 |
| Source: Google |
He was soon interrupted. A group of Pharisees and scribes
approached Him, dragging with them a terror-stricken woman, whom with hard,
eager voices they accused of having violated the seventh commandment. Having
pushed her into the presence of Jesus, they said to Him, with a hypocritical
show of respect, “Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned:
but what sayest Thou?” DA 460.4
Their pretended reverence veiled a deep-laid plot for His
ruin. They had seized upon this opportunity to secure His condemnation,
thinking that whatever decision He might make, they would find occasion to
accuse Him. Should He acquit the woman, He might be charged with despising the
law of Moses. Should He declare her worthy of death, He could be accused
to the Romans as one who was assuming authority that belonged only to them. DA
460.5
Jesus looked for a moment upon the scene,—the trembling
victim in her shame, the hard-faced dignitaries, devoid of even human pity. His
spirit of stainless purity shrank from the spectacle. Well He knew for what
purpose this case had been brought to Him. He read the heart, and knew the
character and life history of everyone in His presence. These would-be
guardians of justice had themselves led their victim into sin, that they might
lay a snare for Jesus. Giving no sign that He had heard their question, He
stooped, and fixing His eyes upon the ground, began to write in the dust. DA
461.1
Impatient at His delay and apparent indifference, the
accusers drew nearer, urging the matter upon His attention. But as their eyes,
following those of Jesus, fell upon the pavement at His feet, their
countenances changed. There, traced before them, were the guilty secrets of
their own lives. The people, looking on, saw the sudden change of expression,
and pressed forward to discover what it was that they were regarding with such
astonishment and shame. DA 461.2
With all their professions of reverence for the law, these
rabbis, in bringing the charge against the woman, were disregarding its
provisions. It was the husband's duty to take action against her, and the
guilty parties were to be punished equally. The action of the accusers was
wholly unauthorized. Jesus, however, met them on their own ground. The law
specified that in punishment by stoning, the witnesses in the case should be
the first to cast a stone. Now rising, and fixing His eyes upon the plotting
elders, Jesus said, “He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a
stone at her.” And stooping down, He continued writing on the ground. DA
461.3
He had not set aside the law given through Moses, nor
infringed upon the authority of Rome. The accusers had been defeated. Now,
their robe of pretended holiness torn from them, they stood, guilty and
condemned, in the presence of Infinite Purity. They trembled lest the hidden
iniquity of their lives should be laid open to the multitude; and one by one,
with bowed heads and downcast eyes, they stole away, leaving their victim with
the pitying Saviour. DA 461.4
Jesus arose, and looking at the woman said, “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.” DA
461.5
(Ellen G. White, The Desire of Ages, pp. 460-461)
