Spoiler alert, it never happened and was added 500 years later.
I was actually thinking of this the other day. As I was certain I had read the explanation connecting it to the OT.
Glad my memory was not too out of whack.
Knowing ahead of time He had to die for our sins, perhaps He wrote: “I have information that will put Hillary Clinton in prison for life”.
Drink your Ovaltine?
I hate these wild conjectures by know-it-alls.
Another important aspect of this story is that evidence from ancient and medieval manuscripts strongly suggests it was not part of the original Gospel of John, but why do scholars claim this?
The earliest known manuscript to include the story is a Greek manuscript from the fifth century. After that, no other Greek manuscript records the episode until the ninth century. Some manuscripts even place it in different locations, such as at the end of John or within the Gospel of Luke. For these and other reasons, scholars today almost universally conclude that the story of Jesus writing in the sand was likely not an original part of John’s Gospel.
What they fail to mention here is that wherever this pericope has appeared, it has always been considered inspired and canonical by the Church. As such, there is no problem accepting it as God's word.
He wrote “Anyone got a pad of paper and a pencil?”
8647
He wrote their sins, the said “Let he who is without sin...”
The story of the woman caught in adultery is found in John 8:1–11. Briefly, the story involves the scribes and Pharisees who, in their continuing efforts to trick Jesus into saying something they could hold against Him, brought to Him a woman caught in adultery. They reminded Him that the Mosaic Law demanded her to be stoned to death. “But what do you say?” they asked Him. At this point, Jesus stooped down and starting writing something in the dirt. When He straightened up, He said, “If any one of you is without sin, let him be the first to throw a stone at her” (John 8:7). Then He stooped down and wrote again. One by one, the people left (verses 8–9).
My opinion is that Jesus wrote Leviticus 20:10 ‘The man who commits adultery with another man’s wife, he who commits adultery with his neighbor’s wife, the adulterer and the adulteress, shall surely be put to death.
Note they brought only the woman AND they caught her in the very act. So the man was let go.
As far as John 8:1-9’s authenticity, I think it’s valid, an anecdote only recorded in some manuscripts. But at Jesus’ return, we’ll know for sure.
The Bible doesn’t say. Next question.
“7. Thou shalt not commit adultery”
I think it was pretty much making a point that he was not interested in the stoning or enforcing Jewish law. He was basically fiddling as they waited for an incriminating answer he wasn’t going to give them.
If it was today, he would have turned away and been looking at something on his phone until he looked up and asked where were her accusers....
If what he wrote mattered at all, John woulda included it.
Follow the law. They didn't, as only the woman was brought out.
My favorite interpretation is as follows:
They brought the woman to be stoned. However, the law was that BOTH the adulterous woman and adulterous man were to stoned. Yet in an effort to trap Jesus, they brought only the woman. Had he said “stone her” as required by law he would have been condemned because the law required both. However, in bringing only the woman before Jesus, the Pharisees were the ones that had sinned.
To let them know that, Jesus wrote in the sand the name of the man whom also committed adultery with the woman.
An alternative is that he wrote the names of the mistresses of the Pharisees that were present to shame them into dispersing.
Don’t bogart that joint?
I figure there were two possibilities: that John figured it was unimportant, or that he considered it obvious. As a teen, when considering this scene, I figured He wrote, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.” That covered the obvious angle, especially by the reaction of the crowd.
He wrote your name. If you looked, it would be your name.