COME AS A CHILD BIBLE STUDY – LESSON 263

Over the last two months we have paused in our study through the book of Numbers in the passage which speaks of the test of a jealous husband found in Numbers, Chapter five.

SO MANY STORIES WITH THIS THEME

So far we have been surprised to find certain aspects of this test in the visions of Ezekiel and the visions of Jeremiah, in the punishment of Israel from the worship of the golden calf, in the prophetic scriptures about The Whore of Babylon, and in the scripture passages about the Samaritan woman at the well with Jesus.

If we want to stretch this similar knowledge even further; we can look at the scriptures in Daniel Chapter 13; which proclaim the story of Susanna, who was an innocent woman accused of adultery.  In the end she is saved by divine intervention using the young prophet Daniel.  She gets to rule and reign beside her beloved King for the rest of her life and all of her village blesses her.

Susanna is the opposite of the story we will speak of today. 

DIVINE JUDGEMENT

In ALL cases of all of these stories however; we notice that divine judgement always takes place and the woman is either found innocent and thrives, or found guilty and is destroyed. 

Very few Old Testament stories show guilty women being given mercy.  We DO find that to be the case though in some New Testament passages.  For example; last week’s lesson about the Samaritan woman and today’s lesson about the woman being caught in adultery.

We find, in all cases where mercy and grace are shown and administered to the guilty; it is because of the fact that Jesus is involved.

THE WOMAN CAUGHT IN ADULTERY

Today there is just one more passage which we must consider before moving on through The Book of Numbers. It is the passage found in The Book of John where the Pharisees are bringing a woman accused of adultery into the temple for Jesus to condemn her.

(John 8:1-11)  

Jesus returned to the Mount of Olives, but early the next morning he was back again at the Temple. A crowd soon gathered, and he sat down and taught them. As he was speaking, the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees brought a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery. They put her in front of the crowd.

“Teacher, “they said to Jesus, “this woman was caught in the act of adultery. The law of Moses says to stone her. What do you say?”

They were trying to trap him into saying something they could use against him, but Jesus stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. They kept demanding an answer, so he stood up again and said. “All right, but let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” Then he stooped down again and wrote in the dust. When the accusers heard this, they slipped away one by one, beginning with the oldest, until only Jesus was left in the middle of the crowd with the woman. Then Jesus stood up again and said to the woman, “Where are your accusers? Didn’t even one of them condemn you?” “No, Lord,” she said. And Jesus said, “neither do I . Go and sin no more.”

LAYERS OF MEANING

We’ve all heard this story many times before. Most of us walk away with the lesson of minding our own business and taking care of our own sins before we start pointing accusing fingers at our neighbors.

The test for adultery always does involve accusations.  These accusations must be written down.

That lesson about not pointing fingers at others is a good lesson to learn; but I think there is more in this than meets the eye and/or the first hearing.

ELEMENTS OF THE TEST FOR A JEALOUS HUSBAND

Once again, we can find elements of the jealousy test hiding in this passage if we look deeper.

The first thing I want to mention is how some scholars think this scene where Jesus was teaching was located in the Treasury (where money was taken up for the poor) in the Court of the Women.  

Many also think that this scene took place on the last day of The Feast of Tabernacles. They have studiously traced the steps of Jesus through the scriptures for the seven days before this time (the feast lasts for seven days with the eighth day being known as The Great Last Day); and Jesus has been found doing various things in Jerusalem that would have coincided with this festival.

It was here, on that great last day of the feast, that Jesus stood up in the water ceremony and announced that he had living water to give.   This statement would have been equivalent to saying “I AM the Messiah! Or; I AM your Savior, and I AM right here among you at my own proclaimed feast! You should be asking ME for a drink of water; because the water I bring will give you everlasting life.”

IF A MAN IS THIRSTY LET HIM COME TO ME AND DRINK

The passage that speaks of “living water” at the festival that year can be found  in John 7:38; “if a man is thirsty, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said streams of living water will flow from within him.”

Here again is Jesus offering His Bride a drink that will heal her forever and bring her into eternal life with Him forever.  

