world, for with the finger of a Man the Son of God was writing before the eyes of men the wonders of the rich, heavenly grace of God.