Knowing God through His Word … Day by Day

Jesus bent down and wrote with his finger on the ground. And as they continued to ask him, he stood up and said to them, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” And once more he bent down and wrote on the ground. But when they heard it, they went away one by one, beginning with the older ones, and Jesus was left alone with the woman standing before him. —John 8:4-9 

Ray Stedman, in s sermon, “Judging the Judges,”  takes a stab at what Jesus may have written in John 8:

Once, reading in the prophet Jeremiah, I ran across a verse in the 17th chapter that struck me as possibly suggesting what Jesus wrote:

  O Lord, the hope of Israel,
all who forsake thee shall be put to shame;
those who torn away from thee
shall be written in the earth,
for they have forsaken the Lord,
the fountain of living water. {Jer 17:13 RSV}

While these scribes and Pharisees were standing there, stunned, Jesus stooped down and began to write. Again, we are not told what he wrote. When you realize that this is the only time recorded in the Scriptures that Jesus ever wrote anything, you cannot help but wish that someone had preserved what he wrote.

My guess is that he wrote the four words, written once before by the finger of God, in the history of Israel. In the book of Daniel there is the story of King Belshazzar who put on a great feast and drunken revels and debauchery of every type was going on. Finally, the king resorted to the ultimate blasphemy of using in the revelry the sacred vessels that had been taken from the temple in Jerusalem. Suddenly a great hand appeared and wrote four words on the wall. The king turned ashen, and all the lords and courtiers were stunned and silent. They did not know the meaning of the Persian words, “MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN,” which appeared, so they called in the prophet Daniel to interpret them. His interpretation was, “You are weighed in the balance and found wanting,” {Dan 5:25-29}.

If that is what Jesus wrote, we can understand the actions of these men. Verse 9 says, “But when they heard it…” They could see what he wrote and the words rang in their heads as though they had been spoken. “When they heard it, they went away, one by one, beginning with the eldest.” What a tremendous disappearing act takes place here! The oldest one (the one with the longest record of sin) suddenly remembered that he had a previous appointment. The next one thought he heard his wife calling. Another had a sudden fit of coughing and had to leave. Another felt it was time for lunch. They disappeared one by one until no one was left but Jesus and the woman alone.