ACCUSATIONS THAT DISTRACT FROM GOD’S WORK AMONG THE PEOPLE

Why were the people not listening to Jesus instead of the Scribes and the Pharisees?

Maybe a better question would be why does the devil throw us smoke screens every time God is about to do some very significant work among His people?

Do you not see this happening over and over even today inside the very churches that are supposed to be proclaiming the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ? 

We use our pop psychology and our own human traditions instead of teaching the truth of Christ.  Congregations entertain instead of preach.  Groups are coordinated into fun activities instead of everyone praying in unison.  We proclaim only what people want to hear instead of feeding God’s sheep God’s word.  

GUILTY AS CHARGED

The Church is just as guilty as this woman being drug before Jesus for judgement. 

She has sinned. 

Why? 

Because she listened to the words of a man after his own interests and lusts instead of following the ways of God.

JUDGED WORTHLESS AND UNWORTHY BY MANKIND

So the Pharisees think she is easy bait for achieving their cause.  Her life is worthless to them.  They look down on her as a common sinner.  These arrogant men stand with their chests puffed out and accuse her with a pointing finger.  They use her in order to trick Jesus into saying something wrong so that they can use his death too in order to maintain their own power and control.

Here again is an element of the test for a jealous husband; only this time the ones making the accusations are the Pharisees.  They have no right to make the accusations; they are not the husband!  This just goes to show how deceitful and conniving they could be in order to twist the truth into their own desires.

Human life (besides their own) meant nothing to them if it could achieve their causes.  Modern society is full of such Pharisees who will stop at nothing (including murder) to get their way.

LIVING WATER IS FOR THE HUMBLE OF HEART

But Jesus has living water to offer to those who aren’t too proud and arrogant to take it. 

This woman doesn’t proclaim her innocence; she bows at the feet of Jesus and humbles herself before him.  She fully admits her guilt.

Perhaps she had been listening before at the Temple during the water libation ceremony when he spoke of the living waters! 

This is the miracle of rebirth through water and God’s Holy Spirit.  It has been made possible because of Jesus and his mercy towards us.   He took the bitter drink for us so that we can live.  Through baptism in water and through receiving of The Holy Spirit, the Church, the Bride of Christ; is made clean and able to give birth to new children of God.

We know this as the cure for those who take the drink in the test of the jealous husband!

In the jealousy ritual that we have spoken of so often before, the wife takes the drink.  If she is judged for condemnation; the drink will make her sick and she will not ever be able to produce children again.  Yet; if she has been judged worthy by divine judgement; she will become fertile and able to produce healthy children for her husband.  Their marriage will be healed and they will once again live happily together in trust and love.

A GROOM AND A PRIEST

Jesus is both the groom (the husband) and the priest. 

He offers the water to anyone who will accept it.  His drink is different; it has healing qualities for sinners.  It can take away the sins of an unhealthy life and make a new and healthy life in the same person.  Only the water that Jesus has to offer will do this. 

No one else is able to offer such a drink.

Only the Lamb is worthy to open the scroll.

A VISION FOR THE FUTURE OF ISRAEL

We previously studied Zachariah’s vision of a guilty woman in a basket.  To carry that story even a bit further Zachariah was also given a vision of a Messianic King as he comes into Jerusalem.  This is a vision for the future. It will again be during the time of The Feast of Tabernacles when the House of David is opened up for the cleansing of Jerusalem.  Once again the drink will be offered to Israel; only this time from Christ.  

Living waters (which Jesus speaks of above) will flow from Jerusalem and restore and replenish the earth. 

All of the nations of the earth will then go up to Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Tabernacles.

That is something for the future; something to look forward to.

A CEREMONY OF FIRE

Going back to our present story; the woman is being brought to Jesus by the Pharisees as he teaches during the Feast of Tabernacles.  It is probably on the day after his announcement at the Water Libation Ceremony at the Temple. 

Later that night there would have been a Fire Ceremony. 

The Fire Ceremony ritual took place at night with the time of the replenishing of oil for the Golden Menorahs.   These giant lights were placed in the Court of the Women.  Young men climbed tall ladders in order to light the golden bowls filled with olive oil resting on each golden branch of the Menorahs. 

