What did Jesus write on the ground?

[beameup]

The last day (8th day) of the Feast of Tabernacles:
In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. - John 7:37-38

The next day, early in the morning:
And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them. And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground - John 8:2-6
O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters. - Jeremiah 17:13

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.
And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience [by the Holy Spirit], 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. - John 8:7-9

Then the magicians said unto Pharaoh, This is the finger of God: and Pharaoh's heart was hardened, and he hearkened not unto them; as the LORD had said. - Exodus 8:19
And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God. - Exodus 31:18 (Deut 9:10)

But if I with the finger of God cast out devils, no doubt the kingdom of God is come upon you. - Luke 11:20

 

[beameup]

Belshazzar's Banquet in Babylon (the handwriting on the wall):

In the same hour came forth fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the king's palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. Then the king's countenance was changed, and his thoughts troubled him, so that the joints of his loins were loosed [he soiled his underwear], and his knees smote one against another. - Daniel 5:5-6

 

[Truster]

The Jew’s had already disregarded the Law by bringing the woman to judgement without the man. The requirement under Law is that both parties to adultery be stoned:

Leviticus 20:10 And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, even he that committeth adultery with his neighbour's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall surely be put to death.

Deuteronomy 22:22 If a man be found lying with a woman married to an husband, then they shall both of them die, both the man that lay with the woman, and the woman: so shalt thou put away evil from Israel.​

The leaders were using the woman so that they could trick Yah Shua. If Yah Shua said the woman should not be stoned, they would accuse him of violating Moses’ Law. If He urged them to execute her, they would report Him to the Romans, who did not permit the Jews to carry out their own executions

John 18:31
Then said Pilate unto them, Take ye him, and judge him according to your law. The Jews therefore said unto him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death:
​

Messiah might have written:

Where is the man?

 

[oatmeal]

The last day (8th day) of the Feast of Tabernacles:
In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. - John 7:37-38

The next day, on the Mount of Olives:
And early in the morning he came again into the temple, and all the people came unto him; and he sat down, and taught them. And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst, They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act. Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou? This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground - John 8:2-6
O LORD, the hope of Israel, all that forsake thee shall be ashamed, and they that depart from me shall be written in the earth, because they have forsaken the LORD, the fountain of living waters. - Jeremiah 17:13

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.
And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience [by the Holy Spirit], 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. - John 8:7-9

Evidently, some scholars of the culture suggest that Jesus wrote the word "God" in Aramaic of course, to keep his focus on God. More broadly, since he was seeking a righteous reply to the situation, he knew that God his Father would have the right answer. Jesus spoke what the Father told him to speak, he simply had to wait for God, his Father, to give to him the answer.

Anyone who seeks to do God's will in any and every situation, learns to focus on God's word, even though we know our specific knowledge in a specific situation may fall short. Nevertheless, we look to God for answers by looking to His word for answers. We do the best we can with what we know at any time but are humble and meek to God to learn more. There are times we just have to go with what we know. There are times we learn more before we act. It is God that works in us both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Philippians 2:13

 

[Tambora]

There has been a wide variety of suggestions of what the Lord Jesus Christ wrote on the ground.

I will offer another to the mix.

By law, the only ones that could throw the first stone had to be the two (at least two) eye witnesses to the crime.
In other words, the one on trial could not be found guilty unless at least two eye witnesses.

Deuteronomy 17:6-7 KJV
(6) At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.

(7) The hands of the witnesses shall be first upon him to put him to death, and afterward the hands of all the people. So thou shalt put the evil away from among you.​

OK, only the mouth of the two (or more) witnesses could condemn the guilty party (ie. could not be circumstantial evidence or second hand info).
No Judge presiding got to decide and no jury got to decide. The condemnation of the guilty lies solely on the witnesses. (The blood of the innocent victim would be on their hands if they bore false witness.)


A couple of things to consider here.
The stoners did not have to be sinless (as no man was), but had to be sinless in their testimony (do not bear false witness).
So when Jesus says, "Let he without sin cast the first stone", that could only refer to the witnesses. as they would be only ones that could cast the first stone.


Since we know that some Jewish leaders were always trying to trick Christ and even generate false witnessness against Him ......
It could be possible that Christ wrote these points of the law on the ground to warn that if any bore false witness, they were condemning themselves and were responsible for the shedding of innocent blood, and the blood of the innocent would be on their hands.


This should have a familiar ring, as it would be false witnesses that condemned Christ, the innocent.

 

[beameup]

Keep in mind that these "religious leaders" were no doubt also aware of the incident of the "woman at the well", where Jesus claimed to be the source of "Living Water":

Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that living water? Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. - John 4:10-11,13-14

So, remember the previous day, the 8th day of Tabernacles, Jesus had announced publically that He was the SOURCE of LIVING WATER. Keep in mind that the "woman at the well" was also considered an immoral woman.

 

[SonOfCaleb]

Jesus didn't write anything, as John 8:1-11 has been proven to be a forgery centurys ago. It was added into the text at a much later date than when John completed the letter in 1AD. Of which those verses are no where to be found in any of the ancient manuscripts proving its fraudulent.

 

[beameup]

Jesus didn't write anything, as John 8:1-11 has been proven to be a forgery centurys ago. It was added into the text at a much later date than when John completed the letter in 1AD. Of which those verses are no where to be found in any of the ancient manuscripts proving its fraudulent.

I studied with the JWs in the 1950s when they still used (and endorsed) the King James Version.
The so-called "translators" of the New World "Translation" had absolutely no knowledge of the original Greek or Hebrew.
I have access to dozens of translations, and all of them have John 8:1-11 in them.
Better try to "pull the wool" over someone who is Biblically illiterate.

BTW, it was the Vatican that "found" some manuscripts that differed from the Textus Receptus. These were deemed "older", but that doesn't make them "better". Wescott & Hort (unbelieving Anglicans) used them to DISCREDIT the Holy Scriptures.

 

[WatchmanOnTheWall]

Perhaps it was:

Exodus 20:13 "You shall not murder.

And then after He said; "He who is without sin cast the first stone" He bent down again and perhaps wrote:

Levitcus19:18 Love your neighbour.

Writing in the dust was also a reminder of when God wrote the law in stone with His finger.

 

[WonderfulLordJesus]

Interesting that, whatever the Lord Jesus wrote (highly unlikely to be resolved here, incidentally, though some may insist), the Lord also wrote the Ten Commandments by His finger. The law proved itself pretty much trampled by Israel. How interesting God would write on the ground, put His word in a place that would be quickly trampled on by men. In keeping, by the way, the Pharisees got the law wrong as to stoning in the first place, as stoning was for unmarried, adulterous women, including her lover, perhaps the Lord writing Deuteronomy 22:23-24 however they would have designated back then, the letter of which the stoning would have violated, trampled. In any event, it wouldn't have mattered what the Lord wrote: they would have trampled it, no doubt. Quite an ingenious and subtle statement of the Lord, down the generations.