Epistle BeMidbar

Epistle BeMidbar

John 8:1-30

Joh 8:1 So Yeshua went to the Mount of Olives.

Joh 8:2  Now very early in the morning, he came again into the Temple, and all the people came to him. He sat down, and taught them.

Joh 8:3  The scribes and the Perushim brought a woman taken in adultery. Having set her in the midst,

Joh 8:4  they told him, “Rabbi, we found this woman in adultery, in the very act.

Joh 8:5  Now in our Torah, Moshe commanded us to stone such. What then do you say about her?”

Recall in Leviticus 20:10, however, that both the woman and the man were to be stoned.  Where is the man?  He is curiously absent.  From this we can infer that a) he was one of them, or b) there never was any adultery, and the whole thing was a set-up, or c) there was an adultery, but their “reinterpretation” of the law put all the blame on the woman.  Any of these possibilities renders the case invalid under the true written Torah.

John, continued:

Joh 8:6  They said this testing him, that they might have something to accuse him of. But Yeshua stooped down, and wrote on the ground with his finger.

Remember from last week’s haftarah reading?  Those written in the dust are those who have forsaken YHWH, the Miqvah of Israel, the fountain of Living Waters.

John, continued:

Joh 8:7  But when they continued asking him, he looked up and said to them, “He who is without sin among you, let him throw the first stone at her.”

Joh 8:8  Again he stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground.

This does not mean we can never give justice if we have ever sinned – far from it.  We are commanded by Yeshua Himself and the talmidim more than once to shun those who continue in sin.  But our motives in accusing someone or revealing someone’s sin to other witnesses (and then to the whole congregation, per Yeshua’s instructions on how to rebuke a sinner) must be pure motives – strictly to convict the sinner of his or her sin, and not for any other purpose.  Certainly we may not drag someone’s sin into the view of others if our only intention is spiteful or revenge.  We must be honest about what we are doing and why at all times.

John, continued:

Joh 8:9  They, when they heard it, being convicted by their conscience, went out one by one, beginning from the oldest, even to the last. Yeshua was left alone with the woman where she was, in the middle.

Joh 8:10  Yeshua, standing up, saw her and said, “Woman, where are your accusers? Did no one condemn you?”

Joh 8:11  She said, “No one, Adonai.” Yeshua said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go your way. From now on, sin no more.”

This is the important part:  SIN no more.  Sin is, by definition, the transgression of the Torah (I John 3).  They had no legal case against her in a human court due to their failure to follow the Torah and bring the man to be accused with her, but in order to be right before Elohim she would still have to repent of her sin and be cleansed of her uncleanness.  Just because we might “get away” with some things here on earth doesn’t mean we are not held responsible in Heaven.

John, continued:

Joh 8:12  Again, therefore, Yeshua spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. He who follows me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.”

Joh 8:13  The Perushim therefore said to him, “You testify about yourself. Your testimony is not valid.”

Funny, considering the stunt they just tried to pull.  Their point here is that there must be two or three witnesses for any legal case before it can even be brought to court.  The testimony of one witness alone is not valid, and a case with only one witness would be dismissed due to lack of evidence (if one is following the Torah correctly).

John, continued:

Joh 8:14  Yeshua answered them, “Even if I testify about myself, my testimony is true, for I know where I came from, and where I am going; but you don’t know where I came from, or where I am going.

Joh 8:15  You judge according to the flesh. I judge no one.

Joh 8:16  Even if I do judge, my judgment is true, for I am not alone, but I am with the Father who sent me.

Joh 8:17  It’s also written in your Torah that the testimony of two people is valid.

Joh 8:18  I am one who testifies about myself, and the Father who sent me testifies about me.”

That’s two.

John, continued:

Joh 8:19a  They said therefore to him, “Where is your Father?”

They were thinking of his earthly father, Yosef.

John, continued:

John 8:19b  Yeshua answered, “You know neither me, nor my Father. If you knew me, you would know my Father also.”

Joh 8:20  Yeshua spoke these words in the treasury, as he taught in the Temple. Yet no one arrested him, because his hour had not yet come.

Joh 8:21  Yeshua said therefore again to them, “I am going away, and you will seek me, and you will die in your sins. Where I go, you can’t come.”

Joh 8:22  The Judeans therefore said, “Will he kill himself, that he says, ‘Where I am going, you can’t come?’”

Joh 8:23  He said to them, “You are from beneath. I am from above. You are of this world. I am not of this world.

Joh 8:24  I said therefore to you that you will die in your sins; for unless you believe that I AM he, you will die in your sins.”

Joh 8:25  They said therefore to him, “Who are you?” Yeshua said to them, “Just what I have been saying to you from the beginning.

Which again shows that he was not in any way hiding or not claiming to be the Messiah of Israel.

John, continued:

Joh 8:26  I have many things to speak and to judge concerning you. However he who sent me is true; and the things which I heard from him, these I say to the world.”

Joh 8:27  They didn’t understand that he spoke to them about the Father.

Joh 8:28  Yeshua therefore said to them, “When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then you will know that I AM he, and I do nothing of myself, but as my Father taught me, I say these things.

Joh 8:29  He who sent me is with me. The Father hasn’t left me alone, for I always do the things that are pleasing to him.”

Joh 8:30  As he spoke these things, many believed in him.

The play on words doesn’t come across very well in Greek, of course.  But if you recall “I am” was one of the names YHWH gave Himself in His encounter with Moshe at the burning bush.  “Ayer asher ayer,” meaning “I am what I am,” or, “I will be what I will be” (depending upon how the consonants are vowelized – recall vowels were added later by the Masorites in the middle ages.  The paleo-Hebrew and earlier texts do not have vowels).  This translator tries to show his audience the play on words by capitalizing.

As for us, we too can “always do the things that are pleasing to Him” because we can read the Torah and plainly see what is His requirements for us are.

Next:  Kollel BeMidbar