This glorious lighting of the Menorahs was always the signal that began the ceremony.  Each night of the feast the oil was replenished.  The wicks of the lamps were made from the worn out garments of the priests. 

A TIME OF FULLNESS IS COMING

On that particular year and those particular nights of the feast only three of the four great Menorahs were lit.  This was to be a reminder that Israel had not yet experienced full salvation and the nations of the world had not yet heard the full message of God. 

It was widely known that when Messiah came the holy light would reach every corner of the world.

During this feast the parade for the water drawing passed through this gloriously lit court of the women every day. 

Trumpets would sound. 

The Levites would play harps and flutes and there were dancers.  

Young men would enter with their torches blazing.  They too would dance and toss their torches into the night skies. 

All of this ceremony is about light.  They remember The Pillar of Fire in the wilderness and God’s promise to tabernacle among them.  The people knew the true light would be the coming Messiah.

And Jesus; The Light of The World, stood there in their midst and proclaimed his true identity.  It must have been a very amazing week for God’s true and loyal servants.

THAT GREAT LAST DAY

All of this had taken place during that same week and now Jesus comes on that last day to this very place of the Treasury of the Temple in The Court of The Women.  It was a place where God’s people had proclaimed and hoped for his coming over and over again.

There Jesus taught the people who were thirsty. 

They had come to drink in the wonder of his teachings. 

He was happy to fill their longing for water and to satisfy their thirst with truth.

THE WRITING IN THE SAND

Then come these rude and arrogant Pharisees disrupting the whole process of Jesus teaching.  They come before him with accusations against a woman caught in adultery.

How does Jesus react?

He simply bends down and begins to write in the sand.  

The eighth day of the feast was considered very holy and it was called a Sabbath even when it did not fall on the regular seventh day.  Many consider that it was illegal for a man to write on the Sabbath, except for writing that would not remain.  

You could use a liquid that would evaporate eventually, or write in the dirt which would eventually smear and blur the words, or something like that; but you could not write down permanent words that would last forever on the Sabbath.  

The Pharisees were watching; hoping to catch Jesus breaking a law; but he wrote in the sand.  It was not illegal.

This writing in the sand allowed him to test the woman caught in adultery.  Her accusations had to be written by a priest and mixed with the dust from the Temple floor.  This happened when Jesus was writing there in the court of the temple.  The woman stood before him, and the accusations were made and written down in the dust of the temple.  

What did he write?  No one knows; but most likely it was the accusations that were being given against this woman.  Fortunately for her; the ink was temporary; it could be blotted out.  The wind and the rain would wash away her accusations and no one would ever be able to find them again.

LET HIM WHO HAS NOT SINNED CAST THE FIRST STONE

So; Jesus turns the tables on the Pharisees with his next statement.  “Let him who has not sinned cast the first stone.”  Not one man in that whole group of Pharisees was found worthy to condemn her.  All of them had sinned too and they all eventually disappeared into the crowd, starting with the elders and then all the rest followed.

We know that when judgement comes; it will come to The Church of God first.  The Elders of the Church must be found worthy for any of their rule to have effect on the rest of the people.  Not one of these Pharisees was found worthy.  

How will this be on that Great Last Day in the future?

Will any of the elders of our present day churches be qualified?

Hardly.  

They are all only human sinners; just like this woman caught in adultery.

Just one will be found worthy.  

Only one can open  the scroll.

The woman knew it was Jesus.  He had not sinned.  Jesus had the full ability to condemn her; and she had already confessed to him.  

GO AND SIN NO MORE

But what did Jesus do?

He asked about her accusers.  Where were they?

They had all disappeared.  

There could be no court without two witnesses.  The Pharisees had not been using the law in the proper manner.  Only Jesus had done so.

Without any witnesses, especially without any accusing husband; there could be no judgement made.

Those words of Jesus must have amazed the woman.  

He looked at her and said “Neither do I accuse you.  Go and sin no more!”

No sweeter words had ever been heard.

Can you hear them too?

Have you heard the voice of Jesus telling you that he does not hold you guilty and that you should go and sin no more?

Today is the day to heed those words. 

Come boldly before Christ and offer your confession.

Time is short and eternity is forever.